Trendy

Yesterday morning I tweeted about a line from my son's college orientation that I continue to think is brilliant, and which has been rattling around in my mind, influencing the book I'm writing now.

Here's the tweet:

Rachel Vail @rachelvailbooks

Great point made in son's college orientation re sex/safety/respect/etc: "Consent is really too low a bar. Hold out for enthusiasm."

9:33 AM - 18 Sep 2013

Later yesterday, in he afternoon, I clicked back onto twitter. It was weird. I was suddenly "trending in London" (I was not sure what that meant but it sounded a lot better than I looked, in my end-game writing uniform of yoga pants and fleece jacket) -- I was more trending on UK social media than, say, Arsenal football, London, or Syria. WHAT?

Then this morning people were tweeting links to a story in The Guardian about sexism and the horrible indignities that "freshers" (freshmen, I assume, but maybe only first-year women?) endure, learning before they learn where the classroom buildings are, never mind anything about Econ or Shakespeare, that they are going to be objectified, rated, judged for their utility as potential man-pleasing things. It's a horrible (and UNTRUE) lesson, searingly being taught in way too many places that should be bastions of higher learning. But there are some bright spots, the article says, toward the end, and with a bang, finishes off with my tweet, in all its glory.

Here's the tweet that alerted me to the article:

Freshers' week sexism - are female freshers treated as prey? Great quote from @rachelvailbooks http://gu.com/p/3tqjn/tw 

You can get to the article here, too:

So at best I know I'm on a track in the current book that resonates with a lot of people. 

Also, people keep tweeting that there should be tshirts. I'd buy one. It's a cool statement, and useful to remember, whatever relationship situation you find yourself in. Hold out for enthusiasm.