The Dangers Of Dating Faux-Feminist Men
By Kate S
I knew my relationship was doomed when we got into a feud about Kevin James.
“I don’t like him,” I told my new boyfriend Liam*, a professional comedian. “I don’t think he’s funny.” I could have left it at that, but I didn’t. “And also, I think it’s a sign of cultural misogyny that he gets paired with beautiful women in movies, and we never see similarly schlubby women with conventionally hot men.”
We were holding hands as we walked down a snowy street in my neighborhood, and I felt Liam’s hand stiffen. “Hate to break it to you, babe, but a movie like that wouldn’t sell,” he scoffed. “It’s a wish-fulfillment thing. Guys want to see a movie where an average dude gets a hot chick, so they can believe the same thing might happen to them.”
My eyebrows have never shot up that fast in my life. “You don’t think women want to see our wishes fulfilled in movies too?” I asked. “You don’t think women have money and will spend it on movies that depict women well?”
I wanted, so badly, to give him the benefit of the doubt. I wanted him to cede that Hollywood’s misogyny is a bad thing, or even a real thing. But he didn’t acknowledge any of that. “I’m telling you, it wouldn’t sell,” he replied, with the finality of someone who thinks he’s had the last word. He kept walking and…
