Gendered/Sexist Ads. Ugh.

I don't think I need to explain the following ads. A friend of mine on Facebook posted the link & they're quite awful.

http://shortietheatrekid.tumblr.com/post/51838554110/perpetualvelocity

And if you want to look at more, look at the "pointlessly gendered products" section on pinterest.

http://pinterest.com/socimages/pointlessly-gendered-products/


I think it's time we change this and just have "toys." Right?

It recently ocurred to me that one topic we never talked about was the Men's Rights Movement (MRM). I'd love to hear people's thoughts -- I honestly still don't know how to make sense of it all -- but until then, I thought I'd leave you all with this website. I don't even know where to begin as I'm having trouble getting past their "Mission Statement" on this website.

http://www.avoiceformen.com/policies/mission-statement/

MISSION STATEMENT

It is the mission of A Voice for Men to:

• Promote the dissemination of information that will expose misandry and gender-centrism on all levels in our culture;

• Oppose any form of gender-centrism. We propose to foster the equal valuing of men and women socially, regardless of sexual orientation and identity, as well as their equal treatment under the law;

• Recognize the institution of marriage and the family unit as the foundation of civilized society. However, we support the trend away from that institution until the current legal zeitgeist making it unsafe for men and children is corrected. We support an end to “no fault” divorce and support default shared custody in the event of divorce. We seek to promote awareness of information designed to protect men and fathers who are already married;

• Promote a rejection of sex based chivalry in any form or fashion.

• Promote the legal and nonviolent antagonism of all agents of misandry and gender-centrism, from members of academe, to holders of public office, to law enforcement and other state functionaries, to popular bloggers and to corporate agents who promote misandry and gender-centism for profit;

• Support peaceful acts of civil disobedience when necessary;

• Educate men, women, girls and boys about the threats they face in feminist governance and to promote an end to that governance;

• Debunk sex based lies and distortions wherever they occur;

• Offer a more reasoned, cogent and intellectually honest view of sexual politics;

• Address the variety of problems faced by men and boys under feminist governance and attempt to ameliorate those problems;

• Push for an end to rape hysteria, DV hysteria and false allegations;

• Promote a culture that values equal treatment under the law for all human beings;

• Facilitate a new social contract between men and women, leading to mutual respect, accountability and expectation.

Thoughts?

Using conceptual tools - The Obituary of Alvin Basse

What might an obituary about a third-generation farmer in suburban Milwaukee tell us about masculinity? An entire web of lives, shaped both by common events are particular experiences, is captured in one man's story. Without the need for either hagiography or brutal expose, the newspaper obituary treads a moderate course outlining a very particular, "acceptable" portrait of a well-lived life.

That being the case, it bears attention to notice the attitudes toward gender that are (and are not) expressed in the obituary of Alvin Basse. Is he esteemed as a traditional patriarch or something else? 

We're told that, 

Alvin Basse was prom king and president of his class at Waukesha High School, but he was also the guy who picked up and carried his friend, Tom Uthovien, between classes."And when I say he carried him around, that's exactly what he did," his son said. "He would race to Tom's class, pick him up off his chair, dash up the stairs with him in his arms and still make it to his own class later," his son said. They remained lifelong friends.

We get a sense that yes, this was a man among men. Gentle, compassionate, but dashing and very "manly."

Yet, to finish the obituary, his widow says,

"We could always work side by side, do field work, milk cows, make hay. Whatever needed to be done." 

Rather than being superlative, he is now an equal partner with his wife, Carolyn, who, along with so many others, helped keeping their big production rolling along. There is something about agricultural life in terms of production relations that seems inherently equalizing. This isn't to say that hegemonic masculinity is necessarily less dominant in rural / agricultural areas. Far from it. It is just to say that perhaps the ideology of masculinity has to do different work in those areas, to cover up the fact that women are co-equals. We can actually see some evidence of this ideology in a picture of the couple:

Notice that here name is absent on the barn in back. It is the "Alvin Basse Family" farm. Merely following convention on Mr. Basse's part meant erasing the name of his adult life and business partner. 

This was, is, a long-standing practice in our culture. Whether in research, art, or business - heterosocial (and sometimes sexual, but it need not be) pairs (or larger groups) are often credited through the sole name of a singular male patriarch. My great aunt is an example. She was not able to keep her maiden name as part of her full formal name when the business she co-owned with her husband was about to grow exponentially.  

Anyways, seems like Mr. Basse was quite an accomplished person, whose masculinity may best be measured by the calm and centered widow he leaves at his wake.

May he rest in peace. 

Queering Gatsby

So if you didn't already know, I love films. All kinds. I'm also taking a film theory course and one of the topics we've talked about recently is that of queer films or queering films. A key tenant is the idea that there are no more "straight" readings of a film as there are "queer" readings. Has anybody seen the new The Great Gatsby film? I haven't, but I really want to. Here's an interesting article about a queer reading of the film.

The author states: "Specifically, I will argue that the novel's treatment of sexual transgression and its proliferation of gay and lesbian signs work together to create a homoerotic sub-text that disrupts and de-stabilizes the heterosexual narrative, creating, in the process, a sexually ambiguous novel. And we shall see, this homoerotic sub-text fiends its most complete embodiment in the characterization of narrator Nick Carraway, who is, I believe, unaware of his gay orientation."

What does it mean to be "unaware of one's orientation," and for those of you who have read the book and/or seen the film, do you buy her argument?

http://www.mychandlerschools.org/cms/lib6/AZ01001175/Centricity/Domain/953/Lesbian-Gay-Queer%20Crit%20-%20Gatsby.pdf

On war, widow's weeds, memorials and "The Americanization of Emily"

There aren't many rarer examples of American masculinity than the one expressed here by James Garner in "The Americanization of Emily."

Pink and Blue

An artist was transfixed by how much her child was transfixed with color. She set out to research the ubiquity of the pink / blue binary. It's totalitarian, I'm afraid.

The Pink and Blue Project.

Is this true?

So, what do we all think about this? It's been going around on Facebook for a while now and most men who comment on the phone say it's true. Comments?

Brut: the essence of Man

I just thought this video was appropriate for our class. Its very random, but take what you want from it I guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVa9XLM31lU

French Hetero-Masculine Protest Against Gay Marriage

Shirtless, Masked and Gagged Straight Men Protest Gay Marriage in France

After learning that my home state, Minnesota, has recently become the 12th state to legalize gay marriage (hell yeah!) I decided to search the opposing parties reactions. However, I found something better. The html included above will bring you to Queerty, where a report on France's anti-gay marriage protest has left people with mixed feelings about the way in which these men display themselves. These half-dressed straight men have caused members of the gay community to question the intent of these men, based on their "sexy" attire, or lack of. I thought it was interesting to compare France's anti-gay culture, or more specifically this event to our country's more conservative approach. I also wanted to highlight some of the reactions from readers:

@Dakotahgeo:

"Want to make a bet that at least some of these tools are having issues coming to terms that they are themselves homosexual?"

  
Cam: 

"This “Protest” reminds me of those interviews with the anti-gay “Ex Gay” groups that claimed that close holding and touching between men was a good way to stop being gay because they claimed the men were just gay to try to replace affection they should have gotten from their father. In other words, they weren’t “GAY” they just had an excuse in their group to cuddle up with a bunch of men. These French guys aren’t “GAY” they are just so anti-gay that they want to run around shirtless with a bunch of other shirtless men dancing to ABBA. Funny how being topless is legal in France but none of these “HETROS” saw fit to invite a woman."

These men not only embrace their masculinity by exposing themselves (and muscles) but also gain empowerment from one another as a collective group, who describe themselves as "peaceful" and "determined". Another question that has been raised by the public is whether or not these men are responding to a pro-gay marriage event where feminists appeared shirtless as well. Overall, France has received a lot of heat by anti-gay marriage advocates since February, after the gay marriage bill passed. This article just goes to shows how far things have gone!

For more information I would recommend this website:

http://www.thelocal.fr/page/view/hommen-gay-marriage-femen#.UZF4IVfj51M

What Would the Ponies Do?

So, from the recent discussion of bronies, I wanted to take a look at what the psychology of bronies actually are. I am particularly interested in what types of psychopathology some bronies may be suffering from, besides anxiety and depression (which this study already looked at). It seems as if MLP is almost a coping mechanism for some of these individuals, while also serving as a social element for a highly introverted crowd. Out of the types of bronies - the "hidden bronies" may be of the most imperative crowd to understand, since they're so secretive with such a low guidance level; if this crowd had participated more greatly in the study, some of a pathological results may have changed.

 

What will be truly interesting in seeing is if this "hidden" group of bronies are the culprits within the problem of Rule 34 (the pornographic site) or are the more mentally ill group of people who may have pedophilic ideas (even though maybe not acted upon). Since the third study has already ended, it will be interesting to see the results as well as the continued 3-4 year follow-up of this study.

But, just as a bit of awkward humor and videos circling the web, here is a take on PSY's "Gangnam Style" ... slightly offensive? of course. Probably more than slightly in some instances. But a lot of the issues with this video are also discussed in the above video within the psychological study.

Jennifer

Konerak Sinthasomphone - we still remember, they still forget.

Have we ever heard cases of single women, or groups of women, who have imprisoned kidnapped men for decades? Women will abide, assist, and avoid men who do these types of crimes. But rarely will they commit these crimes without a man present.

Men do it, and get away with it, why?

I don't have the time to research the data of long-term captivity crimes in the US or globally. You can find scattered lists here and there. Deep research is not necessary to reveal the clear gender segregation in this crime. It follows with all sorts of sexual violent crime - a preponderance of male perpetrators on one side, and criminal/legal institutions who fail miserably on the other.

Why do accosted women go unfound, but medicinal marijuana brings SWAT teams and all their brutality? The War on Drugs knows no bounds, the War on Sexual Violence is . . . what?

Getting the Facts Straight
Elise Cintron, neighbor of the Castro brothers on the 2200 block of Seymour Avenue in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood, south of downtown, reported this a few days ago,

"said her daughter once saw a naked woman crawling on her hands and knees in the backyard several years ago and called police. 'But they didn't take it seriously,' she said."

Well, one call, you can imagine might not be enough.
Oh wait, there was more?

Israel Lugo said he, his family and neighbors called police three times between 2011 and 2012 after seeing disturbing things at the home of Ariel Castro. Lugo lives two houses down from Castro and grew suspicious after neighbors reported seeing naked women on leashes crawling on all fours behind Castro's house.

Others had spoken up. We can't say it was entirely because people didn't intervene. The same system that has its eyes and ears out for weed plants growing indoors can't seem to muster the same intensity to find imprisoned females. A naked woman crawling on her hands and knees in the backyard not taken  seriously reminded me of a story.

Though I hate to bring up his name, the Jeffrey Dahmer case provides a similar history of general neglect towards victims. Konerak Sinthasomphone was one of Dahmer's victims. His story is uniquely tragic because he almost got away.

Two women, Sandra Smith and Nicole Childress, discovered the victim, 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone, after he had managed to escape from Dahmer's apartment, naked, bleeding from the rectum and heavily under the influence of drugs. They called 911, Balcerzak and his partner Joseph Gabrish were dispatched. Though the Laotian immigrant had been in the country for ten years and spoke English fluently,^[1] in his drugged and brain-injured state, Konerak was unable to communicate his situation to authorities. Dahmer found the boy with the police and convinced them that the boy was his 19-year-old lover. Smith and Childress recognized the boy from the neighborhood and were convinced that Sinthasomphone's life was in peril. They communicated this to the officers and tried to save the boy. However, Balcerzak and his partner returned Konerak to Dahmer's apartment, against Konerak's and the women's protests. The officers noticed a strange smell in Dahmer's apartment, which was the decaying corpse of a previous victim in the bedroom, but made no attempt to investigate. Later that evening Dahmer sexually abused, killed, and dismembered the boy.

Whoever is planning it, or implementing it, or recreating it day by day, I can't say exactly. All I know is that we live in a world where victims like these are ignored, dismissed, and denied full humanity by institutions that resist doing things any other way. The perpetrators and institutions in question are nearly all entirely men, or controlled by men.

The policing of sexual violence must be a cornerstone issue of gender equality and human right. Yet it bumps head on with a deep-seated core organizing principle of masculinity - on a structural, legal, intellectual, and emotional level - that violence against certain marginal groups in society is not sufficient cause to intervene in the private affairs of men with a certain level of power. It doesn't take much power to glide above the system - the Castro brothers weren't special; Dahmer was a sweet-talker, but nothing special. These weren't hegemonic men by a long shot, but they still had enough of whatever it takes to keep the fuzz away from your home dungeon. That right there, in one particularly disgusting and gruesome form, is what I think Connell would call the "patriarchal dividend."

Hand Shakes to Nose Rubs !

 

As cliche as it sounds , this picture is indeed worth more than a thousand words and the perfect Kodak moment.  Considering our analyses of masculinity , where do we begin to unload the formations of masculinity in terms of body language, personality and of course the big message, presented in this picture. Nose rubbing is such a personal interaction almost intimate in many cultures and for me not the typical way to greet or show respect for someone , much less to be exhibited by an example of Hegemonic masculinity in that of Governor  Martin O'Malley. The expression on his son's face further reiterates a "going outside of the box phenomenon" and how this is  challenging social expectations. In same token , I applaud the respect and the reverence shown for the Dalai Lama Check out  the link below for the article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/omalley-rubs-noses-with-the-dalai-lama--literally/2013/05/07/c3c32d96-b746-11e2-aa9e-a02b765ff0ea_story.html

TEDTalk on Gender and Success

This TEDTalks elaborates on what the article "Guyland" outlines-- in terms of how habits divided between gender lines in youth affect confidence and success later down the line.

http://www.ted.com/talks/sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have_too_few_women_leaders.html

Viagra sold Online !

I found this article about Pfizer losing sales to illegal generic forms of viagra sold over the internet. Considering Loe's article and our discussion ,what I found interesting about this article is the way in which they describe the use of viagra for men. Coupled with that, the article relays Pfizers intentions mostly to maximize profit rather than encourage customers to be mindful of health risks involved in taking un-approved drugs. Most importantly, it argues the notion of embarrassment surrounding erectile dysfunction which translates to the embarrasment of lost of ones masculinity. Additionally, losing ones masculinity means losing power and control projected through gender and sexuality. With information posted in articles on popular sites like Yahoo, only continues to perpetuate this "embarassment" men should believe they need experience. This is very problematic but a necessary strategy to ensure profit.  Ensuring profit and consumer control is an important factor here and Pfizer knows that some men need penises to  maintain power relations and cathexis.

Here is the link :http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bashful-buy-little-blue-pill-070427474.html

Pre 9/11

Time, 11 June 2001 

Some differences are more different than others

Across analyses spanning 122 attributes from more than 13,000 individuals, one conclusion stood out: instead of dividing into two groups, men and women overlapped considerably on attributes like the frequency of science-related activities, interest in casual sex, or the allure of a potential mate’s virginity.

from: "The Tangle of the Sexes" 20 April 2013

The sexes have more in common than in difference, but that doesn't stop us from using sex as one of the key organizing structures of our society. Why do some difference matter so much more than others? What is at stake when we hold so fast to certain definitions that weight certain differences so heavily? Can you think of other cases where humans think very differently about groups that actually share more in common than they differ?

Confidence and the Penis within the Music Industry

When expressing masculinity within the music industry what is most often talked about is how large the musicians' penis is or how many women they had sex with.
However, Machlemore's song, Penis Song, takes a different perspective and tone.

What are your rections?
How is this song is similar or different from the way some musicians present masculinity?

Last night I attended the event Night of Noise: Hip Hop Against Homophobia presented by the Boys & Girls Club and Harmony Cafe GLBT Services. The special guest for the event was Gunate (the spoken word artist whose work professor Matty presented on the second day of class). Last night Guante performed a spoken word piece entitled "Handshakes". Gunate begins by addressing the cultural association of one's handshake tied to one's masculinity. It is interesting to think about because this is one of few instances when one can assess another's masculinity through touch (fighting, hugs, pats on the back might be other examples, but how often do they actually occur/are seen as acceptable?). The characteristics Guante mentions are usually things we assess though senses other than touch, such as what we visually see as masculine, what words are used and how they express masculinity to a listener, and the smell of masculinity (axe cologne, woodsy, sweaty, etc.). This poem presents the idea of masculine strength as correlated with a physical reaction (purple fingers, weakness of hand being crushed). Through the physical interaction Guante is drawn to thoughts about his own masculinity in terms of what is hegemonically acceptable: drinking and enjoying beer, knowing a lot about cars, cooking the best steaks.

Then Guante addresses the claustrophobic nature of maintaining different forms of masculinity. He asks "Don't you feel tired of acting this way? Putting on this facade? Trying to make people see you a certain way that might not even express what you find valuable about you?" The idea of the panopticon comes to mind, that men are constantly being watched and have to reaffirm their acceptable masculinity daily, leading to self-surveillance. Guante then addresses masculine gentleness and how deprivation of gentleness by social expectations of masculinity can cause men to feel pressure to conform to ideals of hegemonic/culturally acceptable masculinities.

I find this poem very powerful, especially the end after the build up when Guante says "how incredible it can feel to let go". Letting go of the pressures of conforming to acceptable masculinities can result in more rewarding life experiences detached from worries about what others think.

How Porn is Affecting the Libido of the American Male

This week as we talk about masculinity and bodies I found some interesting information concerning the "Porn Industry" and the effects it is having on men in America. We all know that this is not something new, porn has been around longer then our generation. However as our world continues to advance we can see a connection between accessibility to porn via. technology. Media and the Internet perpetuates the idea that men are obsessed with sex, their size and the performance of their manhood. Whether this may, or may not be true for some men, porn addiction has only continued to increased with the development of technology, becoming a regular activity for 70% of men in America. Pornography statistics state that the average age a child first watches porn is 11 and show kids beginning to navigate the web (after being introduced to the Internet) by age 7. In relation to technology; sex, porn and promiscuity work to define masculinity and with the help of the media, continues to influence our cultures perceptions of what makes a man, a man. 

I would strongly encourage everyone to read the article I've hyper-linked! If you are short on time, I ask that you at least watch the short clip I've attached. This short TED talk is given by Philip Zimbardo,  titled "The demise of guys?" and talks about the disconnect between men and women, due to technology/ the porn industry. 

  

I hope you find this interesting!

 

 

 

 

A TV-Show Predicament

I just wanted to relay a conversation I had this morning with a member of the board of trustees who works in advertizing. He shared that he worked for Disney, which got us talking about the process of choosing what scripts and shows to produce. I asked him if he was aware of any discussion on the production side of what types of shows should be produced in order to impact certain demographics. I mentioned that many soap operas in South-East Asia will target certain demographics, primarily house wives, with the intention of promoting gender equality (or some weird version of that) and these effects have been seen to occur. But what he said was that most tv show scripts will be made in the US or in the UK and then filtered through other tv agencies around the world who then tweak the plots to make it more culturally relative. For example, they will eliminate meat-eating from the shows, or promiscuity etc. And the main agencies will start to make their initial scripts easier for this tweaking to be done--which makes it extremely difficult for controversial protagonists to enter mainstream US media. Relating to our discussion a few days ago about how we can dispel Western notions of Islamic masculinity, we see how complex it becomes to have main characters who are Muslim when companies around the world are supporting screen writers to make their characters as simplistic as possible.

Jamaican Masculinities

I still have alot to learn about my Jamaican culture and its prevalent gender issues. However, I can safely say that I am getting the tools to unpack and analyze the gender issues in my country. In light of presenting on Jamaican Masculinity ,  Shari and I found some very interesting articles and videos about the various forms of Masculinities in Jamaica . One in particular ;"  Jamaican  Masculinity: construction and consequences " contributed by Keon West in The Gleaner ( one of our national papers) examines the constructions of the Jamaican masculinities,  the negative consequences and a plausible solution to redefine Jamaican masculinity. For our purposes, the article is accurate enough to give us a synopsis of the relationship between Jamaican men , their sexualities, sexual violence , gendered expectations , homophobia , anti-feminity, high homicide and sexual assault cases that has caused some  moral degregation of Jamaican society.  Also, West relates socio-economic issues and reluctance to acquire an education and legitimate sources of income that  putsJamaican masculinity into a severe crisis.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100321/lead/lead9.html

Is it okay for masculine men to cry? I believe so, for sure! This is one perfect example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0Syl5YGrQk

Kevin Ware played a key role in this season for Louisville's basketball team. In the elite 8 he had one of the worst injuries anyone has ever seen. He broke his leg, but it was alot worse than that. This is a interview with Kevin after his surgery on his thoughts about his teamates and about the upcoming final four. I thought it was a great video, and shows true masculine emotion. Some people dont think men should cry, but this is so real and how things should be.

Enjoy,

Davis

Harper Lee High School

Do any of you listen to the radio show This American Life? If not, let me be the first to introduce you to this hilarious, awkward, hilariously awkward, touching, and inspiring story-hour. These wonderful and occasionally wacko stories will reaffirm your faith in public radio and make you fall in love with host Ira Glass. Almost as cool as the show itself is the fact that there is an online archive with free podcasts with every one of its shows since 1995, so get at it. But first I want to tell you about an especially good one relating to masculinities that I listened to over spring break. I have been looking for reason to give it to you all since then, and I think this week’s topic relates well to it.

This episode is called “Harper Lee High School,” and it came out in late February. The episode is in response to recent gun violence, but is not a direct call for policy change—rather, the program takes a closer look into the reality for families living in the US where gun violence is a daily fear. The program is created over number of months, during which selected staff reporters developed relationships with students and staff at a high school in inner city Chicago called Harper Lee High School. The radio show chose this school specifically because during last year alone 29 students died as a result of gun violence

As you may have guessed, the neighborhood surrounding Harper Lee High School is one exhausted by gang violence—a culture that is more normal to Harper Lee students than not. Students who are interviewed discuss how they are assigned to gangs simply by their position on the block. And this gang culture is a pressure primarily facing young men.

The reason that I think this episode fits in with this week’s topic of cross-cultural masculinities is because it explores how sub-cultures grapple with the phenomena of the global hegemonic male. Just as Muslim masculinities are formed in part in reaction to colonial ideas of masculinity, so do African-American communities create a unique version of the hegemonic male. This pervasive image of the white, strong man that inculcates Western media plays an unseen role in forming this hegemonic masculinity that reigns in gang territory. This new version of masculinity seen in gangs is firmly established in its separateness from the white ideal, yet retains elements of this influence.

I encourage you to listen to it! Here is the link to the online streaming.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/487/harper-high-school-part-one

Happy listening,

Inanna

Bible Believers

Here is what I was talking about on Friday. The man I was speaking about as the "masculine" hegemonic man starts around 26:45. I am a fangirl of Russell Brand - but it won't hurt my feelings if you don't watch the entire episode :)

BrandX Episode 21: Bible Believers

It gets better after the break. We see a nice display of what is seen as "masculine" between Russell Brand and our two other guests. Enjoy!

Another bastion of masculine homophobia changing its stripes?

This article in Salon argues that the world of hip-hop is moving away from the homophobia of the past. Says Brother Ali:

My use of the f-word more than a decade ago in the song ‘Dorian’ off Shadows On The Sun continued to echo in a space in which I no longer dwelled … My world was pretty small and bleak when I wrote that album. Since then I’ve been fortunate enough to tour the world, read James Baldwin and develop deep friendships with musicians whom I love and respect and who are openly gay.

Hey everyone,

I found this image and thought it was really striking.  I'd like to hear some reactions to this image.  Do you feel this person is completely wrong, or does he have a point?

In addition, I think it's interesting to see this individual's interpretation of what a "real man" should be.

Rum Tum Tugger

So, with all of this talk about masculinity and what it means to be masculine, I figured I'd add my own quandry to this ever evolving question. The theatre scene, most specifically dance/ballet/what-have-you, but men who dance. Are they considered masculine? I grew up in the dance world, so I would most definintely say by all means yes. But more specifically, I'd like to look at a particular dream man of mine from childhood - er should I say man-cat?

 

For those of you who don't know of the musical Cats or who Rum Tum Tugger is, I just want to say that he definitely is the ladies' man of this little gathering of kitties. All the cats come together on the full moon and blah blah blah, I have the DVD if anyone wants to watch it (I know every line to every song plus all the dialogue). Rum Tum Tugger is the typical "bad boy" that all the other guys are jealous of and the ladies love. What is it about the bad boy (should I keep putting in cat instead?) that attracts the ladies anyways? Plus he's a rock 'n roll guy, which is a double whammy, really. I can't even pin point for myself what it is about this character that is so ridiculously "manly man" for me.. what is even more disturbing and confusing for me is that the character is a cat... so, how should I feel about that? Anybody see any specific "masculine" features this man-cat shows that are only seen as something a male should posses??



I be on my Suit & Tie

As I was perusing Buzzfeed, I found this little interview with Justin Timberlake. This past week I have been on the verge of obsessing over his new album (no shame) so this clip of one of his latest interviews definitely caught my attention. I heard someone mention this interview a few days ago, so I thought it was time for me to hop on the bandwagon and get in on the latest JT news. However, just within the first few minutes of the interview, JT drops a phrase that we just so happen to be critiquing in class. See if you guys can identify a phrase that Justin throws around (ill give you a hint, less than 2 minutes into the clip). With our continuously developing critical ear and eye, its also interesting to hear how the live audience responds to JT's repeated remark. Also, how does Johnathan Ross react? His excuses and proceeding action emphasizes how he feels about the remark…disproving JT's accusation. Now, don't get me wrong here. I love me some JT, but I think he could have done without his demeaning and "conventionally masculine"jab.

The Wodaabe and beauty standards in general

"The end of masculinity?" features a short discussion about the Wodaabe people. Here's a short video by the esteemed documentarian Werner Herzog that gives us a glimpse into their world.

Standard of beauty exist in all cultures, but what are the key variables that determine: the criteria that contribute to those standards? the extent to which the standards are applied to different genders?

Are men in the US under more pressure to match up to beauty standards than in the past? Why might that be?

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/27/living/harrods-gender-neutral-toys
If you guys want to check out this article, it's actually pretty interesting and really relevant to what we talked about today about children being restricted in many ways and how they are very vulnerable to bullying if they don't follow their specific gender stereotypes. I think it might be really cool to read the book sometime, it could be really good for our week where we focus in on childhood.

A bit of background on "sissy bounce"

I'd like to use the blog to give you a chance to get more background on information I bring up in class. One aspect of becoming a well-trained intellectual is to become as erudite as possible. That is, you need to read, read, read, watch, listen, read - more, more, more! Learn about everything so that you can build a huge database of knowledge about reality. The more data you have, the more you can see new patterns and challenge old ones.

So, from the New York Times: Sissy Bounce! Yerrrrrp.

First gay American team-sports athlete to be in the NFL?

A blog post if often little more than posting a link with some commentary.
When you post a link, you get the URL, copy and paste it, and give the link some words.

For example, I have the link: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/mike-freeman/21946093/some-believe-atmosphere-is-safe-for-gay-nfl-player-to-come-out

But that's ugly, so, I give it a link title:  First NFL player to come out soon?
:)

Now, I mentioned before, you shouldn't just link drop. You need to add something to the conversation and in the process, help spark a conversation.

You can do that by not just dropping a link, but adding a quote, and then commenting on it.

This player's true concern, I'm told, is not the reaction inside an NFL locker room but outside of it. The player fears he will suffer serious harm from homophobic fans, and that is the only thing preventing him from coming out. 

I can't say anything about the inside of an NFL locker room, but I can say something about sitting in the stands, and I think from my experience at a Packer game, I can say that there might be some truth to this. I can see home fans not harassing the gay player, but at an away game? I think the slurs would be something fierce.

What might be more interesting to think about, in terms of what this means for masculinity, is whether or not it makes any difference at all if elite athletes come out. I think it might make a difference in terms of decreasing homophobia, at least anti-male homophobia, but I don't think that will automatically take a bite out of the patriarchy. These guys are still, in every other regard, perfectly sufficient in fulfilling conventional masculinity. That is to say:

1) Does this really represent the "overcoming of homopobia" or just a very narrow version of homophobia? That is, super buff athletic gayness is okay... but not "femme" gayness.

2) Does any overcoming of anti-male homophobia change anything in terms of sexist masculinity? Are these constructs related, necessarily?

((So, there you have it - a link, a quote, some analysis, and some questions to stir the pot. No pictures or video in this one, though. That's next.))

Getting started on the Masculinities blog

Greetings to the GEST280 blog. I would encourage all of you to use this regularly to post interesting stories/art/movies/songs that have to do with the study of masculinity.

Some advice for new bloggers:

1) don't just drop a link and say, "This is interesting" or "I think you might enjoy this." Analyze the story a bit, tell us why it is interesting or what particularly  makes this enjoyable.

2) be concise, interesting, witty and intelligent. Yes, easy to say, hard to do, but try.

3) learn the technology. Blogging and on-line publishing is the new medium through which we can best share our ideas. If you have trouble or don't know what you are doing, ask for help, or seek out help through the many resources available online. You can do this!