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Showing posts from November, 2017

Baby, It's Cold Outside (and inside when you live in a world that doesn't understand consent)

I can't say #MeToo. I'm a male and, in many ways, on the "good" side of the double standard. This isn't even to correct forum for much of what I feel needs to be said (too many students read this blog). However, I really need to talk about a problem with one of our (not mine) beloved Christmas songs. Each year, when we return from Thanksgiving break, I treat my students to a variety of lectures on problems with Christmas. I talk about the theological damage that Santa can cause (more on that in a later post). I talk about how annoying and odd the song "Christmas Shoes" is. Most seriously, I talk about the problems highlighted (highlit?) by "Baby It's Cold Outside". I love a lot of what Frank Loesser wrote ( Guys and Dolls, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying ). It's easy to write off this song as a product of a society that didn't respect the rights of women. The continuing popularity of the song shows that we a...