My temperature goes up when I argue or speak in class. Today I played devil's advocate against a group of... well, I was going to be derogatory, but they don't deserve it. They just said what they'd got from the textbook. From the lecture. I can't help but speak out against those sort of things. Just because. Because views should be yours because you believe them, not because you're told them. Because being questioned is a good way to figure out whether you really do believe those things. And if my half-assed, spur-of-the-moment arguments to the contrary can change your mind, then obviously those views weren't for you in the first place.

It helped that today the issue was one that I actually didn't agree with the textbook about. Feminist issues are frequently that way with me. The situation of women in third world and developing nations. Oh the poor dears. Look at their thankless, payless work in the home. Look at their wages, which are less than men. Look at how they're being exploited.

Let's look at the problem from all sides, yeah? Let's look at the situation of men in those countries, how little they're paid. How they're exploited. Let's look at women in the 'first' world, how they do thankless, payless work in the home and are paid less than men.

The problem with women in the third world isn't the women part, it's the third world part. It's society as a whole. And bleating, do-gooder 'gender and development' feminists piss me off because putting the spotlight on the women's inequalities ignores the fact that it's the society as a whole that needs the change.

Not to mention the fact that we aren't exactly exemplary ourselves, are we?

Oh yeah, and while I'm at it, do you honestly think we should just march in there and un-exploit the women? Throw off your shackles, sisters! We should march in and tell them how to run their country, their society, their lives, according to our moral, ethical and cultural standards?

The arrogance of some people is overwhelming.