Another fascinating article from a writer who wrote the article that this post was based on. This one was about how obnoxious behaviour by brilliant men is tolerated, even feted. It is seen as adding to their charm and uniqueness. Just yesterday, I was chatting to a friend about how I am not a big fan of Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes because they were enough brilliant entitled male pricks in the world as it is. Not that Sherock Holmes, or Benedict Cumberbatch have sexually assaulted anyone, to my knowledge, but the point remains. Quirks and foibles that would never be tolerated in a woman of equal brains or talent are feted in men.
The writer went further. She wrote about the need to "humanize" success. I quote:
The writer went further. She wrote about the need to "humanize" success. I quote:
The point is not to
put women on those patriarchy-shaped pedestals instead of men, but to expand
the meaning of success beyond the unimaginative monoculture of numbers, money,
size, etc, and include human aspects of life into the conversation... A
heterogeneous celebration of achievement of different scales; determining
relevance by philosophical and poetic values; celebrating how life is lived
with self and others: we should say hats off to all these.
I believe for feminism to be truly emancipatory, it must liberate men as well as women. It is not simply a matter offering badly behaved brilliant women the same latitude as men, but changing social norms to make such behaviour unacceptable by either sex. Will we lose some brilliant minds to public censure? Maybe. Or our eyes may open to new forms of brilliance.
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