Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

Social Science Gender Studies

No End to the Shit that Pisses Me Off

by (author) Peg Tittle

Publisher
Magenta
Initial publish date
Nov 2013
Category
Gender Studies, General, General
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781926891330
    Publish Date
    Nov 2013
    List Price
    $1.99

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

War rape, profit, baby androids, tax exemptions for churches, make-up, having kids, assisted suicide, abortion, grades inflation, littering, business ethics…

Philosophy with an attitude.

Because the unexamined life is dangerous.

 

Note: All of the pieces in the Shit that Pisses Me Off series (4 volumes) have been anthologized in either Sexist Shit that Pisses Me Off (2nd edn) or Just … Think about It! (2nd edn), along with almost a hundred additional pieces (in each case), and both are available in eformat and paperback.

 

"Tittle’s pieces are atypical of philosophical writing in the best ways: of interest to non-specialists, yet instructive and profound, yet entertaining."  Ron Cooper, Professor of Philosophy  

"… a passionate, stylistically-engaging writer …" George, Amazon

About the author

Peg Tittle, feminist, writer, philosopher, is the author of What If...Collected Thought Experiments in Philosophy (2004) and Critical Thinking: An Appeal to Reason (2011). She is also the editor of Should Parents be Licensed? Debating the Issues (2004). Her articles and essays have been published in a number of North American magazines and journals and she has been a columnist for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, The Philosophers' Magazine, and Philosophy Now. She is also the author of six screenplays. What Happened to Tom? is her first novel. She lives in Sundridge, Ontario.

Peg Tittle's profile page

Excerpt: No End to the Shit that Pisses Me Off (by (author) Peg Tittle)

To the Morons who wear Make-up

First, there's the ageism you're perpetuating: make-up is intended, to a large degree, to make one look younger. In many respects, younger is better, but in many respects, it isn't (and anyway, make-up merely gives one the appearance of being younger). True, at some point in time, being old is completely the pits, but hey, that's life, deal with it—without delusion or deception (or implied insult).

Second, if make-up were merely intended to (attempt to) make one beautiful, well, I suppose there's no harm in that—the world can always use a little more beauty. However, I despair at the pathetically low aesthetic standards in use if a blue eyelid is considered beautiful—let's at least see a glittering rainbow under that eyebrow arch! Further, I despair at the attention to beauty of skin if at the expense of beauty of character.

However, make-up is intended as much, if not more, to (attempt to) make one sexually attractive. (To some extent, I suppose physical beauty is sexually attractive, but that suggests a very narrow definition of beauty: a dog running full-out is beautiful but not, at least to me, sexually attractive.) (It also suggests a very narrow definition of sexual attractiveness, for its emphasis on appearance.) I'm thinking, for example, of reddened (and puckered) lips—what is that but an advertisement for fellatio? Consider too the perfume (especially if it's musk rather than floral), and the earrings (earlobes as erogenous zones), and the bras that push up and pad—all are part of the woman's morning grooming routine, her 'getting ready' (that phrase itself begs the question 'Ready for what?') ('Sex!').

Now there's nothing wrong with being sexually attractive per se. But there is something wrong—something sick—about wanting to be bait (sexually attract-ive) all day long. Especially when those same women complain about the attention they receive for their sexual attractiveness—the looks, the comments, the invitations (can you say 'sexual harassment'?) Not only is there a serious self-esteem problem here, there's a serious consistency of thought problem here.

Third, combine the first point with the first part of the second point and we see another problem: make-up endorses the '(only) young is beautiful' attitude.

Combine the first point with the second part of the second point: make-up endorses the '(only) young is sexually attractive' attitude.

Add the shaved legs and armpits (and eyeliner, for that big baby doe-eyed look?), and we see we're not just talking 'young' as in twenty years old but 'young' as in pre-pubescent (only pre-pubescents are hairless, only pre-pubescents have such smooth skin). And that's really disturbing—to establish/reinforce the sexual attractiveness of pre-pubescents.

Why is it (we think) men find young women, girls, sexually attractive? I doubt it's just the 'heathy for childbearing' thing. Because actually, it's not healthy for girls to bear children, and it's not even possible for pre-pubescents to do so. (And it's not like the men follow up in nine months to claim their progeny.) (But then I'm assuming rational behaviour here.)

I suspect it's the power thing. Men can have power over, feel superior to, children more easily than adults. So in addition to encouraging child sexual abuse, women who shave their legs and otherwise appear/act prepubescent are reinforcing the 'sex as power' instead of 'sex as pleasure' attitude (though of course I guess for many men power is pleasure).

Last, compounding all of this is the custom that only women wear make-up. Which reinforces the whole patriarchy thing: the women are sexual objects while the men are sexual subjects. ('Course, without make-up, the loss of about 20 pounds, and, well, major surgery, most men couldn't cut it as sexual objects anyway.)

Editorial Reviews

"I’ve read and loved Peg Tittle’s essays before but I wondered… would I be as p***ed off by the same topics as her, with this new collection? AND I WAS! I find Peg Tittle to be a passionate, stylistically-engaging writer with a sharp eye for the hypocritical aspects of our society. Congrats.”

5/5 stars
George on Amazon

"Tittle’s pieces are atypical of philosophical writing in the best ways: of interested to non-specialists yet instructive, profound yet entertaining. Tittle has a pitch perfect sense of presenting difficult concepts understandably while avoiding condescension; she can challenge readers without overwhelming them and all the while respecting their intelligence.
 
"She also proves that good thinkers need not be wishy-washy and unable to offer solutions—a common and often warranted indictment of philosophers. In a culture in which public discourse too often reduces to hollering and sloganeering, Tittle’s work is a model of intellectual civility. She makes her views clear while demonstrating a voice of reason and integrity, not one of shrillness and volume."
 
Ron Cooper, Ph.D.