Day 24: Tribute To Ryan Haecker « In The Form Of A Question

Day 24: Tribute To Ryan Haecker

November 29, 2007 by kristina b

Originally uploaded by Kristina B.
Michael came home from school last week with his uni’s daily in his hand. He handed it to me to read an op-ed piece. By the time I finished, my cheeks were all red and hot. I was visibly furious! It turns out, M knows the guy who wrote the article. They are friendly. He’s a member of the philosophy association that Michael is involved with. Sigh.

So, of course, it’s the end of the semester, and I don’t have a lot of time on my hands to wage wars with ridiculous, naïve 20 year olds who manage to get themselves published, as much as I wanted to. Well, as it turns out, I wasn’t the only one that was angry. Further, I’m pretty impressed by the responses from Michael’s classmates on Facebook, and the level of discourse in the comments.

Me, I’m content to just give him the finger at this point.

I do hope you all can see the Facebook links. They are long but worth the read.

UPDATE: Please see the follow-up post.

Posted in 365, feminisim | Tagged austin, feminism, ryanhaecker, texas, thedailytexan, universityoftexas | 12 Comments

12 Responses to “Day 24: Tribute To Ryan Haecker”

on November 30, 2007 at 10:34 am1 erin

thanks for sharing Julia’s note! she did a fantastic job there
on November 30, 2007 at 12:09 pm2 Jill Jeffrey

Wow. This was sent to me in Pittsburgh, and I must say that I am so looking forward to sending the article link to fellow members of my Women’s Equality group who will in turn make sure that this hits many people, both men and women, before this weekend begins. Though I am all for the right to free speech, the message here is clearly one of an ignorant BOY who must not be too familiar with the struggles women went through to rid themselves of the exact stereotype he has described, so that they might actually be seen as fellow HUMANS and not as objects for “…passivity, domesticity, childrearing, coital love, piety and fertility.” As for your rant on short skirts, I’ll be sure to have on a nice, sexy fanny-skimmer if I ever meet you so my legs have a better chance of kicking your ass.
on December 1, 2007 at 10:46 pm3 alison

I guess we might expect to see Ryan hanging out at Renaissance Fairs. I thought it was pretty funny. so bad it’s funny. Like, I might expect to read this in The Onion.
on December 1, 2007 at 10:47 pm4 alison

whoops, meant that last comment to go into the post above it.
on December 4, 2007 at 4:28 pm5 wynnj26

Ooh. Reading this was well timed with my lecture on gender this week. My Smith students were pretty aghast, and it went very well with the assigned reading of Gloria Anzaldua’s Borderlands… it was a Texcellent day!
on December 4, 2007 at 7:58 pm6 heebie-geebie

Hiya Kristina!

Wow, that fucknut editorial made my blood boil. I was almost moved to violence, but I don’t want to risk appearing less attractive to Ryan Haecker.

No, really, grrr, just the whiff of his goddamn entitlement that women ought to max out their attractiveness for his viewing pleasure. (I really did have an adrenaline-anger-violence response.)

Thanks for pointing me your way!
on December 7, 2007 at 12:00 pm7 fred

such lovely ladies on this site…
flipping “the bird”, vulgar language, threats…

yes you have come a long way baby

let go of your anger and bitterness…
put on a long skirt/dress and smile
try femininity, you’ll like it
on December 7, 2007 at 2:12 pm8 wickedanomie

Way to go, Fred! Embrace femininity! And don’t ever let anyone tell you there’s anything wrong with that. I think it’s great!

I can’t help but point out, though, that one of the first thing we come to understand as sociologists is that just because *you* like something doesn’t mean that *we* will.

Tastes vary. Just because you have found joy in long skirts/dresses and smiles, doesn’t mean it’s for everyone.

Just sayin’
on December 23, 2007 at 10:55 am9 Ryan H

Hello Kristina,

I just received your posting on my caricature art blog. I was browsing the internet awhile back and saw you blog and shortly after realized that you were my freind Micheal’s wife. I hope I didn’t upset you too much. Alot of people were angry about the dresses article. I just recently wrote a 6 page article about feminism. I hope to write another soon but I’m abit tired of the subject. I hope you have a very merry Christmas.

Here’s my other website with my essays:
http://transhumantraditionalism.blogspot.com/
on January 21, 2008 at 10:59 pm10 kristina b

Ryan, though you’re very smart, you are also very naive and silly. I can only hope that you’ll grow up and look back on this time of your life with a slap to your forehead. Until then, I’m not feeling quite as charitable as my husband seems to feel toward you. I certainly cannot take you or your “essays” seriously.
on April 19, 2008 at 8:46 am11 Sum Mihi

I just read Ryan H’s article and wow… Can you say “naive and pompous?” Not that there haven’t been plenty of comments like this already. Perhaps he’s never had a basic level sociology course. His ideals of “womanhood” and “what is attractive, and why” seem to suffer from a severe lack of concept of anything like a social construct. I’d just like to add: I think feminism is sexy. There’s nothing more attractive than strong, intelligent women who are your equal. That is feminism; equality.
on July 22, 2008 at 2:52 pm12 Jezebella

Actually, he’s not that smart, either, Kristina. Anybody who thinks that sexual attraction is immutable and physiologically based is borderline functional at best.

It must be nice to be able to be “a bit tired” of the subject of feminism, yes? As in, he’s sick of it thinking about something other than his precious wang and where he wants to put it, and feminism, as he rightly noted, “isn’t sexy.”