(no subject)

[rm]

http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/who-are-you-calling-gay/

"To not be a man is to not be fully human and that’s terrifying."

Yeah, I've nabbed that somewhat out of context, but it's amazing both in and out of context.

The piece as a whole is riveting. No surprises, I don't think, but relevant to multiple recent discussions here, and really resonated with me from low-level parental paranoia about their kid being gay to the idea that masculinity is some awesome prize in the crackerjack box (that, by extension, should be maintained regardless of cost to self and/or cost to others).

Comments

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

What was that John Stuart Mill quote about how feminism was about the liberation of men every bit as much as women? Pity nobody was listening.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

I don't know the quote, but a few feminism blogs have the tag "sexism hurts men, too" for relevant posts.

[sushis.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure, is the tag used in earnest or mockingly, or either, depending upon the writer's opinion?

Personally, I do think that sexism hurts men, too, but, with the exception of gay men (and probably several other categories, too) it generally hurts men much less than it hurts women. That is, it's women who suffer by far the most from it, in my opinion.

So, I guess I wouldn't use the tag, since I don't like to tag mockingly!

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

It's mostly used in cases of "traditional" ideas of masculinity pigeon holing men who don't fit those restrictions. Also, how misogyny makes life tougher for men who have "traditionally feminine" interests, appearance, etc.

I didn't intend to hijack this as "What about the menz?"

Sorry. D'oh.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Weirdly enough, this reminds me of an episode from season 1 of Make Me a Supermodel in which the contestants were split into a three-man team and two-women-plus-one-man team. One of the members of the all-guy team trash-talked his male competition by calling him "gay" and "a girl." Afterward he was called on his homophobia, but nobody mentioned the misogyny.

That's when I started throwing things at my TV.