Excerpt From
POLITICALLY CORRECT BEDTIME STORIES
“Little Red Riding Hood”
There once was a young person named Red Riding Hood who lived with her
mother on the edge of a large wood. One day her mother asked her to
take a basket of fresh fruit and mineral water to her grandmother’s
house—not because this was womyn’s work, mind you, but because the deed
was generous and helped engender a feeling of community. Furthermore, her
grandmother was not sick, but rather was in full physical and mental health and
was fully capable of taking care of herself as a mature adult.
So Red Riding Hood set off with her basket through the woods. Many people
believed that the forest was a foreboding and dangerous place and never set foot
in it. Red Riding Hood, however, was confident enough in her own budding
sexuality that such obvious Freudian imagery did not intimidate her.
On the way to Grandma’s house, Red Riding Hood was accosted by a wolf, who
asked her what was in her basket. She replied, “Some healthful snacks for my
grandmother, who is certainly capable of taking care of herself as a mature
adult.”
The wolf said, “You know, my dear, it isn’t safe for a little girl to walk through
these woods alone.”
Red Riding Hood said, “I find your sexist remark offensive in the extreme, but I
will ignore it because of your traditional status as an outcast from society, the
stress of which has caused you to develop your own, entirely valid, worldview.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must be on my way.”
Red Riding Hood walked on along the main path. But, because his status
outside society had freed him from slavish adherence to linear, Western-style
thought, the wolf knew a quicker route to Grandma’s house. He burst into the
house and ate Grandma, an entirely valid course of action for a carnivore such
as himself. Then, unhampered by rigid, traditionalist notions of what was
masculine or feminine, he put on Grandma’s nightclothes and crawled into
bed....
http://jamesfinngarner.com/pdf/PCBS_excerpt.pdf