Dispatches from Nowhere 02.02.06
On Salon there is an article about a book called "VoiceMale: What Husbands Really Think About Their Marriages, Their Wives, Sex, Housework, and Commitment".
I love titles like this. It screams "LOOK AT ME! I SAY SEX IN THE TITLE! I AM HIP AND EDGY! I WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND MEN!11!!eleventy one!! ". I know they are sensationalized with the express intent of capturing the eye of a prospective reader, but they still crack me up. Anyway, back to the point.
For those of you not playing the home game, I have an abiding interest in this topic. More to the point, I have an interest in perceived male/female gender roles and stereotypes. I admit that my interests are not purely academic and will admit my bias up front. I despise the stereotype that men are unfaithful, incompetent, self centered children. While I might characterize our overriding societal impulse as being just that, I think that, for the most part, men have gotten a bad rap. Even in my own extended family - I consistently hear how men are lazy and (in not so many words) useless for more than manual labor. Combine this with the implicit “Women are better/smarter/etc than men” attitude, jokes, and statements and I call bullshit. Even if it is meant as a joke, I think it is time to call bullshit.
I know, it is not just men that get a bad rap, women are unfairly judged too.
Maybe I spend too much time with the women I work with. Nary a one of them has many positive things to say about their husbands. (In the interests of full disclosure, one of them is currently undergoing a divorce, the majority of the rest are Indian (As in the sub-continent, not Native American.) and the remaining few are not married.) I wonder how many of their complaints are actual dissatisfaction vs. cultural expectations. But that is a whole different discussion.
Still, after reading the article, the book seems like it might be an interesting read. Of course, this assumes that the book is not a worthless piece of crap designed to cash in by exploiting the (perceived) growing gender divide. I'm not cynical or anything. Not me.
Speaking of books I picked up The War against Boys in the last month or so. I have not had a chance to read it yet, so it has been added to the stack of books "to be read" that sits next to my bed. In that same stack are my Bon Apetite and Gourmet magazines, the three most recent issues of the Historian Journal (of which I have read certain articles out of each), Embracing Defeat, and a small stack of novels. The stack is not quite to the side of my mattress yet. I guess that means I can always add more books to the pile. I’m sure I’ll have time to read them eventually.
It must be the book lover in me. I try to avoid bookstores because I always find something I want to read. It is rare that I leave a bookstore with out something new to add to the stack. Occasionally, I remove a book. It happens. I read Anansi Boys recently. I finished the December issue of Bon Appetite. I put the Moorcock books (Elric and Gloriana) on the shelf until this summer. I haven't bought the new GRR Martin, Stephen King, or Robert Jordan Books. I keep telling myself that I am trying to edit the stack down some before I add more. It has nothing to do with the fact that I was threatened with much pain if I bought anything for myself with Valentines Day coming up.
Yeah.
So, because the stack is shrinking, I obviously need to add more to it. What do you recommend?
(You know, aside from obscure history texts detailing the extent of Japanese/ German relations during WWII. EVERYONE needs more of those.)
I love titles like this. It screams "LOOK AT ME! I SAY SEX IN THE TITLE! I AM HIP AND EDGY! I WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND MEN!11!!eleventy one!! ". I know they are sensationalized with the express intent of capturing the eye of a prospective reader, but they still crack me up. Anyway, back to the point.
For those of you not playing the home game, I have an abiding interest in this topic. More to the point, I have an interest in perceived male/female gender roles and stereotypes. I admit that my interests are not purely academic and will admit my bias up front. I despise the stereotype that men are unfaithful, incompetent, self centered children. While I might characterize our overriding societal impulse as being just that, I think that, for the most part, men have gotten a bad rap. Even in my own extended family - I consistently hear how men are lazy and (in not so many words) useless for more than manual labor. Combine this with the implicit “Women are better/smarter/etc than men” attitude, jokes, and statements and I call bullshit. Even if it is meant as a joke, I think it is time to call bullshit.
I know, it is not just men that get a bad rap, women are unfairly judged too.
Maybe I spend too much time with the women I work with. Nary a one of them has many positive things to say about their husbands. (In the interests of full disclosure, one of them is currently undergoing a divorce, the majority of the rest are Indian (As in the sub-continent, not Native American.) and the remaining few are not married.) I wonder how many of their complaints are actual dissatisfaction vs. cultural expectations. But that is a whole different discussion.
Still, after reading the article, the book seems like it might be an interesting read. Of course, this assumes that the book is not a worthless piece of crap designed to cash in by exploiting the (perceived) growing gender divide. I'm not cynical or anything. Not me.
Speaking of books I picked up The War against Boys in the last month or so. I have not had a chance to read it yet, so it has been added to the stack of books "to be read" that sits next to my bed. In that same stack are my Bon Apetite and Gourmet magazines, the three most recent issues of the Historian Journal (of which I have read certain articles out of each), Embracing Defeat, and a small stack of novels. The stack is not quite to the side of my mattress yet. I guess that means I can always add more books to the pile. I’m sure I’ll have time to read them eventually.
It must be the book lover in me. I try to avoid bookstores because I always find something I want to read. It is rare that I leave a bookstore with out something new to add to the stack. Occasionally, I remove a book. It happens. I read Anansi Boys recently. I finished the December issue of Bon Appetite. I put the Moorcock books (Elric and Gloriana) on the shelf until this summer. I haven't bought the new GRR Martin, Stephen King, or Robert Jordan Books. I keep telling myself that I am trying to edit the stack down some before I add more. It has nothing to do with the fact that I was threatened with much pain if I bought anything for myself with Valentines Day coming up.
Yeah.
So, because the stack is shrinking, I obviously need to add more to it. What do you recommend?
(You know, aside from obscure history texts detailing the extent of Japanese/ German relations during WWII. EVERYONE needs more of those.)
posted by depressoboy at 1:32 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home