Wait, What Are You-Oh, No, You Really Don’t Have T-Er, Uh, Okay, Thanks....

[merlinhawk]

Anyone who thinks women’s liberation has a long way to go in Korea (to say nothing of the United States) has never been to Uganda. Let’s not deal here with “female circumcision” (read as, “horrid, twitch-inducing-by-description-alone genital mutilation”), which is still practiced by one tribe. Let’s also not discuss the rape statistics, which are

Comments

[apestyle]

Reading this I feel a sort of culture clash within myself. It goes something like this, "It feels weird when women are serving me. This isn't right." On the other hand, I cringe when this thought swims to the surface, "The women here shouldn't be serving me because it offends my North American social standards."

The latter thought makes me cringe because how dare I challenge the prevailing social structure, habits, and traditions? Am I saying that my American values are Very Superior to these backwards people?

When in Korea, I once tried to beg off being helped by my Aunt (I had a bad sunburn and she insisted on working some lotion into my skin - after a few minutes I asked her to stop) and was met with large amounts of criticism.

[merlinhawk]

Mm. That's true, and I usually don't much go in for the kind of cultural arrogance that says, "if you don't do things exactly as we do, you're just WRONG