Manchildren, Manwhores, Man as an Island and the Role of Man on Television

by David Capra

“I’m the man! I’m the man! I am the man!” ABC’s new show, Man Up, opens with three grown men sitting on couches reassuring each other that they are men, as they coordinate a complex attack on the enemy’s base in an online war game. Television has always commented on what a man should be, how a man should act, and how a man lets the world know, “I’m the man!” In Man Up’s case, it’s through the headset of a video game – showcasing and lamenting the diminished role of physicality and power in today’s man. As a boy grows up, he is molded, shaped and guided by his father, his teachers, his celebrity heroes, and the fictional characters he sees on the small or silver screen. In the case of television writers, they have clearly delineated three paths that young boys can follow: the manchild, the manwhore, and the man as an island.

The manchild or the “pre-adult” has gained a lot of attention with the recent success of the Brat-Pack and Judd Apatow.  But for a long time, television has been glorifying the man who never grew up or smartened up.  In the 1950’s, The Honeymooners premiered with perhaps the biggest manchild ever, Ralph Kramden, whose get-rich-quick schemes always failed. Fifty years later, Ray Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond is literally a manchild unable to move away from his overbearing parents, relying on his mother and wife to clean the house, take care of the kids, and cook dinner.  In both of these cases, and numerous others, the main characters are portrayed as lovable buffoons unable to truly succeed in life, but also as men we can root for and laugh with. Young boys are taught that it’s funny to rely on people and that life is best spent having a good time, playing golf and hanging with the other men at the Raccoon Lodge. Success will come, or it won’t, and everything will be taken care of.

Another trope in the storied history of television is the manwhore, the man who treats women as objects and toys. Recently, there’s no better example than Charlie Harper from Two and a Half Men, who is with a new woman (or sometimes multiple women) every night.  The manwhore character offers intrigue and drama, charisma and seduction, but it also has a darkside. While this season’s new shows like New Girl, 2 Broke Girls and Apartment 23, have been deservedly praised for bringing female comedians to lead roles, the inciting action of each pilot is a man cheating.  In New Girl, Jessica is forced to find new roommates after catching her boyfriend with another woman.  Max in 2 Broke Girls has the same story, and June in Apartment 23 catches her fiancé with her roommate. While it’s nice to see television writers move past the confining gender role of the serious housewife, they continue to push the idea that men are prisoners to their sexual drives and lack the capability to treat women with respect and love. Manwhores live a fun lifestyle that many men dream of, but it leads to broken relationships and betrayal, which happens to not be so fun in the real world. Perhaps if they weren’t so heavily emphasized in the fictional world, real men would dream of following a different path.

As the famous saying goes, “No man is an island.” In the television world, this is true, unless that man is intelligent. While it’s easy to criticize the portrayal of men in television as dimwitted womanizers, that is certainly not always the case. House portrays one of the smartest doctors in the world who handles cases no one else can solve. Numbers showcases a brilliant mathematician, Charlie, who helps solve crimes for the FBI. In Lost, there are numerous smart male leads; Jack is a well-respected doctor and Ben is an all-knowing leader. What these characters all share besides their intelligence is their lack of substantial relationships. House manages to alienate everyone he comes into contact with, Charlie only befriends other intellectuals, Jack has failed romantic relationships both on and off the island, and Ben manipulates everyone and works alone. According to television, if a young man wants to be an academic, he better be ready to be on an island.

When will a well-rounded, charismatic and realistic man appear as a true model for the malleable minds of young men? Perhaps this season: CBS’s new show How to Be a Gentleman holds promise by tackling the role of masculinity and pits two characters against each other vying to be the titular gentleman.

Is it the small, sweater-vest wearing high school nerd with no friends or the bodybuilding, smooth-talking bully that acts like he’s 13?

Then again, perhaps next season.

 

Image from ABC

 

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Equal Writes Re-Launch Party!

Join us for the Equal Writes Re-Launch party, featuring Professor Jill Dolan,the director of the Program in Gender & Sexuality Studies and the author of the widely read blog, The Feminist Spectator. Professor Dolan will discuss the role blogging projects can play in building community and encouraging social engagement.Equal Writes is a writing project that promotes dialogue about gender, sexuality, and social equality issues (including class, race, ability, and nationality). The blog gives a space for young writers with a diverse range of perspectives on some of the most important issues students face here, and in the world at large.Equal Writes is looking for new writers and readers, and we hope you will join us for this party in the living room of Campus Club, Tuesday December 13th in Campus Club from 6 – 7:30 p.m. Snacks will be provided (cupcakes from House of Cupcakes, cider from Small World, as well as vegan cupcakes and tea from Infini-T!)For more info, email equalwrites@gmail.com

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Go See “Eden”: A Senior Thesis Production

From Arlyn:

“If you are: feminist, feminist-leaning, feminist-questioning, queer, homosex, interested in watching an amazing strip tease, curious about creative imaginings of Genesis, wondering what Eden might look like without Adam, a fan of jazz standards, super impressed when people can improv entire plays (or if you simply love Elizabeth Swanson and want to see something she’s created and directed)… GO. WATCH. EDEN. Last show: tomorrow 8-9:30pm.”

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Are Freshmen Children? Princeton’s Greek Ban Implies That Students Can’t Think for Themselves

by Nina Bahadur

Recently, the University announced that they will be banning freshmen in the Class of 2016 and subsequent years from taking part in the “rush” process for Greek organizations. Greek life is not officially recognized by the Princeton administration, but three sororities and eleven fraternities are active on campus and traditionally recruit freshman new members in the fall or early spring of the school year. Currently, it is unclear what form this rush ban will take. Presumably, non-freshman students caught conducting rush processes in which freshmen are involved will be subject to disciplinary action, as will the rushees themselves.

Full disclosure: I am in a Princeton sorority. As a freshman, my experiences in the Greek system at Princeton were unspeakably valuable. I am disappointed that other students will be denied similar experiences in the future, but that is not the main reason I am upset with the impending ban. The University claims that the ban is designed to prevent freshmen from narrowing their circle of friends prematurely, and that it will tackle the noble issue of socioeconomic stratification amongst students along with the sense of social exclusivity and privilege that students who participate in Greek life are assumed to hold. There are some elements of truth here; there are also a number of assumptions being made.
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“Slave earrings,” or why Vogue Italia’s tasteless title will never be in style

by David Walters

Last night, Twitter and various blogs lit up in response to the way Vogue Italia has chosen to title a certain style of earring. (The commotion is a bit belated; it seems the earrings have been online for over two weeks, but comments on the article have more than doubled in the last 24 hours.) The set of women’s earrings are called “Slave Earrings,” which, as you’re probably thinking, is just plain old racist. But as I read people’s responses to the articles, I found plenty of racist assumptions going around not just from Vogue, but from the people upset with them as well.

In many of the complaints, users write that the title is racist against African Americans (and African American women more specifically), but that’s only half the picture–if that. Maybe Vogue could defend the title if the earrings were the same design worn by “women of colour who were brought to the southern United States,” but they’re not. It comes as no surprise that American slaves didn’t wear jewelry and certainly not enough to yield a reproducible style. Thus, the style has no basis in American slavery, so to say it’s an affront to African Americans in particular misses the point (and, as you’ll see, is probably racist itself).

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Pulling yourself up by your bra straps: how college students are turning to sugar daddies to pay off loans

by Lydia Dallett

The White House reported today that a compromise on the debt ceiling seems to be within reach, hopefully bringing to an end the drawn-out bickering that left us all feeling a bit disgusted and disappointed with the state of our government. Elsewhere in the country, hundreds of other debt deals were negotiated this past school year that also involved uncomfortable compromises–albeit over much smaller sums of money.

The Huffington Post recently reported on Huffpost Women that a surprising number of college students–mostly women but some men as well–are turning to “sugar daddies” to help pay off hefty student loans. Using websites such as SeekingArrangement.com, students with insurmountable debt can find wealthy older men (usually much older) who are willing to help pay off loans in exchange for sex, companionship, or both. The site isn’t limited to college students, but the site’s creator estimates that of the approximately 800,000 people signed up for exchanges, 35% are students. To bring that number a bit closer to home, Harvard has 231 registered sugar babies. The article doesn’t give a number for Princeton but it sure raises an uncomfortable question: would you become a temporary prostitute to go to college?

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Obama 2012, Clinton 2016: The Best a Feminist Can Get

by David Walters

Today while I waited in the doctor’s office, I got the chance to read this profile in the most recent Vanity Fair on our current Secretary of State and former presidential hopeful, Hillary Rodham Clinton. (I could go on at length about the objectification that Vanity Fair’s ads and imagery subject [exclusively white] women to, but I digress.) The article is rather long, but it gives a comprehensive look into the life of a woman who is not only a brilliant politician, but who takes a reasonable, sympathetic approach to negotiations with oftentimes unreasonable, unsympathetic leaders. She understands that you cannot rely on platitudes and stereotypes as a means of international relations; she understands that guns, drones, and repetitions of the word “democracy” are not enough to fix the serious problems facing many of our allies and even more of our enemies. “Doctrines,” the cabinet’s outlook goes, “[are] for the doctrinaire.”

All of this is refreshing–inspiring, even. While we blindly invaded two countries that weren’t harboring the guy or weapons we were looking for, it was nice to see the administration take bin Laden out at the risk of far fewer of our (and others’) citizens–all with Clinton at the foreign policy helm. Thus, I was heartbroken when I read this quote from Clinton in the article:

“I’ve had a fascinating and rewarding public career … I think I will serve as secretary of state as my last public position and then I’ll probably go back to advocacy work, particularly on behalf of women and children, and probably around the world.”

This is tragic, and not just for feminists looking to see an intelligent, progressive woman as President, but for any American who wants to keep their country out of the messes that Republicans have gotten us into time and time again. If Obama wins the 2012 election, Clinton is the best hope of keeping progressive, human-centered policies on America’s docket in 2016 and (ideally) again in 2020.

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Susan Rolls Over: The Anti-Abortion Perversion of Susan B. Anthony’s Legacy

by David Walters

In a New York Times editorial released yesterday, the editors decry a recent trend among Republicans. They argue that some Republican and Tea Party candidates’ habit of signing policy pledges cripples their ability to make critical decisions they should, but have promised not to make. One of the pledges the article cites bears the noxious, misleading title “Susan B. Anthony pledge.” The anti-abortion content of the pledge coupled with the very fact that it exists show not only how conservatives misrepresent the history they’re so obsessed with, but highlight how their political strategies go against the very values Susan B. Anthony stood for.

The “Susan B. Anthony pledge” commits signers to support anti-abortion legislation; appoint only anti-abortion persons to the Supreme Court and relevant cabinets; and defund Planned Parenthood and similar organizations. (To date, Republican candidates Michelle Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum, and Thaddeus McCotter have all signed on the dotted line.) This pledge was proffered by the group titled “Susan B. Anthony List,” which purports in its mission statement that “Courageous women leaders like Susan B. Anthony [...] believed that abortion was just a tool of oppression used against women.” You’d imagine that with such a bold description of Anthony’s beliefs and a pledge in her name entirely dedicated to anti-abortion policy, she was a staunch opponent of abortion.

You’d be wrong.

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Quick Hit: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal Finally Takes Effect

From Bloomberg:

The Obama administration must immediately end the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on gays serving in the armed forces, a federal appeals court said.

The Log Cabin Republicans, a group that promotes equal rights for gays and lesbians, asked a U.S. appeals court to block further enforcement of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” while the court reviews a September lower court ruling that declared the law unconstitutional. The San Francisco-based appeals court today granted the organization’s request.

“As of today, the government is prohibited from applying or enforcing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ — the law is over and done with,” Dan Woods, a lawyer representing the Log Cabin Republicans said in an interview. “All investigations must stop, all discharge proceedings must halt immediately,” he said.

More here.

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Same-sex spouse of Princeton grad student wins long deportation battle

It’s been a great week for the gay rights movement. Last Friday, lawmakers legalized same-sex marriage in the state of New York, and now, it appears that Joshua Vandiver, a Princeton grad student in the Department of Politics, will not be separated from his Venezuelan husband, Henry Velandia.

Even though the couple were legally married in Connecticut, Velandia’s expired visa targeted him for deportation because the Defense of Marriage Act prevents federal recognition of same-sex marriage. A year long struggle ensued and has finally concluded. According to NJ.com:

It was a historic victory, according to the couple and their lawyer, Lavi Soloway, who said it was the first time immigration officials had made a decision to not deport the spouse of a gay or lesbian American on the basis of their marriage.

We’re so happy for this couple and hope that their moving story foreshadows DOMA’s demise. Although the fight for federal recognition of same-sex marriage is still underway, Soloway says it best: ”This action shows that the government has not only the power but the inclination to do the right thing when it comes to protecting certain vulnerable populations from deportation.”

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