Tag: radio

Patriarchy and Men

~ Clarissa ~ 13 Comments

If you think being a man in a profoundly patriarchal society is easy, think again. I’ve been listening to the Russian radio again and I almost choked on my pomegranate juice when I heard a man announce in a very intimidating and tragic voice:

“Does it sometimes take you more than ten minutes after you’ve had sex to prepare for the next sex act?? If so, you have erectile dysfunction! And you need to take care of it now, before things get worse!”

By things getting worse, the radio host must have meant that it takes some people – oh, horror! – as much as 20 minutes to prepare for the next sex act. And those who need a couple of hours (or days) must be hopeless invalids.

Seriously, is there anybody older than 18 who never needs more than 10 minutes between sex acts?

And I’m not even starting on the issue of how many people have trouble finding any partner, let alone one who’d be willing to go again ten minutes after sex.

Even people who are extremely healthy can be bullied straight into an erectile dysfunction by such announcements if they hear them often enough.

From A Russian Radio Station

~ Clarissa ~ 3 Comments

These are some of the things that I just heard on Russia’s most progressive radio station:

“Protests against the unfair elections took place not only in Moscow but also in Russia.”

“For a very long time, many people couldn’t fulfill their dream of moving to Moscow because housing was very expensive in the city. Now, however, this dream has become accessible to anybody. Our company sells cheap, luxurious cottages starting at only $200,000.”

“Great Britain is repenting the huge mistake it made when it allowed all those dark-skinned folks who have recently been let out of their cages in Africa to move to the country. These people should have stayed in their zoos instead of coming to a civilized country and destroying it. I’m sure everybody noticed that the darker your skin is, the likelier you are to be dirty, rude, and mean to others.”

None of the programs that contained these statements tried to be humorous or parodic. This was all said completely in earnest. And I didn’t even try the really hardcore ultra-nationalistic stations.

Ask me again why I don’t hang out with people from my country.

Through the Eyes of a Stranger: American Radio

~ Clarissa ~ 60 Comments

Back in Ukraine, I used to be a huge fan of nighttime radio shows. I find something very comforting in the idea of voices speaking softly in the background as I work on the computer, informing me of the news and not trying to invade my field of vision. In the US, however, I never had a chance to listen to the radio. Since I don’t drive, it didn’t feel like it made sense for me to buy a radio.

Now, however, I finally decided to familiarize myself with the American radio, especially as so many people rely upon it as their main source of news. I had no idea how to choose a radio station or which stations are good. I think I vaguely heard something positive about a radio station called the NPR. I seem to recall a former colleague of mine telling me that his first action as a finally employed professor was to donate money to the NPR to support their progressive activism.

I have no idea if the NPR my colleague supported is the same NPR that I’m listening to but I have to say that I’m a little confused. As I said before, I have trouble determining what counts as news as opposed to humor among the American news sources. This is why I’m now confused as to whether this NPR channel is supposed to be humorous or serious. The very first two pieces of news I heard about from this radio station were:

1. A Tea Party group in Florida is protesting against fluoridated water because they believe it is a governmental intrusion into the lives of citizens.

2. The Obama administration and the Congress can’t reach an agreement as to whether pizza should be considered a vegetable.

I know there is a lot of insanity going on in the world but, surely, things can’t be that weird. Can anybody enlighten me as to whether NPR is a humorous radio station?

If there are radio stations you particularly enjoy and listen to often, please recommend them to me. I’m planning to take up radio listening seriously since it does wonders for my grading. I want talk radio, though, not music channels.