posted on Sep, 13 2007 @ 02:25 PM
Although I don't agree with everything you said, Unisol, I do think you've touched on something. It does seem like "manliness" is being more
discouraged, and "girly" men are sort of "in." I am by no means the dominant alpha male type, but I can definitely see it going on around me. In
some ways, it can be a good thing, and in other ways it can be destructive. I see it at work all the time. I work in an environment that's
primarily female. By primarily, I mean there's only two men at my work, myself being one of them. The girls there really do have a habit of trying
to turn men "girly." Things that I do often get demeaned or degraded. Not to an extreme extent, but I do see it happening. And no, maybe this
isn't a popular viewpoint for me to have, but it's the truth of the situation.
Look at television these days. How often do you see the man in the show being the intelligent, reasonable, strong figure whose always right and the
woman being the opposite? It's extremely rare, but just the other day I was watching the show Scrubs, and one of the last narrations in the episode
was something along the lines of "Deep down, men know that strong, confident women will always be in control of them. And when we come across them,
they will always make us feel like..." At this point, it cut to a scene that was meant to depict the male lead characters as children. Was this a
little offending? Yes. Was I surprised? Not in the least. It's very common these days. Look at shows like Everybody Loves Raymond. And in a
society that spends multiple hours a day watching television, what are the implications of this? I see it in relationships as well. I know people
who are complete emotional basket cases. They're thin, long-haired, man-bag carrying guys that are constantly swarmed by attractive women. Why?
They don't mind being "taken care of" by their girlfriends. Their girlfriends play the dominant role, and they just kind of kick back. I'm
sorry, but that just doesn't sit well with me. Is it possible that my opinions are motivated by jealousy? Perhaps...
I'm not suggesting that everybody should simply stay "in their place," but playing on our strengths is the way our society has survived for so
long. When our strengths are being discouraged and society is trying to take them away, what happens?