American Demigods: "please stop"

The Chicago Tribune, which for some reason, I read every day (it used to be the Boondocks) publishes a supplemental edition aimed at a "younger demographic" called the Red Eye. The Red Eye regularly makes me want to vomit with rage. The fact that it has published the writings of one T. Winters only makes it worse.

It's just mind bogglingly awful stuff. Anyway, a couple of days ago it had a frontpage story about how "manly men" were "back" "in" according to pop culture barometers i.e. beer commercials. The title was "Return of the Guy's Guy", the headline was something like "Obey the man laws: get tough, never wear pink, no more chick flicks."

Okay, here's me being tough: FUCK OFF!

Stop it. Just stop it. I'm really tired of reading about what my gender is supposed to be like. Stop it. Now. I'm not kidding. Stop it. It doesn't quite meet the standards of the revelation that two straight men going out to dinner together is apparently something unusual according to the New York Times but it's close.

Being "manly" is all about, I don't know...being an idiot. I do know lots of manly men, they're all stupid and unpleasant. The majority of men I know are in no way "manly" by the standards of beer commercials and idiotic lifestyle articles in pseudo newspapers.

I'm boggled by where this comes from, the people who have these ideas are either women or men who are hilariously insecure.

The best part of the article was a conversation with Leo Burnett ad execs (both women apparently):

"But Rose Cameron, senior vice president, planning director at Chicago-based Leo Burnett ad company, said the trend illustrates that men are struggling to adjust to gender roles that have become grayer as women strive for equality."

"Men are redefining what it means to be powerful or successful in a completely changed world," said Cameron, who conducted an extensive study last year on men's role in society. "The rules are no longer clear, they are in the process of being rewritten, and that's why you get things like the man law ad.""

I was born in 1978! I don't consider "adjusting" to the concept of female social equality to be a problem! Seriously, it's cool, don't knock yourselves out on my account...

"Marketers are playing to women differently, trying to talk to them as individuals-such as the Dove "Real Women" campaign-rather than unifying them under some universal female truths, said Denise Fedewa, executive planning director for Leo Burnett. "You probably won't see an ad with women huddled at a table declaring female laws, Fedewa said, because women are celebrating their differences."

Now this is funny, "This group of people over here, they're individuals, that other group of people over there however, is not."

"Men are sort of a group under siege," she said. "They're a bit down right now, feeling a little emasculated, while women are a little bit up."

Yeah, I wish I lived somewhere where men weren't under siege and got to be "a little bit up". Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia come to mind.

Listen, I've got a message for anyone out there who refers to himself as a "man's man" without irony, if indeed there is such a person:

I'm a straight man who talks about his feelings, I'd rather watch musical theatre than football, I love the cinema of Hugh Grant and John Cusack, I enjoy Jane Austen, and I could *still* kick your ass. Verbally.

Joss Whedon, who is far from being a "man's man" and is merely *the* man, has some brilliant things to say in this speech about gender equality:

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

I've forgotten how to link to things in Greymatter but cut and paste it, it's worth your time.

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Replies: 8 comments

So the fact that I've been published in the Red Eye makes it even worse of a rag, eh?

Should I be offended by that statement? No--let me rephrase--how offended should I be by that statement?

That's entirely up to you...

I'm like Brecht, okay? I'm purposely alienating my audience.

-Rory

Posted by Rory @ 06/27/2006 03:11 PM CST

So the fact that I've been published in the Red Eye makes it even worse of a rag, eh?

Should I be offended by that statement? No--let me rephrase--how offended should I be by that statement?

Posted by T. Winters @ 06/27/2006 12:03 PM CST

Oh, my panties are just fine.

Posted by Rory @ 06/23/2006 07:41 AM CST

It's Mrs. Verdier, thank you very much, Mr. Sensitive Pony-tail Man.

Please do not think that I believe that gender wars are a new bit and please do not pretend to edumacate me on gender roles throughout the ages, you English major. I was merely speaking to your rant regarding the latest Man's Man movement. The subtext of my statement about "having to be metrosexual" is "pop culture dictated that the metrosexuals were the new kings of society and erroneously assumed that a male would not be able to get ahead without the trappings of metrosexuality." I guess I erroneously assumed that you, of all people, would grasp the subtext and understand my generally sarcastic take on gender roles. Gosh, don't get your panties in a bunch.

Fundamentally, most people are idiots. How many voted for Bush again?

Posted by Anna @ 06/22/2006 11:33 PM CST

DEATH TRAIN-

For the sake of life on this fragile earth, I would hope and pray that you did not exist, but I know the truth far too well...

Posted by Rory @ 06/22/2006 09:15 PM CST

My dear Ms. Zbilut (or whatever your name is now, I certainly can't be bothered to care very much)these gender stereotypes go back millennia, long before the Spice Girls (I was like three different Spice Girls when I took the online quiz back in '97, I have range)and they oppress both genders, all races, all nations etc. Believe me, cultural pressure on what men are supposed to be goes back a *long* time, I felt it as a toddler.

Oh and by the way, no one ever "had" to be "metrosexual", whatever the hell that means, and the backlash towards that began the second of, what it's a backlash to is feminism and every other progressive cultural movement from the sixties and seventies, the backlash began in 1968, long before feminism even peaked, and the backlash itself hit peaks with the elections of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush...but it's STILL GOING! On and on and on...they will never stopped feeling oppressed by liberalism with all of it's running around with their blue hair and you can't tell if they're a boy or a girl...play actin' and hug dancin' all the way till doomsday...

Fundamentally human beings are both radically individualistic and passionately attached to their tribes. This conflict is why a lot of things in the world are fucked up.

Posted by Rory @ 06/22/2006 08:57 PM CST

Oh, c'mon, you're just feeling the sting that women have felt for years now: pop culture dictating who we are and who we need to be. Besides, your gender is just getting the backlash from 3 or 4 years of having to be metrosexual. We're still dealing with the post-Spice Girl fallout from the last century. "Am I sporty or glamorous like posh or goth like scary or cute like baby or old like ginger?? Who am I???"

Good Lord.

Posted by Anna @ 06/22/2006 03:02 AM CST

I AGREE THAT IT'S FRUSTRATING WHEN A SET OF EXPECTATIONS LIKE THESE IS ANNOUNCED AS IF IT'S SOMETHING EVERYONE HAS AGREED TO, AS IF IT REPRESENTS A TREND WHICH ENCOMPASSES EVERYONE, AND YET YOU FEEL THAT YOU'VE BEEN COMPLETELY EXCLUDED FROM THIS SO-CALLED CULTURAL CONSENSUS. I SEE PLENTY OF ADS ABOUT HOW TRAINS ARE INTO DELIVERING THEIR PASSENGERS SAFELY AND ON-TIME, AND I THINK, WHAT, DO I EVEN EXIST?

Posted by DEATH TRAIN @ 06/22/2006 12:39 AM CST

All rights reserved by those who feel they have to reserve things and thereby deny those things to others who might want to reserve them. This is currently the recommended method by which to affirm your personhood, if you are in any doubt.