I went out with a guy like this once. Right from the beginning, I should have known: He was bragging how, if anyone fucked with him, he could ruin their credit record.
Why I gave him my phone number, I’ll never know. I guess I was just bored, and he was good-looking, tall and was employed.
But I did, and he called before I was home from work, and my son answered the phone. When I came in, my kid said, “Mom, some weirdo called for you.”
He called back a few minutes later. “Oh, that’s the game you’re playing? You tell me you can’t see me tonight because you already have somebody there? That’s the kind of whore you are?”
Believe it or not, this did not endear him to me.
“Who do you think you’re talking to, you creep? Don’t ever call me again.” I hung up on him.
I never told him my last name and he didn’t know where I lived. Thank God.
Also: I was just reading this Breaking Bad review, and wanted to add a variation on this theme:
I thought a lot about the parallels between this storyline and the endless, idiotic discourse about “family values” in our society. “Family values” is a code word for maintaining a patriarchal society where men rule over women and children. Like Walt, those invested in this system justify it by pretending that they just want what’s best for everyone—that it’s about making men take responsibility blah blah blah. But this is the reality: The responsibility for providing for the family is all too often a cover story for a system that is actually geared towards protecting male egos and power. If there’s a conflict between women and children’s actual well-being and maintaining the system of male power, then male power will win. If there’s a conflict between men’s emotional and human needs—like the need for love and companionship that we all have—the men’s needs will be sacrificed. Everyone loses in a system geared towards preserving the power structure.
Look how many times we’ve seen this in action, where an abandoned husband kills his wife and kids because they can’t exist unless it’s within the framework of his existence. (Some women kill their families, but it’s usually because she’s mentally ill.) But this story, we see every holiday season: The man goes back and kills the family for the sin on continuing without him. It’s what happens when society denies male vulnerability and forces everyone into rigid gender roles.
