I worked in the frameshop today from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. in a desperate attempt to catch up on my workload, only taking two potty breaks and grabbing cookies for breakfast and lunch as I ran through the kitchen back to the shop. Needless to say, I never got a chance to change the same five CD’s that played over and over again. These lines from lyrics to one of Waylon Jennings’ songs stuck in my mind:
“Long-legged girl, you really don’t need to talk,
Long-legged, good-looking thing, you don’t need to talk”
Okay ladies, you can breathe now, calm down. Men, I’ll bet that 90% of you are smirking. Unless, of course, your significant other is hanging over your shoulder reading this. Me, I’m with you. I’m smiling, with a little shake of my head and an eyeroll.
I lived through the 60s and 70s and the birth of feminism amid the cries of “chauvinist pig!” Yes, much good has come of it, but it came at a cost and has affected the natural instincts of the human male species forever. For every right gained, someone loses something—not always a bad thing, but sometimes an irrevocable change in our history and stamp upon our future. Sexual attraction is, after all, as necessary a part of our evolution as is civilization or refinement of our baser instincts.
But in the process of upgrading and learning, we always manage to sacrifice something that managed to get us to the point we are at. Basic needs are often crass, but only because we have come to believe them to be. Have we ever seen a male and a female chimpanzee engage in conversation before copulation? Does he even care if she knows how to peel a banana? We are, needless to say, far advanced of chimpanzees in intellect, but why do we need to get so stressed out and self-righteous about the basis upon which we are formed?
These simple, straight-forward words from this song are based upon natural instinct. If you are offended by them, fine; don’t listen to them. “I am woman, hear me roar” by Helen Reddy might be more to your liking. But men shouldn’t have to outwardly cringe upon hearing either side of the story, if deep down inside they really don’t deny a relation.
And come on, the words do imply that “talking” would be a bonus, something over and above what is needed, something special. Can’t we accept that and let it be? Isn’t that what tolerance and being open-minded is all about?
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology