The Rice Wars
By Cressey Rice
Obviously it still matters.
Why count women when women have proven already their physical equality in what can be done – so different from what has been done because so many girls and women are trapped into the beauty myth of consuming. Spending money makes people feel more attractive, really, I should say people – men are just as bad as women these days, it’s just whether you get it or you don’t get it. Some people – well, most – who see the reality of consumerism for the hoaxy myth that it really is – these people still catch themselves up in the power of money in one way or another. It’s really the biggest problem on earth and it doesn’t take a fucking extremist Muslim terrorist to notice, either. Many educated and middle class citizens completely understand the irony of work, work, work, spend, spend, die.
Once a human gets on with her or his earth groove, found a way to experience gravity in a special, physical way that is the most enjoyably and challenging aspect of her/his existence, then a human is truly alive. So why are women less apt to finding an earth groove? Of course, women have always achieved the most influential earth/pain groove – bearing and delivering children. Women have been seen as the care givers and men as the physical limit pushers. It’s time to equally share human responsibilities instead of separating these responsibilities. Women must be pushing the physical limits in order to create equilibrium. Countless numbers of women have pushed the non-gendered envelopes in their fields. Lynn Hill was the first person to free climb The Nose of El Capitan in Yosemite, CA. She climbed 3300 feet in under twenty four hours, placing protection and using a belay but never needing it. That was 1993, and today no one else has equaled her feat. Think of Amelia Airheart, Joan of Arc, and Jane Doe. Why are women not recorded alongside men?
HIStory did not write women on the same physical pages as men. Therefore, that a person is socialized and aggressive, physically talented human being depends most on his/her gender. How are men so much more socialized into the enjoyment of physical activity? What does it mean to be a female who was socialized into the enjoyment of physical activity and competition? Are women so much more brainwashed into thinking pain is bad or that women just can’t run, jump, throw or spit as well as men? Yes. Plain. Simple.
Women who are lucky enough to see outside the bubble are still a little lost for real role models – women who are competing or playing along side men, not just separate from. Once a woman can project confidence and a sense of equality, she is already another role model. It’s not just men that treat women and men differently, women do it, too. To a certain extent, women will progress more quickly with other women around, just as anyone in isolation can only progress so far. I have only had the opportunity to skate bowls with other women on rare occasions. A few times Steve was the only man skating so he could feel for a second what it’s like to skate with all men. These times of skating with other women has taught me that everyone does have her/his own style, it’s just that the raising ratio of women to men is encouraging, and the feeling of isolation chips down little by little.
But my real and close friends are the ones who have really pushed me and as I progress I can push them, too. Because skateboarding in empty holes is a world of mystery and underground cooling off and wonder and stench.
Even with this knowledge of the daily grind’s inhumanity, we are still without power to change it. We still have our ugly buying and debt behaviors, addictions to white bread and leased cars. The consumerism we are facing runs rabid. People who don’t care about money or power don’t run for office or seek out 60+ hours a week just to be able to drive Saabs. No, society leaves these power-generating jobs for the greedy, money-bred billionaires who never touch the earth.
Cressey catching the concrete wave in her own backyard.