Ross and I did NOT Agree on Everything...

We had differences too... and societal gender bias was the major one... Ross did not care much about it... I am passionate about it...

Ross never took up the challenge and never attempted to change the direction of things.Christmas

1. He looked the other way when there were sexist sketches in the Christmas show...

I love Christmas... The joy and the lights make me happy too... But the school Christmas show was something that I hated... There was dancing in tights and leotards... most of the female body exposed... and shaking of body parts... I could not comprehend how those erotic dances were related to Christmas...!

I hinted to Ross that he should talk to the teachers organizing the show... But he never did... I guess he was intimidated... He did not want to rock the boat... wanted the teachers to be happy... It was Christmas after all...! And, I backed away... But it was a  dirt oozing wound... 
Ross realized that I hated it... Materialist gimmicks at Christmas is one thing, but skin shows are something else... But I could not do anything and Ross was unwilling to do something...
2. I always had issues with cheerleaders... I asked Ross; "Why the girls will cheer the boys...?" He said; "Cheering is good..." Then I asked; "Why boys will not cheer girls... in their game...?" He said; "But boys are boys... and they can't be girls...!" I realized that I could not make headway in that discussion too... So, I backed off...
The Athletic department despised me with passion... They gossiped all kinds of stupidity about me... But they could not cross the line... They new that Ross will defend me...
Ross was not a rebelling leader, but he remained my friend till the end...

3. The fashion shows in school pissed me off... I told Ross; "Fashion shows are sexist in their core... They exploit women..." 
I never attended fashion shows... and sometimes I ranted against them in class... I could not condone the sexist shows... After all, we were an educational institution...    
I was busy for several days and I bypassed my morning visits to the chapel... So after three days Ross appeared in front of my classroom...
"I am sorry..." He said...
I was surprised... bewildered... I had no clue what he was referring to...
"I did it as a favour to the organizers..." He said.
I was still puzzled... and he explained... "They were short of male models and they asked me to participate... I could not say no... That's why I walked with Katie... in the show..." 
Apparently Ross had modeled a outfit with the vice-principal and had a cat walk...
I did not know about it... Who cares...! I am not interested in junk... and Ross was thinking that I am avoiding the chapel for that reason... Since he had his cat walk... 
Once he told me what he had done... I laughed and it became one of those jokes that two people share...

***

Fashion shows are sexist... But there is money in it... Lots of profit... and people love it...! 

But male models are still not that much in fashion... Some people even revolt when seeing male models...

It is okay for girls to be cheerleaders... But it is something else when boys do the cheer-leading... After all as Ross told me once; "Boys are boys... and they can't be girls..." 

Male models still scandalize most... Prostitution is a "female" trade after all... they say... and "boys are boys..."

But check the new arrivals...

Tanel is a male model... “When I arrived " – it sounds very pretentious to say this, says Tanel Bedrossiantz, “it was like a bomb going off in the industry”... 


Marcus Schenkenberg from Sweden was one of the leading figures in the emergence of the ‘male supermodel’ in the ‘90s...

Batiste Giabiconi... Male model gone from modelling to music career...

Lucky Blue is the male model of the moment who captures the imagination of the new kids on the block... 

Lucky Blue has many fans and with a massive social media following... Boy can be boys too, after all...

He is a sex symbol too...

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History Lesson... A La Diogenes...

Millions commemorated Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday this week... But today is Kissing Friday? Until about the start of World War Two, the girls of Yorkshire (England) were allowed to finish school before their male colleagues - at least for one day a year. The reason was that boys were allowed, under a tradition of indeterminate origin, to kiss them without fear of getting a slap or being chased by an angry parent. Under the rules of Kissing Friday, falling two days after Ash Wednesday, the tradition supposedly said that no girl was allowed to say no. No one exactly knows about the origin, but Nancy Hudson remembers still Kissing Friday happening when she grew up in West Yorkshire. She relates on that day... "boys could kiss the girls until 12 noon", she says, "but they had to catch them first, which resulted in much chasing round the schoolyard". On the same day,in another part of England...things were even more abusive for girls - and women - in the village of Sileby in Leicestershire.  Another variant of Kissing Friday was known as Nippy Hug Day. If any female rejected the offer of a kiss, the man or boy was allowed to pinch her bottom, a practice known as "lousing".  Some boys even strung ropes across the street to create a makeshift "toll" point, where they collected kisses.

Ross wondered why I would not let it go... Why I will not "let boys be boys..." 
I always told him... "Ross, it is abusive..."
He agreed... But then did not budge a bit...

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I am sure Ross will accept this post as my peace offering...  despite some intellectual differences he was a GOOD man... and I miss his friendship him acutely...
He was good and fun too... also considerate...