Hey Everyone! I hope you all are finding Mean to be as interesting as I do. This reading has really opened my eyes to the extent in which sexual assault is occurring. Myriam Gurba is brave enough to share her intimate story with the world in order to bring awareness to the issue. What I found while reading this book is how she uses the philosophy meanness. Gurba is mean as a type of sublimation. I believe she is as mean as she is because it is her way of standing up for herself and preventing others from harming her. In this blog post, I am going to show different instances in which Gurba uses meanness.
“We act mean to defend ourselves from boredom and from those who would chop off our breasts. We act mean to defend our clubs and institutions. We act mean because we like to laugh. Being mean to boys is fun and a second-wave feminist duty. Being rude to men who deserve it is a holy mission. Sisterhood is powerful, but being a bitch is more exhilarating. Being a bitch is spectacular.” (page 17).
This quote addresses multiple reasons as to why Myriam Gurba is portrayed as mean. The first line in the quote really puts you in her shoes. Her being mean is a way to prevent what happened from happening again. She is mean because she doesn’t want to go through the pain of a man forcing himself onto her against her will. Gurba believes that if she is mean, a man will pay less attention to her and ultimately ignore the fact that she even exists.
The next sentence that stood out to me in this quote is “Being mean to boys is fun and a second-wave feminist duty”. Gurba is convinced that all boys and men are like the one that raped her. I understand this is her mindset, but this is obviously not true. She believes that it is her job to treat all men like they are pieces of trash because that’s how she herself views them. In a way you can’t blame her… you have to understand all that she has gone through has shaped the way she views the male species.
The last line from the quote I would like to talk about “Being rude to men who deserve it is a holy mission”. This quote is difficult to agree or disagree with as it is debatable. I could see why she thinks God would want her to be mean to men who deserve it. If anyone who is religious that reads this, knows that God does not believe in those types of actions and believes in forgiveness. Therefore being mean to men is not a holy mission, but is Gurba’s mission.
Questions to consider and elaborate on:
- Do you agree or disagree with “Being mean to boys is a fun and a second-wave feminist duty”?
- What are your feelings towards the quote above from page 17?
- What other uses of meanness did you find while reading Mean?
