“An old bull and a young bull are sitting on a mountain and they see a whole bunch of cows in a pasture. The young bull says to the old bull, ‘Hey, let’s run down and fuck one of them.’ And the old bull says, ‘No, let’s walk down there and fuck all of them.’”

Before Aaron left his home in Las Vegas to go to college, his father gave him this piece of advice about women. Aaron’s father used this piece of advice as a way to impart his values to his son. It is a joke, but he meant it mostly seriously, thus it is not a joke to Aaron’s father. According to Aaron, the lesson his father meant to impart is that girls are nothing to fuss over; essentially girls have no value. Girls are simply there to have sexual intercourse with. His father wanted Aaron to see that having sex with girls is not a conquest; it is just something a man does. Aaron’s dad told Aaron right before he left for college because Aaron’s grandfather told Aaron’s father right before HE left for college. Aaron stressed that he does not actually believe this, and that he is in fact embarrassed his father said something to him like that. He stressed that although his father did not mean it as a joke, to Aaron, this is DEFINITELY a joke. He repeats this joke to others on random occasions when something reminds him of it simply because he finds it amusing. In his eyes, he is performing and passing on a joke to friends. For example, he may perform this item when one of his friends is complaining about troubles about a girl just to lighten the mood with something he considers a joke. He said he will tell his own son in the future and he will explain that it was something he was told, but it is not a philosophy to live by. He says he will use it as an illustration to explain to his son why “grandpa is a little bit troubled/crazy.” Aaron said that when his own son asks him, “Dad, what’s wrong with grandpa?” He will show his son just how “wrong” grandpa is with his father’s philosophy on life.

I completely took this as a joke when Aaron told me. He had to repeat several times that his dad did not intend this to come across as a joke. With that being said, I think it is very wrong to look at girls this way. Women are to be respected; they are not to be viewed as just something to “fuck.” Also, women are not a “whole bunch of cows.” A “whole bunch of cows” implies that women are uniform and similar. This is an incorrect assumption. One cannot lump all women into one category. I do not like that in this joke, women are viewed as powerless; men are the ones wielding decision-making power. While I disagree with Aaron’s father, I do agree with Aaron. I think it is just a joke and is not something for men to live by or aspire to live by. I admit it is amusing and I did laugh when Aaron performed this piece of folklore for me. I just think it is only amusing as long as one remembers it is a joke and only a joke. Admittedly, I might pass this joke on to other people as kind of a way of mocking of chauvinistic thinking.

For people who take this joke seriously, it could mean they identify men as the truly more powerful sex. They could identify men as rightful decision-makers. In fact, they could just see women as objects to be used.

For people who understand this is completely a joke and not a suggestion for a lifestyle, it means they realize within themselves that women are not objects used for men’s pleasure. People who understand this is a joke actually DO respect women. For instance, the fact that Aaron took his father’s words and interpreted them as a joke shows that he respects women and understands that what his father suggests life is like is not reality.