Blogger
It’s not hard to see that we’re a long way away from a perfect society. Even in 2015, you can look around our world and wonder whether, through just a few small changes, things could be better. More equal. More fair. It makes me wonder: What would society be like today if we treated men the way society treats women and also President John F. Kennedy were still alive?
Imagine what it would be like to wake up tomorrow in a world where suddenly men couldn’t walk down the street without enduring a barrage of catcalls and where Lee Harvey Oswald’s bullets missed the presidential motorcade that fateful day in Dallas. How would our cultural assumptions differ if a man had to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace? And what would it be like to live in a society where the 35th president of the United States was able to complete two full terms in office before retiring to spend nearly half a century as one of the nation’s leading elder statesmen?
Of course, we can’t wave a magic wand and make it so Kennedy was able to reach a political détente with the Soviet Union during his second term. Nor can I make it so employers refuse to cover prescriptions for Viagra instead of the birth control pill. Still, I think it would do a lot of good if men everywhere took a moment to envision a world where ex-President Kennedy went on to author several policy books related to the War on Terror and women were the CEOs of nearly all Fortune 500 companies.
Imagine what it would be like to wake up tomorrow in a world where suddenly men couldn’t walk down the street without enduring a barrage of catcalls and where Lee Harvey Oswald’s bullets missed the presidential motorcade that fateful day in Dallas.
But can most people even wrap their head around the idea of five women being nominated for best director at this year’s Academy Awards and JFK de-escalating U.S. involvement in Vietnam? It’s probably too hard to comprehend. But still, I think it would be a worthwhile exercise for all of us to conceive of a universe where men get called sluts, women get called players, and an 83-year-old Kennedy gave a stirring keynote address at the 2000 Democratic National Convention that swung the election in Al Gore’s favor.
Imagine watching an elderly Kennedy being interviewed on The Daily Show by a female host. Incredible.
So, this is the challenge I issue to everyone out there: Consider what it would be like if our whole way of life changed. Imagine you suddenly inhabit a parallel universe where men are forced to watch their drinks at dinner parties and President Robert F. Kennedy made college free for all Americans in 1977. Does that not sound like a better place?
