First of all, sorry for the blurry, low quality pictures. It’s hard to get all James Bond on my Motorola Razr, but I promise I have mad, top secret camera phone ninja skills. Oh, and this whole OP is a bit disjointed, but I’m sleepy. Onward I go.
Seriously, fuck Borders. My roommate works there and while I am tremendously thankful for the 33% discount that they generously extend to her and which she gleefully extends to me, I am more than a little heated at the moment. Roomie is a bio major and adores science- she’s almost 6 feet tall with beautiful, long black hair and-on the surface- is not the typical science nerd. That said, she’s always reading Discover, American Scientist, and whatever current magazine has either a: some disgusting picture of a human body part or b: some bizarre picture of a galaxy I’ve never heard of.
I digress. On more than one occasion, she’s lamented to me about how Borders stocks the science magazines under the men’s interest section. As one tends to do with the people they live with, I tuned her out and went back to doing something important, like pretending I’m too busy to study.
Now, unlike the roomie, I’m not a science person. No, sir. I’m a history nerd. I may bounce around my car to Britney Spears while carrying my over priced pink Coach purse and wearing my equally over priced pink lip gloss, but I LOVE military history. Needless to say, much like the roomie, I’m not the stereotypical nerd of my field.
Again, I digress. Tonight she was off and we went in to Borders to pick up some magazines. I asked her where the the history magazines are and she told me they are by the science magazines. I said she’s being a horrible book wench and I need a little more information than that. She points in the general direction and off I go. And baby Jesus be damned-
The history and science magazines were under the men’s interest section!
I wish someone would have pointed out this injustice to me in the past!
But seriously, what the fuck is that? Let’s take a look at the sections, shall we? Let’s start with the men’s interest section. There’s the tattoo magazines and the naked lady magazines.
The beneath that, we have the science magazines and the history magazines. I guess men are interested in science and history. That’s good. I think.
Whereas the women’s interest section- er, I mean- fashion and health section (see, apparently women don’t have interests) contains magazines full to the brim with tips on how to get skinny for a man, how to cook for a man, how to look sexy for a man, how to find a man, and how to suck a dick to keep a man.
Below that, we’ve got magazines on how to keep the house clean and how to cook. Oh, and we can’t forget the bridal magazines to help us plan for the biggest day of our Y-chromosome lacking lives.
Oh, lest I forget that the politics magazines (my other major is Poli Sci) are at the complete opposite end of the magazine section from the women’s area, but are nuzzled comfortably next to the men’s interest section. Here’s . a fancy diagram I made explaining the layout. The diagram pretty much explains itself, but the totally accurate American flag denotes the politics section.
I’m not sure why this pisses me off so much. I mean, I do know why in general but I don’t know why this one little indiscretion has really pissed me off. Regardless of the reason, I’m going to write a letter to Borders. I don’t know what good it’ll do if any, but it is absolutely horrible that things like science and history are categorized as 'men’s interests". With a societal attitude like this, no wonder so many little girls are growing up without a firm grasp on math, science, or even history. Hell, even the teenage girl browsing through the magazines is more likely to stumble on the knitting magazines than anything else; yet the boy looking at Playboy can glance down to find Armchair General and American Scientist. Hell, I’m 21 and I never knew Borders carried some of these magazines because I never thought to look under fucking Hustler for a magazine about the goddamned Civil War!
Fuck. That. Shit. I’m a girl. I’m a really fucking girlie girl. And you know what? I love reading about military history. Fuck Borders for their attitude about what does and doesn’t constitute a particular gender’s interest. Honestly, how hard would it be to have a . . . I dunno . . . SCIENCE section and HISTORY section? Argh. Fuck Borders with a goat. Or something equally goat-like.
On reflection, all those pictures weren’t really necessary. That said, they sure were fun to take. Made me feel special.