anti-smokers target women, avoid men

After several attacks from anti-smokers who deliberately avoided smoking men in order to target her, Gilda, 56, is wondering whether the anti-smoking crusaders are chicken-livered cowards or whether the campaign is designed to stop women, not men, smoking.

"Traditionally, men have always smoked in our society -- they had smoking rooms and smoking jackets and tobacco clubs where they hung out -- but it's only in relatively recent times that women took up the habit," explains Gilda. "It was very popular with emancipated women from the 1920s onwards, but didn't catch on with working class women until the 1950s."

"We all know what happened after the late 1960s," laughs Gilda, "and I'm wondering whether the anti-smoking campaign is just another backlash by men and their dependent women against feminism."

"Nobody in their right mind could object to the image of a macho guy smoking, let alone try to stop him -- he's so cool," laughs Gilda, "but it's a different story with women smokers, isn't it?"

"Guys of my generation -- the baby boomers -- are reasonably comfortable with women smokers," says Gilda,"It's the older men, the younger men and immigrant men of all ages who seem to have trouble with women smoking."

"Where I lived last year was an elderly couple in their 70s and although the wife was pleasant the husband was incredibly hostile to me -- not only attacking me for smoking but for being a single women, too," laughs Gilda. "He was from the old school who felt a woman's place was at home, under a man's thumb, and that smoking was something guys did, not women!"

"That guy would have a lot in common with Islamic men and might enjoy living under Sharia law where he could stone a few women to death," sighs Gilda, "and his beliefs are pretty widely held by men, and dependent women, of his generation. Too young to have fought with the smoking men and women in WWII, and too old to have enjoyed the 70s. Poor, lost souls."

"There were other smokers in the apartment block -- mostly male -- but that guy left them alone and just attacked me!"

"With immigrant men from backward cultures who denigrate women you expect a bad reception -- and I've had plenty of those in recent years thanks to our government opening the flood gates to middle-eastern refugees," sighs Gilda. "They just don't seem to understand -- or want to understand -- that women in our society have equal rights to men, including the right to smoke."

"At a outdoor coffee bar one lunch-time I was accosted by a middle-eastern man who screamed at me for smoking and raised his hand as if to strike me," says Gilda. "I didn't even see him arrive with his wife and baby and sit behind me. I was too busy reading. Considering we were seated on the sidewalk with vehicles belching out their poisons I was surprised that he didn't see the irony of what he was saying and, why, indeed, he didn't use the non-smoking section of the coffee bar if he objected to cigarette smoke."

"Again, several male smokers were seated outside but this guy left them alone and attacked me," sighs Gilda. "And guess what, the male smokers smirked rather than coming to my aid. Very gallant of them, eh?"

"Young men, too, seem to be particularly averse to women smoking," says Gilda. "I'd be a rich woman if I were paid a dollar for every young man who thought it was his male prerogative to insult a lady for smoking."

"But it's not just men who behave badly towards smoking women," says Gilda. "Women of all ages -- even my own -- seem to be coming out of the woodwork and beating up on members of their own sex who smoke."

"And, like the cowardly male anti-smokers, they target women smokers and leave the male smokers alone," says Gilda. "The young girls at my office have similar complaints so it's not just older women being targeted. In fact, some of the young girls have told me stories about being physically assaulted for smoking by the men in their lives."

"While it's sensible for female crusaders to avoid male smokers in case of violence, it's downright cowardly for the male crusaders to attack women and leave male smokers alone, isn't it? asks Gilda. "So, what is it? Are we looking at deliberate discrimination against female smokers, or just cowardice?"

"Do the anti-smokers want to stop everyone from smoking, or just women?"
"Is the hidden agenda of the anti-smoking campaign to regain tobacco for exclusive male use?"

"Are macho male smokers behind it all?"

"Don't laugh," sighs Gilda. "In this crazy world of government spin and faceless male elites ruling the world behind the scenes, anything is possible."

"You'd think, wouldn't you, that after fifty years of feminism we'd have more respect and political clout than we have today," adds Gilda. "We're going backwards -- no doubt about that -- and I blame globalization and immigration for eroding the feminist values that the grand old dames of the 20th century won for us."

"And, yes, smoking is a feminist issue," asserts Gilda. "Remember the cigarettes Virginia Slims and their slogan 'you've come a long way, baby'? It's all about being treated equally, and if women are being victimized for smoking and men aren't, then something is going on that all women,smokers or not, should be alerted to because you don't know what's coming next."

anti-social smokers?

Contrary to the belief that smoking is mainly a sociable habit, taken up by impressionable young people in order to fit in with a crowd -- a belief upon which anti-smoking deterrents are based -- Topaz, 23, took it up because she wanted to keep people -- especially men -- away from her!

"It's the most effective way I know to avoid unwanted attentions," laughs Topaz, "and when some pushy guy dares to break into my personal space to tell me how much I stink, and how unattractive he thinks smoking women are, it only reinforces my belief that smoking is one of the best defences a girl can have."

"I know that a lot of smokers -- men and women -- feel very threatened by this sort of abuse," says Topaz, "but in today's anti-smoking climate you cannot really expect people to behave otherwise towards you."

"Social smokers are extremely vulnerable to this sort of abuse," explains Topaz, "and that's why they're quitting in droves. They cannot handle people hating them. They want so much to be loved that they'd eat dog poo is someone influential told them it would make them more lovable. Poor souls!"

"The self-medicating smokers are terribly defensive when faced with abuse from anti-smokers," says Topaz. "They are likely to respond with equal abuse or slink back into their shells of despair depending upon their personalities or size."

"As for anti-social smokers like me, it's water off a duck's back," laughs Topaz, "and yes, I do understand the irony of my situation. I realize that smoking in public is likely to attract attention -- which I don't want -- but if I did NOT smoke I would receive a lot more attention. Get it?"

"Some girls -- consciously or otherwise -- actually put on weight to avoid unwanted attentions," says Topaz, "and that option was not attractive to me. I wouldn't like myself if I were fat. Smoking suited my purposes perfectly."

"If you cannot understand why I took up smoking to avoid unwanted attention then you are either a man or a very ugly girl," laughs Topaz. "I have been hassled by men since I was a little girl, and I just didn't want to be preyed on any more."

"Also, I didn't want other girls being mean to be because I am better looking than they are."

"I didn't want to solve this problem by making myself unattractive --- putting on weight, wearing ugly spectacles or wearing false buck teeth," laughs Topaz, "and I couldn't hide myself in a burka like women in other cultures do, so I decided to take up a dirty, stinking, disgusting habit that would make me a universal pariah."

"It worked like a charm," laughs Topaz, "and what's more, I enjoy it."

"No, I wouldn't say that I am anti-social -- a loner -- by nature," explains Topaz, "but I am probably a lot more self-contained than most people are."

"I have a good job, I'm paid very well and my boss -- a woman -- disapproves of my habit without disapproving of me," says Topaz. "She understands why I started smoking and just tells me not to smoke around her!"

"As for boyfriends," laughs Topaz, "I choose them rather than them choosing me."

"When I see a guy I like, I won't smoke if he's not smoking -- and yes, I can stop smoking when I want to because I'm not doing it to medicate myself."

"Preferably, I'd choose a guy who doesn't smoke because I don't want to take on a guy who may have problems," says Topaz, "and besides which I want children one day."

"I wasn't raised in a smoking home and I wouldn't want my children to be exposed to extra pollutants while they are developing," explains Topaz. "Our environment is toxic enough with vehicle and industrial pollutants and while adults can take it I don't believe little children can."

"Am I an anti-social menace because I smoke?" asks Topaz. "Well, I suppose I am in a way, but in a society that's anti-social towards me -- encouraging men to be predatory and women to be their playthings -- a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to protect herself."