Men and Women

Interesting discussion on Dennis Prager yesterday afternoon. Once a week or so he does kind of a Venus and Mars sort of thing attempting to help relationships between men and women by exploring how the sexes think and operate differently. The premise for yesterday's show was that the clearly defined gender roles that were present even 40 or 50 years or so simply do not exist and there are few things anymore that are clearly woman things or clearly man things. Seemed logical enough to me. Indeed, modern men have become quite wussified and the manly man sounding his barbaric yawlp is largely seen more as a joke or a social embarassment as something that men simply do. Quite honestly while most of us consider ourselves pretty manly, prepared to our grandfathers we are indeed some petite flowers. Anyway, Prager goes on and on lamenting the death of manly rituals and things clearly and exclusively masculine and wondering how our grandchildren would grow up (bathing daily in neosporine, not allowed to get dirty or play contact sports, bicycle helmet and knee pads 24-7, no swing sets, no bicycles, and God knows the BB gun and dirt clod fights that even I remember will be big no no's.
Just when I could feel my testosterone level dropping and a bit of pitty welling up inside of me for the world my grandson would grow up in, a guy that was an Army Ranger (multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan) calls up and tells Prager it's just not true, young folks aren't being de-sexed the difference is alive and well and he could prove it. Intrigued, Prager asks how? The man proceeds to explain that when he was in Iraq. His eight year old niece's elementary school class started a project to write letters to the men of his unit. He then said that without exception, the girls wanted to know about uniforms and the boys wanted to know about guns and grenades. Maybe there's hope after all.

 

Children are true to their instincts. It's only as adults that American men have become castrated wussies.

 

I have no idea who this Dennis Prager is or what he does but if you listen to, and believe, rants like that instead of thinking things out for yourselves, then you've already lost your masculinity (or, for you ladies, your femininity).

 

+1

 

Agreed.

 

Of all the things to be worried about, men not being men is very likely the last. As long as there are floors to be strewn with socks, beer cans to be crushed against heads, and inappropriate comments to be made, men will be there.

 

Yes but with men, in general, there's a certain level of acceptance. Not so if you see a woman behaving similarly.

 

Careful, man... I get the feeling you're treading on dangerous ground there.

In some respects, I can see the guy's concern.
In our attempt to bring equality to our society, we've done away with a lot of the things that were considered by older generations to be integral parts of gender identity.
Of course, I have no problem with women wearing pants, and I'd wear a kilt if I thought I could get away with it... :happy102

 

One would like to think this is the case, being an old fart, I generally credit women with having far more class than men (in general). For example, most people (well me at least) wouldn't bat an eye if I saw a guy in public scratching his back side or his fellas. I'd probably get a good laugh out of it. Not at all appropriate but not all that surprising right? However, a woman scratching her crotch or backside out in public would elicit quite a different response.

There is still a double standard in my world but it truly is going away quickly. A woman, particularly an attractive one can get away with all kinds of ridiculous public behavior. Then again, I think lots of people now a days lack what used to be called "home trainin' " As a society (regardless of gender) we've gotten very lax on what is acceptable behavior and dress and what is not. If you look even back to the early 60's these kind of rules were much more rigid than they are now.

Something I saw at the casino last weekend graphically illustrates this. There was some kind of a private reception or something that involved lots of younger women wearing formal dresses. Now I'm not a complete prude, I have tattoos myself. If a young lady is on spring break in Panama City, has a few too many beers and decides to get a tramp stamp, hey...her business, her problem. HOWEVER, I was absolutely aghast at the number of these otherwise quite attractive women with HUGE tattoos populating their cleavage area or arm or back tattoos the size of billboards. To me, it just looked very tacky, like there was a circus convention in town or something. Nursing homes 50 or 60 years from now should be a hoot with all the wrinkled up old ladies with tattoos drastically displaced from their original location due to natural saggage.

 

Problem here..!!!!...Because of all the crap being dumped in the lakes and rivers.....There has been a definite change in sex in many mammals and animals. Also it has been shown that there are more females than men being born and testosterone levels are falling.

Call it media hype, crap whatever. Hopefully it is just bad science but so far that is what is being shown.

So on the bright side any of older guys will just have to get out there and do our best with our testosterone to keep the race alive and thriving.....LMAO
.

 

Ah yes, sociopaths are often the cornerstone of any civilized society. So if society says murder and rape is bad, we can all just ignore those dictates and do whatever we want? This whole thing can be summed up by defining whatever each individual deems as "good taste" and "acceptable" in public.

There always has been, and always will be, double standards that swing both ways. Girls can wear guys clothes and be "cool and sexy" (think of a woman wearing a men's dress shirt to sleep in :1respect), but guys cannot wear womens' clothes and be perceived as anything but weird (again to "society").

If you want to buck the trend of whatever "society" deems as normal and acceptable at that particular time, that's all well and good. Just don't expect to not be called out on it when you do.

 

Never intended for this to be a political thing. In the original post, I merely thought it was significant that despite all the talk to the contrary, there was still a consensus (at least among children). All the little boys wanted to know about guns and grenades and all the little girls wanted to discuss uniforms. That's all I was saying or meant the post to be about. And oh yeah, IMHO evening gowns and huge body murals on otherwise attractive women are not all that becoming. As I said, I also have tattoos but they can be concealed if I'm wearing a tuxedo or even a long sleeved shirt. Not so if you're a female wearing a low cut, backless, evening gown. Again, IMHO, If such a gown reveals enormous tattoos, formal just became...well not so formal. I'm not sure how a discussion of the errosion of traditional gender roles makes me a racist or would be anywhere near as offensive but if as it turns out it is, I humbly apologize, it was not my intent to offend.

 

Yeah... sometimes I resort to the ridiculous to prove a (weak) point.

My point exactly.

Yep... which is the basis for all social taboos and mores.

 

There you go, Ms. Society. Judging me again.