The Great Forumshire Story

Sorry Lance! But you got to be careful writing stories on Forumshire, I always seem to offend someone.

Not you CC12 35.

Petty... stop offending people. Or do it or another thread!

What?! I didnt offend anyone (not on this thread anyway) offended against maybe....

Pettytyrant101 wrote:And here was me basing it on the words of little old ladies in old folks home talking humorously about their sagging bits.

I had no idea they were all misogynists!   

are you a 90 year old woman?

Lancebloke wrote:Keep your arguement off my thread!!!

sorry Lance.

love your story, carry on.  

are you a 90 year old woman?- Mrs Figg

whats that got to do with the price of taters?

Ive heard many an older woman crack a gag about saggy bits, hell Joan Rivers has built a career out of it. I dont see how when I do it its suddenly an evil attack on all of womanhood.

'sorry Lance.
love your story, carry on. '

Um, ditto, great work, carry on. Nothing to see here.

if a woman cracks a joke about her saggy bits thats ok, a man making a joke about a womans saggy bits is not ok.  Joan Rivers is a professional comedian, ordinary women are not.

ok so if i write about a murderer I have to have murdered someone first?

And I cant write about it because Im not a professional?
So if I get something published then I can?

I'm not sure how this works!  (and I suspect you dont know either)

Ahh... I see things are getting back to normal betweens Mrs Figg and Petty. I was worried there for awhile with all the lovin' goin' on.  

{{{Maybees I shoulda known it couldn't last, but alls well as ends better as we Sam Gamgee types is wont to say, indeedy.  }}}.

Mrs Figg wrote:I guess it is lighthearted and frothy if you aint a 'mature' woman being told she has to hoist her tits up from around her ankles. Its a particularly poisonous type of mysogyny which is embedded in cultural practices and ideologies that have accrued over enormous stretches of time. It is based on a hierarchy of values, that are so commonly expressed in so many places in our culture that they acquire the status of common sense. They’re expressed in commonly used put downs to females over a certain age, which undermine a womans self confidence and slowly corrodes her self worth, and women are guilty of believing these things are just things they have to tolerate. Normally it involves a woman over the age of 35 being told she is invisible or no longer physically attractive  therefore equating her 'value' only in terms of the male gaze. Its an old old trick, and it made for surprising and unpleasant reading.

Do agree... but making fun of human vulnerabilities (both psychological and physical) has oft been the preserve of comedians, what?  

{{{Caveat: Jokes about middle-aged mysogyinist greying pot-bellied dirty-old Ozhobbits, of course, is different, and any nasty remarks - however funny they might be! - about this brand of respectable Forumshiran won't be tolerated on any Forum I have Moderator Powers on!!! }}}

Pettytyrant101 wrote:ok so if i write about a murderer I have to have murdered someone first?

And I cant write about it because Im not a professional?
So if I get something published then I can?

I'm not sure how this works!  (and I suspect you dont know either)

what the fuck are you talking about? you mentione Joan Rivers making a career out of making fun about her sagging tits. She is a professional comedian and is paid to be outrageous, she is also a woman, she is either funny or she is not depending on your sense of humour. Comedians get away with things that non comedians do not. so for example if a man who is not a professional comedian makes the same comments it aint so funny any more, and can be taken as an insult or just plain ordinary sexist wittering. its certainly not funny for the people on the recieving end of these comments, and if you make them you have to expect a reaction.

I think Petty is a Comedian... just unpaid.  

oh cool a female comedian! *she turns out to be just as misogynist and homophobic as male comedians* oh

Exactly, Ally. What's Equality if women can't be as obnoxious as men are?  

Edit: Btw - where's Petty's offending passage? (I mean, written passage btw!)

if she is perpetuating so called myths at the expense of other women to get laughs she is a misogynist too.

Well I don't think the meaning of the word 'equality' would change....

Orwell wrote:Exactly, Ally. What's Equality if women can't be as obnoxious as men are?  

Edit: Btw - where's Petty's offending passage? (I mean, written passage btw!)

he sat on it.

what a huge pile of steaming codswollop Mrs Figg!

'She is a professional comedian and is paid to be outrageous, she is also a woman'

So to be allowed to make a joke about sagging female body parts in later years I have to be a professional comedian and a woman?

' if a man who is not a professional comedian makes the same comments it aint so funny any more, and can be taken as an insult '

What about a wirter? Is it not in fact what a writer does- to observe and listen in order to draw on peoples real experiences to form story and characters about.
By your thinking I cant write a black character either as I am not black or a professional basketball player.

'the people on the recieving end of these comments'

There wasnt meant to be a recieving end- it was a joke about sagging bodies with age (this does happen to men too you know)- that bit was meant to be observational humour, nothing more.
I write stuff for the forum in the hope people will enjoy them, or if not, not bother with them- I dont write them with the aim to offend people and to be accused of sexism oddly enough.
That kind of takes the fun out of it.
And the rest of that paragraph in the story was setting up the character arc of someone who felt under appreciated and lacking attention- and the plot is she gets more than she wants.
You can blame Shakespeare for that one, not me.

Orwell-you already read it and amazingly failed to be offended by it-its in part two of the story, once it gets to Amaries residence.

Mrs Figg wrote:if she is perpetuating so called myths at the expense of other women to get laughs she is a misogynist too.

But you are the perpetrator of many social & political myths which cause a great deal of harm. What's the difference?

I dont see how sagging body parts are a myth. Im pretty sure Ive got some myself somewhere.

Good points:

(1) Mrs Figg is angry with Petty (the natural state of Forumshiran Affairs - which is a relief as hinted at in my earlier post here)

(2) Lance's Thread is getting norced (and possibly purely by accident, which makes the norcing all the more sweet, methinks)

(3) Ally has said something that might almost be sensible (a revelation - and you think you know someone!)

(4) Petty is in Full Rearguard Action Mode (and Guilty as Charged even if he's Innocent - perfik!)

Hurrah!

its not my fault you cant see how offensive that very weird passage was. i was enjoying your story and then out of the blue came these really quite venomous sounding remarks about physical appearance. it wasnt pleasant to read, it was like where the fuck did this faux 'wisdom' come from.

I understand Mrs Figg's point though and agree that it's not a particularly enjoyable brand of comedy.

Right then, I'm heading back to Petty's Tale... missed something obviously...