Recent books allude to this rage in oblique yet blunt passages that have begun to swirl out of social commentary about the New Economy. I let the gangsta style play down into my whiteboy identity, thinking to myself, Man, you are the illest, you are sitting here on this subway and none of these people are going to FUCK with you, and if they do FUCK with you, you are going to FUCK them up. In this way author Clyde Phillips alludes to the subtle shades of meaning in the title. Of course, when women do it, the carving turns sexual. Oh no, we think, not THAT act of surgery, but don't worry, she repeats it later, much to the befuddlement of the father-figure detectives.
Women are more vulnerable.
The city might dress them in power clothes, might build their muscles in gyms and exercise classes, might teach them, in management classes, the proper legal threats to make against a man at an office, or a courtroom, or board meeting. Since his wife has Alzheimer's and his daughter can't get pregnant, he figures he should have one more shot at fatherhood for some infathomable and who-cares reason. Fascinated by the scars left by the Vietnamese, he figures he'll learn something by sawing open the hero's back to expose all the wrecked muscles and vertebrae so he can . . . So welcome to the new trend of Male Torture, a much better direction in commercial fiction than the Female Mutilation Era, but not by much - if they follow the trend in movies, kids will be next. This request is incredibly burdensome and disruptive to a small business.