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vcmwI tried to read Nathan McCall's "Makes Me Wanna Holler." I couldn't finish it. I got about 50 pages in, and the problem was that the actions of the narrator as a youth were so completely repulsive to me that I couldn't imagine ever rooting for his success in any way. I thought the fact that this book was a) published and b) has received critical approval has to be one of the biggest signs of sexism ever. Honestly, it gave me a whole new perspective on some of the issues Ms. bell hooks had written about in her book, about how it was difficult to be a feminist and a black woman because the community was often more interested in building up men than in acknowledging the violence some of those men did to women.
Because here's the thing -
Because here's the thing -
in the first 50 pages of "Makes Me Wanna Holler", Mr. McCall talks about his youthful experiences, and includes his commentary on his participation in and involvement in planning not one, but multiple gang rapes of young teenage girls when he was a teenager himself. The scenes in the book are not merely referred to, but described in intimate sexual detail. He doesn't call it rape directly ever, but rather "trains". Only once does he say that he now understands that OTHER people would consider these events rape. His commentary is very distanced and expresses no guilt.
Here's the reason I think this is insanely sexist: I think that if Mr. McCall's memoir involved his detailed description of gang-raping young teenage boys, it would never have been published, or if published, would never have received critical approval. The shock of the crime would be considered greater, more deviant, and less forgivable. Which is insane, and sexist. I cannot imagine a writer writing that he frequently raped young teenage boys in his youth and not suffering life-long ostracism after this revelation. And the fact that he can write about raping young girls and not suffer that ostracism indicates to me that a sizable chunk of the population must see young women as natural sexual victims on some level. Maybe there's another explanation? But I tried to read this book about 2 months ago, and have been pondering it ever since, and this is the only explanation I've come up with. Which really really depresses me.
Here's the reason I think this is insanely sexist: I think that if Mr. McCall's memoir involved his detailed description of gang-raping young teenage boys, it would never have been published, or if published, would never have received critical approval. The shock of the crime would be considered greater, more deviant, and less forgivable. Which is insane, and sexist. I cannot imagine a writer writing that he frequently raped young teenage boys in his youth and not suffering life-long ostracism after this revelation. And the fact that he can write about raping young girls and not suffer that ostracism indicates to me that a sizable chunk of the population must see young women as natural sexual victims on some level. Maybe there's another explanation? But I tried to read this book about 2 months ago, and have been pondering it ever since, and this is the only explanation I've come up with. Which really really depresses me.
