Sunday, August 8, 2010

An Afternoon of Self-Righteousness In Borders Books

SO
I sauntered into Borders the other afternoon with no intentions whatsoever. Curious about their magazine selection, I did some hardcore browsing. I had read the above issue of Bust in the Brown bookstore a few days before (I'm very non-committal about magazines), and that along with Bitch were sitting right behind the placard that read "Gay and Lesbian". I took a quiet offense to the possibility of this being a gesture towards generalizing feminist periodicals as being for 'dykes' and what-have-you...
I mentioned it to the lady working at the desk, and being the non-mentioning type I am, I felt a certain shot of self-esteem leak into my bloodstream, then rocket towards cushioning a little tumor of self-righteousness in my chest. Huzzah! Tah-dah forever!
Of course, after delivering my opinion to the nice lady employee, I immediately felt the pangs of contradiction begin their monologue: "No! I know feminism and queer interests are totally allied and in tandem with each other! They are historically linked! I wouldn't want girls/women to maybe not give these titles a chance because they're shelved under 'Gay'! Not that that would be right anyway! Or maybe people wouldn't care! Or maybe they do! I don't know, I'm out of touch with what the rest of humanity thinks anyway! DON'T LISTEN TO ME FRIENDLY BORDERS EMPLOYEE, CONTINUE DOING YOUR JOB AFFABLY AND HONORABLY! Goodbye!"
This was all internal, although may have showed by way of a deeply furrowed brow. Anyhow I did get the hell out of there before I collapsed under the weight of my one-woman silent debate meeting.I went back a couple days later, and lo and behold, Bust and Bitch were no longer under Gay & Lesbian, but Culture & Society! VICTORY!
But, oh...


Ok, it's actually that they don't seem to have enough shelf space or carry enough Gay & Lesbian titles to fill a rack that would be able to fulfill the promise of that placard. It's a tie this time Borders!!
And I bought the issue of Bitch on display just because I felt guilty. Although I'm not sure what exactly for...
Moral of the story is...don't get angry until you're sure you actually have something to be angry about.
The End.

2 comments:

  1. dear paige, you were not debating that lonely borders employee, you were debating yourself, therefore, you win, always. be happy dare I say, unabridged frolic?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I know I was debating myself!
    But thanks for thee encouragement.

    ReplyDelete