Deaf girls never say no (continue 2.1)
Thank you, Otto, for the elucidated comment as usual and for framing the stereotypical speculation! Otto's comment: "evidential reasoning from first-hand experience" which was heartily acquiesced upon by Chris, my former Deaf classmate and now ASL tutor. Today was my first ASL tutoring session with Chris. We had rationalized our misunderstanding that we had a few weeks ago. We agreed to put that behind us and become friends. I, surprisingly, got beautiful tulips from him as an apology for his attutide towards me, which given the consideration, I declared it justified. I had exhibited inappropriate things to him some time ago. My naivete and my mistake.
Back on topic, I summoned up my courage and met Joseph at the cafe for lunch to pry into his thoughts on the "Deaf girls never say no" topic. In truth, I reckoned that Joseph would dismiss this stereotypical speculation but outstandingly, he didn't. Anecdotally, he hadn't answered the question point-blank. He wrote pausingly, "This is an discrete opinion". Baffled, I asked him for the exposition of his statement. He gave me a soft smile and shook his head. Then, wrote down that he felt awkward to consult it with a student, especially a young woman like me about his past with Deaf women. I was disheartened but I understood his genuine concerns. He, notwithstanding, left a small note, "Ask me again when you are no longer my student. And it may be not true for other women." Short and simple. Before I left for my class, we had a pleasant chitchat about sociocultural topics (my fav subject).
Within a few hours, I met Chris at the lab for our ASL session. We both had an enjoyable time laughing at my awkardness in ASL and kooky facials. I made a promise to myself not to ask him about the "Deaf girls never say no" until the session was over. I kept it until the end and asked. Chris tightened his lips, blinked a few times, stared at me and nodded all over at once. Ostensibly he had bitter experiences with Deaf women. I pondered. He wrapped up his past about several Deaf women he liked and crushed upon. They condescendingly rejected him while they titillatingly accepted hearing men's propositions. He had thought that it was himself who had the women problems but considered how Deaf women were brutalized by hearing men yet they still kept chasing after those guys. They declined Chris's proposition every time he asked them out for a date while hearing men left them for other hearing or Deaf women. I thought to myself, it was their loss, really. He's such a cute guy. To lift his spirit up, I flirtingly teased him that I'd graciously accept if he asked me out for a date in a very, very subtle way.
But of course, as many men hadn't, he hadn't noticed the hint. Men (sigh). The bonus, although, was that it lifted his spirits.
Sorry. Where was I? Oh. Yeah. Considering the homework we had done, we chitchatted for an hour or two by pen and paper and basic ASL. On different topics including "Deaf girls never say no". I told him about Otto whom commented on my old post. Chris seconded his deduction, "Evidential reasoning from first-hand experience" and "personal experience". I, nevertheless, bickered with him that men similiarly would never say "no" to a hot bod and beautiful women. He backed off a bit. Chris proclaimed that it would be unprincipled to verify this stereotypical speculation as empirical fact.
The chitchat I had with Chris (including Otto's comment) gave me an idea; I'm going to track down the rumor or speculation of "Deaf girls never say no" because here, at the university, it's a popular concept and it needed to be narrowed down and plucked out. It gave people an erroneously impression and message. According to Joseph, there're about 30 Deaf students. Four-fifth of them are women.
What's new: The new same avatar and LTL (Language, Truth and Logic) Highlights. Most gracious thank to my roommate for adding the black and white photographic effect. I have always liked black and white photos. Note - I'm computer illiterate to the extreme.

3 comments:
It's much ado about nothing, really. Or if you prefer, lies, damn lies, and statistics. ;)
When it comes to the matters of the human heart, love is spread all over a standard distribution. In the case of Deaf people, we are a much smaller lot, statistically speaking. For every Deaf person, there's 1,000 regular people, based on historical trends.
Among the Deaf community, we've got our fair share of handsome men & hot women, and they have no trouble engaging in relations with other Deaf people or hearing people. Unfortunately, according to societial norms, we've also got our share of fugly and fat Deaf people.
But, by large, the biggest group, as you may suspect, are just the plain average Joe's and Jane's among the Deaf community. Usually, some intimate difficulties may arise, but among the Deaf men in this crowd, it's more difficult.
Those plain hearing Joe Sixpack's vastly outnumber the Deaf ones by a 1000:1 ratio. Couple that concept with the mainstreaming/inclusion phenomenon occurring at schools, jobs, colleges, activities, sports, & volunteerism, and you get a combination that is not very good towards Deaf Joe's out there.
Not surprisingly, a lot of Deaf Jane's will meet and encounter a lot of regular hearing Joe's in a wide variety of social situations, and inevitably, intimate relations follow.
Not to say that Deaf Joe's will have all the same societal opportunities afforded to the female gender; It's generally more difficult for us in maintaining intimate relations with women possessing no knowledge of ASL. I just can't walk into a bar and pick up hearing women with a pen/paper. ;)
The net result of such societial 'engineering' is that Deaf women have the luxury of choosing from a diverse genetic pool, which vastly outnumber Deaf men.
Not surprisingly, it may lead to derisive and negative comments harbored by certain hearing men that 'Deaf Girls Are Easy' or 'Deaf Girls Don't Say No.' When in actuality, it is just simple numbers working in their favor.
That all said, we Deaf Joe's have had our moments. ;) And I fully expect to have more intimate and warm moments, given the wonderful and unpredictable nature life offers us all in the future.
I must admit I found your explication of societial norms captivating. I had to take half an hour as to think on it. Your breakdown made sense and you spotted on that part precisely.
For the sake of argument; there is, also, a reciprocal phenomenon that I'd like to ponder about: given the number of hearing women actively participating in ASL classes, it'd aggrandize the quota in chances for Deaf Joes to having intimate relationships with them? It has happened before, it's happening now and it may happen in the ascertainable future. My ASL professor briefed us that the ASL courses and enrollments accumulated 400% over a few years in America.
It seemed to me that it was a trade-off between hearing Janes and Deaf Janes? Whereas being a student of Sociology, it'd be enthralling subject to delve into. Maybe I could pick an average Deaf "Joe" to even it out? =)
Thank you for sharing your ratiocinated comment with me!
Friday night - party. Have a nice weekend!
Have you ever thought of it the other way as in
"Deaf Guys Never Say No"?
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