Gender Politics in Everyday Austin
I'm not one to look for gender in everything, but some businesses in Austin thrive from the conflict between male heterosexuality and feminism. If you like a little sexism mixed in with your haircut, this is the place:
Sexy Scissors, in their foolish attempt to create a titillating logo, actually presents the clearest possible image of the castrating female.
At Spiderhouse cafe, however, gender transgression stares back at you before you reach the sugar.
The man-rabbit watches over you, proud of his position and responsibility. Cafe Mundi mocks male domination, merging the masculine with a puny species:
But the female as unattainable pleasure still prevails at Sexy Scissors. A car brushes past her naked thighs; a sign forbids your entrance.
UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers! If you like this style of photoblogging, I do it here and here as well. My blog is pretty diverse, so explore the whole thing if you like.
Sexy Scissors, in their foolish attempt to create a titillating logo, actually presents the clearest possible image of the castrating female.
At Spiderhouse cafe, however, gender transgression stares back at you before you reach the sugar.
The man-rabbit watches over you, proud of his position and responsibility. Cafe Mundi mocks male domination, merging the masculine with a puny species:
But the female as unattainable pleasure still prevails at Sexy Scissors. A car brushes past her naked thighs; a sign forbids your entrance.
UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers! If you like this style of photoblogging, I do it here and here as well. My blog is pretty diverse, so explore the whole thing if you like.
posted by Chris Althouse Cohen at 4:12 PM
7 Comments:
Have you been to Stubs and seen the woman painted on the wall?
Beth
bethmauldin.com
"A car brushes past her naked thighs"
Dude, she's sitting on the hood of the car.
paul: Technically true, but her position on the car seems to imply some movement on her part. Perhaps "strokes her naked thighs" would have been more fitting, and more sexual.
lordy, I'm glad you didn't visit the Yellow Rose on Lamar, or Joy's in Round Rock! You might have had palpitations for a week!
Yo Anonymous: part of the problem with misogyny in everyday modern imagery is that too few people get "palpitations for a week" from every "minor" sexist image... The fact is we let such supposedly insignificant offenses go without thinking much about them. So sexism is now a part of socity's unconscious and contributing daily to the relative second class citizenship of women. If you disagree you're either a man who sees it all as no biggie, because you have that luxury, or a woman who is asleep at the wheel.
I'm a fellow Austinite, and I actually enjoy the visual dialog in this town. It really is a melting pot in terms of the political, racial, and cultural. Keep Austin Weird! :-)
By the way, when are you going to organize an Austin blog party? :-)
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