That’s gonna leave a mark on the narrative.

The concept of the cock carousel is entering the mainstream lexicon, complete with a beta chump at the end of the line to pick up the tab.  From Tully, reviewed. at Slate:

She has… a sexless but functional marriage with Drew (Ron Livingston), whom Marlo describes as the grounded bench in the careening sexual merry-go-round that was her 20s…

The reviewer at Slate is delighted that the movie shows motherhood as ugly:

The 50 pounds Theron gained for the role is just the beginning of the film’s mission to expose the less-than-enchanting facets of motherhood. After the delivery, we see Marlo shuffle to the hospital bathroom in a diaper and yell at a nurse about urinary catheters while forcing herself to pee on the toilet. The maternal and bodily scenarios here that we never see in other pop cultural depictions are painful and manifold, and that’s the point.

See Also:

• Losing control of the narrative.
• She’s saving her farts for you.
• Friday afternoon ugly feminists: Hot farts edition.

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I propose a soon-to-be coveted moxie badge.

The Chicago Tribune/AP has a new article up titled: With girls joining the ranks, Boy Scouts plan a name change. Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh explains that moving forward there won’t be “girl” scouts and “boy” scouts, just scouts:

Surbaugh predicted that both boys and girls in Scouts BSA would refer to themselves simply as scouts, rather than adding “boy” or “girl.”

But in the very next paragraph, the article explains that boys and girls will be separated in order to advantage the girls.

The program for the older boys and girls will largely be divided along gender-lines, with single-sex units pursuing the same types of activities, earning the same array of merit badges and potentially having the same pathway to the coveted Eagle Scout award.

Surbaugh said that having separate units for boys and girls should alleviate concerns that girls joining the BSA for the first time might be at a disadvantage in seeking leadership opportunities.

The Girl Scouts aren’t taking the BSA intrusion into their territory lying down;  they are counterattacking with the power of STEM:

Girl Scout leaders said they were blindsided by the move, and they are gearing up an aggressive campaign to recruit and retain girls as members.

Among the initiatives is creation of numerous new badges that girls can earn, focusing on outdoor activities and on science, engineering, technology and math.

H/T Instapundit

The love of a virtuous pagan woman tames the beast inside.

The idea that women are inherently virtuous, and that men need women to sanctify them is deeply ingrained.  You won’t find either of these concepts in Scripture, but even commenters on this site can’t distinguish between the moral views of Courtly Love/Chivalry and the Bible.

SkylerWurden explains that the Courtly Love tale of St. George and the dragon is really teaching the Christian message, a message about the glorious power of the virtuous pagan woman:

I still don’t see it. The way I read the story is this:

St. George is representing the Christian ideal and Christianity here. The dragon is obviously the devil and the townsfolk are the pagans under the thrall of the devil, with the Princess representing the virtuous pagan (being that she is willing to sacrifice herself to save the townsfolk). St. George, with the power of Christ, wounds the devil, and the virtuous pagan girl gives him (now representing Christ) her virginity. Once she gives over her virginity to Christ, she can now snare the devil and instead of being controlled by him and under his boot, she is greater than him and has bound him up. That is, she has conquered temptation by handing over her virtue to God. As she leads the dragon back to the people, they see that the power of Christ and of virtuous living has conquered the dragon and are converted, and then St. George (again standing in for Christ) slays the dragon and ends releases them from slavery.

jbarruso explains that men can’t follow Christ (and have virtue) unless they love a woman:

You’ve missed the symbolism. The dragon is the beast inside every man externalized. No man is any good to anyone especially God until he’s tamed his inner beast. The way he does that is by obediently loving God and the way he demonstrates that is selflessly loving a woman. For a man this isn’t possible apart from the Lord Jesus the Christ. And the cross. The problem is mankind sees everything through our immense self. We believe the sun revolves around the earth and God around us. St. George is nothing without the Lord. So essentially George is obedient to the Lord as a sleighs his inner beast for the love of a woman ehich demonstrates his love for God. George does what Adam failed to do.

Rules for dating a Daughter of the King.

I don’t recall what I was searching for, but the other day I stumbled upon a reproduction of Rules for Dating a Drill Instructor’s Daughter at The Gospel Coalition: Daddy’s Rules for Dating His Daughters.

How long should you date a Daughter of the King?  Until she’s done with you!

Rule Six:

I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

And remember, the cartoonish face in the window is his:

Rule Ten:

Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy near Hanoi. When my Agent Orange starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveways you should exit the car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, then return to your car – there is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine.

See Also:

• • • Cartoonish chivalry, drill instructor edition.
    • Devouring a lifetime of courtship.
    • Scaring away the competition

   

The magic in the girdle.

In my previous post I summarized the The Golden Legend version of St. George and the dragon but did not quote the original.  This created some confusion since it wasn’t entirely clear what was directly in the legend and what parts were my own commentary.  In the Golden Legend, St. George manages to wound the dragon with his martial skill after making the sign of the cross.  But after he wounds the dragon, it is the princess who tames it with the magic of her girdle.  Once she ties it around the dragon’s neck the nature of the beast is transformed:

Thus as they spake together the dragon appeared and came running to them, and St. George was upon his horse, and drew out his sword and garnished him with the sign of the cross, and rode hardily against the dragon which came towards him, and smote him with his spear and hurt him sore and threw him to the ground. And after said to the maid: Deliver to me your girdle, and bind it about the neck of the dragon and be not afeard.

When she had done so the dragon followed her as it had been a meek beast and debonair. Then she led him into the city, and the people fled by mountains and valleys, and said: Alas! alas! we shall be all dead.

Then St. George said to them: Ne doubt ye no thing, without more, believe ye in God, Jesu Christ, and do ye to be baptized and I shall slay the dragon.

Then the king was baptized and all his people, and St. George slew the dragon and smote off his head…

St. George’s power here as the hero (beyond his skill as a knight) is knowing what kind of magic will defeat the beast.  He knew the sign of the cross would allow him to wound the dragon, but that another kind of magic was required to tame the dragon.  This is very common for heroic tales.  It very often takes a combination of martial skill as well as secret knowledge for heroes to vanquish the beast.

One thing that is confusing in the account is that St. George tells the princess to:

1.  Give him her girdle.
2.  Bind the dragon with her girdle.

This is an odd contradiction, but it makes sense when you consider the courtly love imagery involved.  When a noble woman gave a knight her girdle it was a symbol that he had won her favor.  Thus we have the princess demonstrating that St. George had indeed won her favor.  But we also have the princess, through the magic of her virtuous femininity, taming the dragon.  Courtly Love/Chivalry are all about the mysterious power of noblewomen to tame what is vulgar.  Usually it is a knight who is tamed, but in this case it is the dragon.  Nevertheless, the important part is that even though her two actions (giving St. George her girdle vs tying it around the dragon’s neck) are in contradiction in the plot, they are in harmony in message.

Here is an excerpt from the plot summary in Infogalactic, which struggles with the contradiction.  First it says St. George puts the girdle around the dragon’s neck, and then immediately after it says “when she did so”:

Saint George by chance rode past the lake. The princess, trembling, sought to send him away, but George vowed to remain. The dragon reared out of the lake while they were conversing. Saint George fortified himself with the Sign of the Cross,^[10] charged it on horseback with his lance, and gave it a grievous wound. He then called to the princess to throw him her girdle, and he put it around the dragon’s neck. When she did so, the dragon followed the girl like a meek beast on a leash.^{[citation needed]}

The princess and Saint George led the dragon back to the city of Silene, where it terrified the people at its approach.