Salon: The "menaissance" hits the runway: Muscles and chest hair make a comeback as anxiety peaks over masculine roles
Jezebel: Dudes are not immune to body fads
New York Times: New Fashion Trend: Manly men
If the cut and toned dudes on the runway are giving you body issues, guys, Marissa has some advice:
It's our job to bitch about Barbie, guys; it's your job to bitch about Ken.
@Marissa (and @David Futrelle, for agreeing with her):
ReplyDelete"It's our [women's] job to bitch about Barbie, guys; it's your [men's] job to bitch about Ken."
Hey, Marissa... How about you stop heaping obligations on men and let them decide what their "job" is, if any? By the way, what men made you queen of parsing out male obligations, anyway?
Thanks for the linkage! :)
ReplyDeleteThat photo you used fascinates me. The way his muscles surround his neck looks like an Elizabethan ruffle. Or a flower.
You don't have to bitch about Ken if you don't want to.
ReplyDelete@Marissa:
ReplyDelete"You don't have to bitch about Ken if you don't want to."
Personally, I have my sights set on criticizing ideologues primarily. Their kind want to use the billy club of public policy and political correctness in order to remake humanity through social and political coercion. To me such an effort only harasses people.
Seriously dias? How out of touch do you have to be to perceive jezebels encouragement as something hostile? Talk about delusional!
ReplyDeleteand marissa, dias'll bitch (and distort innocent things) about EVERY-thing cuz didnt you know, he's the worlds BIGGEST victim!!
"It's our job to bitch about Barbie, guys; it's your job to bitch about Ken. " I actually sort of disagree with this. While I agree with Marissa that using a lower level of body policing to derail discussions on a higher level of body policing, or be used as an excuse to bash the oppressed group (which is her main point), I disagree that feminists should not take it upon ourselves to battle unrealistic body policing of anyone.
ReplyDeleteThere can be a legitimate issue which is inappropriate to prioritize in certain contexts. Is body policing of males a legitimate feminist issue? Yes, I think it is. Should it be brought up as a derail whine of 'what about the men' in a comment or post about the more severe policing of women? No, not the appropriate place. Just like it is fine to talk about how sad you are if the washing machine ruins your favorite shirt, but not if the topic of conversation is homeless people dying of exposure due to lack of adequate clothing and shelter. Context matters. (In fairness to Marissa, I think she was speaking in reference to the specific ad in her post, which does the bad context thing I am talking about. If the ad had said only "Real life men don't look like Ken", I think the post might have been very different.)
I pretty much agree with you, cat.
ReplyDeleteIt's not an ad, though. It's a postcard that was sent to PostSecret.
So, let me get this straight, fashion week has a bunch of buff dudes, and this translates into men's anxiety? I don't think so. Fashion week, or for that matter, fasion anything is done by gay men. Gay men like buff dudes ever since the 1980's when the gay cancer started whithering its victims. It has nothing to do with the masculine or masculinity of a regular Joe.
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to bitch about Ken, but you don't get to bitch about women who don't bitch about Ken.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem keeping myself in shape (which is different than following the gay ideal bodybuilders follow, which is building a gay body instead of a manly body. Learn to differentiate between gay muscles and man muscle, they are different things) and I demand that women put as much emphasis as possible on their looks
ReplyDeleteBitching is woman's work :)
ReplyDeleteI do not feel jealous of gay men's physiques..
Remember Ladies:
No matter how good he looks, somebody somewhere is sick of putting up with his sh*t.
...
...And that somebody is another gay guy!
"building a gay body instead of a manly body. Learn to differentiate between gay muscles and man muscle, they are different things"
ReplyDeleteWhat the fuck?
"and I demand that women put as much emphasis as possible on their looks"
Fuck you
"and I demand that women put as much emphasis as possible on their looks"
ReplyDeleteAnd reserve the right to stereotype good-looking women as being insipid and vain, I'm sure.
@ScareCrow "Bitching is woman's work :) "
ReplyDeleteThey why is it all MRAs ever do?
Futrelle:
ReplyDeleteThis post, despite the "muscular" picture, is weak stuff. I would call it filler. You didn't actually score any particular zingers, or hit any particular bulls-eyes, or address any particular issues at all. In fact, I'm not really sure what you were trying to do or say here.
Anyhow. . . apart from that, your blog, all in all, reminds me of a tabloid. Which I'm sure is the intended effect.
I don't know if you realize this, Fidel, but sometimes people with blogs post links to interesting articles without writing giant manifestos about them.
ReplyDeleteLearn to differentiate between gay muscles and man muscle, they are different things
ReplyDeleteO_o
That is without a doubt one of the most bizarre pieces of homophobia I have ever read.
The entire blog is bizarre.
ReplyDeleteI am still trying to find out what might be the purpose of this blog.
David is claiming to be against the MRM.
But he cannot explain, why he is against the MRM.
He does not write anything against fathers and paternity fraud, he thinks deliberate false rape allegations are not really a good thing, he says nothing against women with boys, he does not encourage married women to leave their husbands ...
What is his problem with the MRM?
"I don't know if you realize this, Fidel, but sometimes people with blogs post links to interesting articles without writing giant manifestos about them."
ReplyDeleteHaving done such myself many a time, I do realize that.
That said, some connection of the present post to the concerns of the blog seems vaguely implied here, yet kept evasively out of reach. (The 'just-out-reach' ploy appears to be a signature Futrellian maneuver.)
@Yohan - I know, right? He doesn't even claim all men are rapists or try to block men's access to college educations or write sitcoms featuring bumbling fathers. It's so confusing.
ReplyDeleteI want to clarify about the gay muscles thing.
ReplyDeleteThere are people who train only to achieve the gay mans' ideal physique. Most body builders have not bodies that inspire heroism or respect, but instead, gayness.
I train because I want to be as strong and fast as possible. Of course when I'm around women stare all the time and even compliment me randomly (talking about strangers). When I am at the gym, I am surrounded by body builders who look gay as shit, muscles so gay I wonder if I have aids. And women there stare at me ignoring all the other gay-builders.
So to clarify a body trained for strength and speed looks heroic, powerful. Something to be respected.
The body-builder physique looks different, it is only liked by gay men and it is gay. It's not a masculine ideal.
@George.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea George.
I had no idea that all they ever did was bitch...
It seems like the ones I visit do not bitch - but rather inform and enlighten.
Of course, I do not visit them all... Just a select few.
"It seems like the ones I visit do not bitch - but rather inform and enlighten."
ReplyDeleteOne man's garbage is another man's treasure, they say.