Lately the phenomenon on male bashing is getting a bit out of hand. From articles, the media, females; the world of male bashing is horrendous. Not just that, but it has become culturally acceptable to bash and ridicule men! This may not come to a surprise for many of you but it is tiring. To put it bluntly this generation has no hope and I am still debating whether the next generation will be worse or a tad better. We need to put a stop to this but really who’s listening since they’re all laughing?
Our brains are already embedded with male and female stereotypes from these bashings that World War III already started awhile back and we haven’t really noticed it. We are so used to these stereotypes, also known as male/female bashing, that it just goes unnoticed. Unnoticed meaning, it goes into one year and out the other just like it goes into one eye and out the other. Hello people, do you know what this is doing to our children and future children. Do you really want them to be bitter and cynical or passive aggressive and overpowered like us? It’s already been happening and unless we do something about it, God help the future generations.
This might be a little rash but World War III is worse then World War I and II put together. It’s that bad. World War III is so bad that it has been going on for the last thirty years and won’t end anytime soon. And for those who say they have never been in a war or plan to anytime soon how’s that for a shocker? Who said war is all about killing and blood. War is about heartbreak, destruction, demolition. Isn’t that what we’re doing?
Take a minute and think about it…
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Yep, that’s I thought.
Male bashing is what concerns me though, and it's men who mostly get bashed nowadays. To be honest with you I do my own share of male bashing but you will have to excuse me. Since everyone could come up with an excuse I might as well. I bash men who deserve it just like I bash females, when the time calls for it that is. These bashings are my *special* for those who deserve it only. What I’m saying is erase it from any form of media. ANY form of media. What’s really going on in the world is dangerous. This danger is coming from the media; then it is coming from society.
“According to "Gender Issues in Advertising Language", television portrayals that help create or reinforce negative stereotypes can lead to problems with self-image, self-concept, and personal aspirations. This means that young men learn that they are expected to mess up, that women will have the brains to their brawn, and that childcare is over their heads” (Abernathy, Michael). We might think that men are the only ones suffering from this and some of you might quickly reply by saying that women are also suffering since they believe all this bashing but what about kids? A new study from Children Now found out that 2/3 of children they surveyed describe men on TV as angry and only 1/3 report ever seeing a man on television performing domestic chores, such as cooking or cleaning. Young boys look for role models and usually try to find them on television but as we all know, there are so little positive role models for young boys on television. You turn on the television and are bombarded with television shows and commercials that promote the stereotypical male bashing. Yes, it is deemed humorous but is it really? Men on television used to be wise and magnificent and women used to be mindless who were basically just housewives. Now men are shown as clumsy and inept, embarrassing, selfish, cheaters, pathetic, lazy, and inconsiderate whereas, women are now shown as independent, assertive, intelligent, caring, and strong. Men ruled the world and we were just slaves. Now the tables are very very slowly turning and no I am not happy about it. Equality is what I believe in. I believe men and women bring different characteristics to a relationship that should be embraced and used wisely to bring the best out of both them.
Men you need to stand up for yourselves. The reason you are being ridiculed is because you’re easy targets. You just sit there and laugh or is it because there is an ounce of truth in this male bashing phenomenon? I’m sick of it. Aren’t you? And when you start thinking why the gay guys are getting all the girls you have to start wondering. I mean, it’s the gay guys straight men go to, to get advice about women, relationships, and the sort; of course after they get over the fact that there are guys who are into guys. Then there are my favorite guy magazines Maxim and Playboy that I would actually subscribe for my man so I could secretly look and read them too, in the bathroom that is. Wink wink. I close my eyes at the “bad” parts though don’t worry. Anyways magazines like this and shows like the popular “The Man Show” just love to help promote that men are simply beer-drinking, horny bastards. The sad thing is young men believe this. They believe it then they promote it by being it.
The website askmen.com is my favorite website for men. It’s just a beautiful website. Everything I want to know is right under my fingertips. I recently was reading about male bashing on this site and I just have to quote this.
“Seinfeld says it all and TV teaches us an important lesson. Such guys fit the bill laid out by Jerry Seinfeld in his standup special, I'm Telling You for the Last Time: "Women always want to know what men are thinking. You really want to know what we're thinking about? Okay, I'll tell you... Nothin'. Guys are just walking around, looking around."
That's right, guys are. The stereotype isn't really so much about all men, but rather about guys of the male gender.
If you don't see the difference, here's an example. Given two plastic cups stacked together too tightly to separate:
· A woman will hand it to a male, to give him a problem to solve (and thereby pad his ego, which she knows he needs to survive), while simultaneously testing whether he's a man or a guy (women love to test us).
· A man might put ice in the top cup and run the bottom cup under hot water; the bottom expands while the top contracts, and the two are easily separated.
· A guy will twist and grimace until a) veins pop out of his forehead, then b) the cups break in his hands. Cue cursing, followed by despondent silence, during which he just wants to be left alone.
In short, a guy is a caricature composed of the particularly unfemale male traits: stubbornness, inability to listen or plan ahead, a desire to show off, a fascination with basic human functions, etc.”
I love this. Its guys not men. Women take a deep breath, let it out, and relax. Ahhhhhhhh. I feel good. Now we just have to deal with men. Now we can stop swearing and cussing out men and just do that for guys. We are finally safe.
Do you think this is why males don't rise up and fight the female powers who increasingly have a say in the media. Jake Brennan, the guy who wrote the article I just quoted, tells us to remember that a stereotype is a portrait of what is perceived, rightly or wrongly, to be an average. He goes on to say, “And averages are affected by extremes. Sure, some males are guys, but hey, some blondes are ditzy….So, males either know they're not like that … and can therefore laugh at the stereotype, or the guys among us identify and laugh at themselves and the fact that they're getting away with it all. When you consider the weight of influence in the spheres of politics, business and the arts, yup, the scales still tip toward male. And if men want to continue to have their cake a little while longer, they're going to have to accept that, from time to time, some of that cake will be rammed down their throat.” I couldn’t have said that better myself.
To sum it all up school Psychologist, Ida Rose Heckard, lists how male bashing hurts us and what she has to say about it:
Male bashing distorts our view of men. I didn't realize how much I'd bought into negative stereotypes about men until one day, early in my marriage, when my husband, George, returned home in the midst of my annual holiday cookie baking. I thought to myself, Watch, just like a man, he won't help a bit, but he'll be happy to eat the goods. Much to my surprise, he eagerly joined in, recalling fond memories of making sandtarts with his grandmother. Since then, he's become our family's chief Christmas cookie baker.
Male bashing negatively affects our friends. Leslie desired a family but at thirty-four was still single. Her struggles with difficult male coworkers left her fearful she could never live with a man. She and I often commiserated over tea in the cafeteria. Although we enjoyed the camaraderie, I began to see that I was helping to solidify her fears.
Male bashing threatens our relationships with men. Because it's essentially gossip, male bashing undermines trust—the foundation of relationships—and makes it difficult for men to be vulnerable. Jeff, a church friend, once admitted to me that he avoided committees on which a particular woman served because she often used her husband's weaknesses as amusing anecdotes. "If she talks like that about him," he confided, "what might she say about me?"
Male bashing hurts our children. Initially, I was amused to hear my five-year-old son tell a baby sitter we have four children in our family: himself, his brother, his sister, and his father. But I was embarrassed when I later learned he'd merely repeated my own words. As my son and I talked, he asked me, "Mommy, what do you say about me? " I realized when my children hear me belittle their father, they question their own security. After all, if someone as powerful as Daddy is vulnerable to such disregard, aren't they also?
World War III. That’s all I’ve got to say…
