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Here's a selection of comments I snagged from various blogs and news portal sites (if you want in on the fun, just type "Obama girlyman" into Google and marvel at the flood of results).
Obama is a girly man who would ignore the threats the same way President Clinton did then when something happens he'll claim the writing on the wall just wasn't there. (I guess real men don't believe in the power of punctuation.)
WWWOOOOWWWW!!!!
Obama just beat down McCain....yet AGAIN! I thought he wasn't tough. (look, Ma - a back-handed compliment!).
Obama just beat down McCain....yet AGAIN! I thought he wasn't tough. (look, Ma - a back-handed compliment!).
Obama is a girly man, cannot control what his wife says!!!
Michele runs at the mouth, how can we consider Obama as a future President? (This one comment alone could drive a whole other post, so I'm just going to leave it alone for now.)
Michele runs at the mouth, how can we consider Obama as a future President? (This one comment alone could drive a whole other post, so I'm just going to leave it alone for now.)
Hell, even Newsweek jumped into the fray with an article titled, Obama: First Woman President? (And no, I DON'T agree with their logic that Obama could be the first woman president any more than I bought Clinton as the first black president.). Ironically, the Newsweek article upholds traditional gender stereotypes while pretending to promote Obama's supposed undermining of said stereotypes.
Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is taking a more traditional (and male?) authoritarian approach.
And, of course, who can forget Governor Schwartzenegger's famous "girly-man" comment?
Los Angeles - Arnold Schwarzenegger, the weight lifter and Hollywood actor turned California state governor, accused the state legislature of being "girly-men" and called on voters to "terminate" those that oppose his budget plans at the polls, California news media reported on Sunday. (Ahahahaha! Because joking about murdering those who disagree with you is always a total knee-slapper! Sigh. That's my crazy governor!)
Well, I've got something to say about all this. I'm sick and tired of stereotypical "girly" traits being lobbed around as an insult. After all, supposedly no greater insult to a man's ego exists than to label him "girly" or "femmy". I'm sick of this gender stereotyping. I don't see anything wrong with so-called "girly-men" and here's why:
They're compassionate.
They're slow to anger. They prefer to think, rather than fight, their way out of a situation.
They're not afraid to cry when an animal they've loved dies in their arms.
They're secure in their sexuality, and have no problem being friends with gay people or strong outspoken women of any age or body type.
They're patient and usually good with kids.
They want life partners, not chattel.
They aren't slaves to gender roles.
They don't have to put down others to feel powerful.
They aren't threatened by feminism. They understand that feminists want to free men from constrictive gender roles, too.
They love their daughters as much as their sons.
Mostly importantly: they talk to a woman's face, not to her boobs.
So please, enlighten me if you can: how are these negative traits? Maybe if we had more "girly" men and women in office, we'd get a government that cares more about its people than its pride.
*I have decided to restore the use of the phrase "girly-man" in my rant. I think the best way to strip negative meaning from words is to reclaim them. My sources tell me that "girly-man" started out as a spoof-phrase on Saturday Night Live used to make fun of Schwarzenegger's over-the-top machismo. Schwarzenegger himself then stripped the humorous meaning from the phrase by using it as an epithet to attack his opponents. I think it's time we, in turn, strip it of the negative connotations he added. In fact, I think we should make T-Shirts : Girly-man And Proud Of It!
Comments
Still! I can see the point. Girlie + Man = Insult. It shouldn't.
I actually take issue with the term "girly"-man because it implies that all of the pros you listed above are inherent in women. Not all women are compassionate, not all women are slow to anger, not all women are patient or good with kids, et cetera - in fact, those things may not even be true of any given male labeled as a "girly"-man. The term attacks men and women with equal strength based on the premises that "women are one way, men are another" and that "the superior sex should no emulate the inferior one."
I personally wouldn't care if all of our legislatures were comprised entirely of males if they all happened to possess the qualities of a decent, sensible human being, a lot of which you listed above. The genital ratio doesn't matter - women can be chauvinistic, husband-slapping, child-neglecting, power mongers, too.
I guess I just want to see a spectacular Leigh Dragoon assault upon the actual root of this issue. ;P
Funny little tidbit: the first time I tried typing the word "score" above, it came out "soccer." >
This gets me pissed because I feel like they're trying to sell us a bag of goods, like, "Oh, silly wimmin, quit your complaining. You got a woman prez in '08 - it was Obama! Newsweek even said it, so it must be true! Man, you feminists are NEVER happy!"
ARGH!
*head-splodey*
Edited at 2008-03-06 08:23 pm (UTC)
If that doesn't do it, then there's that bit in some religious book or another that says men are supposed to be all tough and providers for the family and undisputed heads of their household. So if their wives are uppity or their kids are independent, it somehow reflects badly on him for not providing discipline (but even worse on his wife, because she's supposed to have been able to raise children to be angels.)
It's all rubbish, of course, but that doesn't mean we don't get plenty of that rubbish spewed at us daily.
Just thought I'd let you know that made my whole day. x3
To the critics who point out that everyone but the upper classes is losing ground, that the poor are falling further and further behind with the social safety net in tatters, that people are losing their houses at record rates, that people are dying because the health care industry is is a house of cards held together with airplane glue, stop being girlie men! Ya know, Darwin, gotta break some eggs and stuff, sheez! If you were a Republican, you'd know this!
(But I'm just bitter...)
See, a "Girly Man" or "Strong Woman" is really dangerous, because they can combine the "girly" spirit of coming together with the "manly" spirit of standing up strongly. Nobody wants the masses to do that, so we have to delegitimise that combination of traits, you see.
I <3 you so much! :o
Still want to eat the eggs. @_@ Oh, how I envy that lucky fox.
Edited at 2008-03-07 04:39 am (UTC)
This made me laugh so hard I almost puked. OMG, you are a funny lady, Therese.
Salient sane point, salient sane point
BIG STINKING PILE OF CRAZY!
Salient sane point.
And there's your article! ;)
It's like some kind of weird newsy sandwich.
I sure know I have one
but ssshhhh don't tell him ;)