Rarely does somebody see a man as a victim in anything in today’s society. Fight Club steps over that stereotype, by bringing attention to what men are victimized the most from, feminization. Rarely does one notice these changes, and if they do they can claim that the president is a man and it is men whom are in control of this country; which is true politically, however socially it is clear men are the victims of feminization.
Flight Club shows us that men are indeed the victims, especially when we examine the relationship between Jack and Tyler. Tyler is seen as the embodiment of all that is masculine: strong sexual drives, violent, and an alpha male, he likes to be in charge. Tyler lets us know that the worst possible thing that could happen to you would be to loose your manhood, especially to a woman. It is evident when Jack and Tyler first meet for drinks after the apartment has blown up. Tyler tries to make Jack feel better by talking about it. He says, "You know man it could be worse. A woman could cut off your penis while you're sleeping and toss it out the window of a moving car,” (Fight Club, Fincher, 1999). In Freud’s structural model of the psyche, Tyler represents the Id, meaning he only worries about himself and his inner desires (ID). He is driven on instinct and impulses, and shows no concern over breaking society’s rules. Jack shows us a more typical male in today’s society. He works in a cubicle; he is materialistic, depressed, having many qualities of a beta male, meaning he takes the orders and never gives them out. He shows signs of this materialistic value when he talks about the furniture layout in his apartment, “And I wasn't the only slave to my nesting instinct. The people I know who used to sit in the bathroom with pornography, now they sit in the bathroom with their IKEA furniture catalogue,” (Fight Club, Palahniuk, Chapter 5 Page 43). Lynn M. Ta, professor at University California San Diego, notes that during the movie we see Jack sitting on a toilet, looking at what first appears to be a pornographic magazine, a stereotypical image of a single man; however the camera zooms in so that we see it is an Ikea catalogue. This suggests that consumerism has replaced male sex drives with furniture, something typically seen more in part of a woman’s life instead of a man’s, suggesting this progressive move towards feminism. Jack, instead of asking people to do what he wants like Tyler, he does what other people want him to do. Examining him with Freud’s model, he fits in the superego category, where he is concerned with the needs of society, and trying to always fit in and find his way within society’s boundaries. When you compare their relationship, you notice patterns fitting of each one. Tyler is the leader, Jack is always willing to follow him and do just about anything because Tyler does it. Examining Jack, we begin to realize that Jack is truly unhappy with his life, and that he desires more than what society tells him is good for him. In Fight Club, as with real life we notice society places high values on what people own, and how people look. Jack is seen obsessing with these ideas of materialistic values at he beginning of the novel, however when he meets Tyler you really begin to see his desire for more than the values society has place upon him to achieve, the idea of being a millionaire or being a celebrity is not what masculinity is about. According to Tyler men should be angry that they are slaves to society’s values. When talking to the men in Fight Club, Tyler the embodiment of masculinity asks the men to break free of bonds of society. In a scene in the movie he says, “Man, I see in Fight Club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables, slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off,” (Fight Club, Fincher, 1999). Lynn M. Ta, comments on this lack of purpose stated by Tyler with no war or depression. Men who use to value strength and athleticism, now value money and material wealth, shifting them away from what men originally valued over material wealth.
During the novel and movie, Tyler and jack have a conversation about their parents. Tyler mentions the fact that Jack and himself are, “We’re a generation of men raised by women,” (Fight Club, Fincher, 1999). They both mention that their fathers were not prominent figures in the childhood years. The later part of the 1900’s, showed a large increase in the amount of divorces in the United States. A large factor in this was the feminist movement, and women now getting out of their homes, and getting jobs, much like men. This evened the playing field, in that it allowed women to have a larger role in society because they now were making money. Women could now care for a family by providing for it, instead of being the typical household mother. Since women no longer depended on their husbands, they no longer needed to stay with them when they were unhappy. This led to the idea of a single mother, whom was forced to take care of the children. Mothers instead of fathers have been taking care of sons, and while this is not bad, it has led to the feminization of men. Boys with fathers generally grow up with a more masculine background, because they simply had a father. The presence of that masculine figure is something that boys raised by single mothers completely lack. It’s not that they grow up like women; it’s that they don’t have the masculine presence that boys with fathers do so they are not as inclined to have masculine instincts that a father would give you, and loose some of their masculinity as an effect.
Throughout Fight Club, there is this lingering notion of this idea of castration, and it frightens all the men but especially Jack. This fear of, “loosing one’s manhood,” (referring to castration), according to Lynn M. Ta, “Is the most basic form of literally loosing one’s manhood.” One can not reproduce or engage in sex if their genitals are cut of and this theme of fear of castration in the book is the ultimate form of punishment. In a novel where it’s everyone’s goal to reclaim their lost manhood, loosing that manhood is what keeps them in line.
Women have progressively changed what type of man they are attracted to, leading to a change in the behavior of men. Many women still love that quarterback type of character: alpha male, everyone looks up to him. However, women also are attracted to more sensitive and caring men, who might not be the most attractive or the one everyone looks up to, but the one who is the most emotional. Most people often associate this sensitive, caring trait with women, but examining women’s attractiveness to this new sensitive man can signify a shift towards a more feminine culture. One of the basic most instinctual goals of men is to reproduce and spread his seed, and appeasing the female population is the best way to do it. So attributing this shift to what women like, can again show how men are influenced by women to gain some feminine type traits.
Lynn M. Ta, attributes the values of society and this shift to a feminist culture to capitalism. Capitalism creates this idea of material wealth you are what you own. It places people in a hierarchical structure based upon what they own, and how much money they make. This value of materialistic wealth, creates this devaluing of masculinity, especially because it is marketed to them. Men are told that if they buy things via the market, they would become more masculine. Viagra, protein shakes, even steroids are all marketed to men by telling them that, they are men but they could become real men. It is said that the media only tells women to look skinny and eat less. However, people don’t notice that the media also tells men to be strong and workout, so essentially society is now telling men, how to be men. By buying into the market you are effectively becoming more of a man.
The main idea of Project Mayhem, said by Tyler, was to destroy the one of the foundations of capitalism, credit card companies, sending the economy into total chaos. This would lead to devaluing material wealth as it is not a stable thing, much like traits of masculinity are. Tyler believes that society should not tell men how to look, and that men should look they way they want to. In the movie Tyler talks to Jack about the underwear ad on the bus mentioning that society now tells men how to look. The idea of being masculine and being a man is that you look the way you want to, because you are a man and you are supposed to be in charge.
Fight Club addresses the struggle to return to masculinity by the fight club itself. The fight club allows men to become what masculinity really wants them to be. By beating each other up, they are asserting themselves in a way that allows them to assert their masculinity over others; something that this lost generation typically does not get to do. This is what makes fight club an attractive event for the men participating it, they can simply be men. Tyler and Jack interact much in the same way. Tyler was created as a cure for Jack’s depression and consumerism. Tyler as he says is everything Jack is not. Through Tyler, Jack is able to become a different person, taking risk, beating people up, and becoming a leader under the very name of Tyler Durdan. Tyler represents the man Jack desires to be, but because of what society has taught him and demands from him can not be unless he goes against society’s values. If you look at where Tyler lives compared to Jack’s apartment, you notice the lack of consumerism involved in Tyler’s home, the furniture is old, the house leaks, and the basement floods. Tyler also has no real job, and through his job he takes revenge upon the people who he despises the most: the wealthy people who construct society’s values and place them upon other people. Since Tyler is raw masculinity, he refuses to accept these values place upon him by others. Jack accepts these values and lives by them, until he creates Tyler where he destroys them all. Tyler represents Jack’s progression to move away from complete consumerism, and embrace his id and masculinity and pursue what interests him.
While some of society’s values do benefit society more than they take away from the individual, the value of material wealth goes against the rugged individualism that masculinity is. The progression towards this feminine society through consumerism and material wealth is what is causing the decline of masculinity and self assertion, and the John Waynes that we once idolized now are the everyday, sit in the cubicle men, and this takes away from the individualism that are society should really provide.
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6 comments:
Interesting points…here are my two cents…
Men are not victims of feminization. Because masculinity is a delicate concept, it must be continuously proven to maintain its status as shown through facial hair, sexual prowess, chest thumping, and the like. Men, as victims of any issue, don’t often admit it as saying so threatens their masculinity.
In the US, the political playing field is dominated by men. The “Boys Club” mentality is as strong as party lines. Socially, women are, and have been, subjugated to male dominance in every aspect of their life. Barbie’s popularity is evidence of this. Her unrealistic physical sex kitten body continues to socialize young girls into believing that her body is ideal. Television perpetuates these images that are much more complex than being skinny and eating less. It is boobs and Botox, shiny hair, flawless skin – not for personal satisfaction, but to please the male members. Barbie debuted as a homemaker and currently is most popular for her Malibu Barbie series – both roles, and outfits, catering to male dominance.
Male dominance is strongly in play as seen in the characters of Sesame Street. Male is considered to be the gender neutral, just ask Elmo or Grover. Obvious gender markers are saved for the females of the show. They have exaggerated eyelashes and overtly feminine clothing, stressing the differences between men and women. Gender equality should not have to be a radical issue. Equality is not a feminist plot, but a human right. I would assume that challenging standing beliefs would constitute as more of a male thing than female, as it requires leadership, initiative, and, oh yeah, rugged individualism.
The argument that men have become more feminized to suit the women’s attraction to more emotive males is backward. It is the males that have taken advantage of women wanting an emotional outlet, acting at what best gets them what they want. This take initiative trait I find difficult to reconcile with Tyler’s character. He takes initiative to plan out Project Mayhem, but lacks the drive to man up and get a job or be responsible. This trait I can, however, justify as masculine as seen with the change in women’s attitudes toward sex. Women have adapted this masculine trait of irresponsibility. With the advent of birth control women were able to treat sex as men do: no consequences. Sadly, we have internalized the masculine approved rubric of checking out fellow women as well – judging their hotness, and comparatively ours, based on how a man would do so.
In response to the comment about single mothers, I would like some clarification. What are male instincts? The intrinsic need to care for the women and children? To hunt? Go to war or brave a depression? New York University sociology professor Judith Stacey reports that a women’s income can supplement the husband’s income and help the family rise in social status, but alone would not earn enough to support herself, much less a kid. Single mothers are strongly correlated to socioeconomic status, more so than to an unsatisfactory home life. The lower the income quintile, the higher the rate of incidents for single mothers.
Male dominance has pressured women into multiple roles, with the responsibility of balancing these roles ascribed to them. A slip up would result in the worst of consequences – falling out of favor. As musical lyricist Ludacris so eloquently describes, “We want a lady in the street and a freak in the bed.” Hilary Clinton’s struggle to remain emotionally distant has resulted in her being termed a fridged bitch, but when she publicly teared up, she was called a wussy and cry baby. A no win situation.
Male dominance in sports is seen at Cal’s very own basketball games. Women’s games are free, often having gimmicks like free shirts, to encourage audiences where as the men’s games are usually packed. Movements like Take Back the Night are blatant issues of male domination. Music videos portray women as arm candy, and basically, sex sells.
Violence, as seen in Fight Club, desensitizes audiences. It is more common that in heterosexual relationships the man gets violent and take out their aggression on woman, not seeing the magnitude of it because of the desensitization.
Your argument that progression toward a feminine society through consumerism is flawed in that males make up the majority of executive positions, so they are essentially advertising to themselves. Women don’t control the market. The International Labour Organization found that in 1999 (when Fight Club was published) women world wide held only one to three percent of executive jobs; in the US a step up to five percent of executive management positions in the five hundred largest companies. Clearly, women did not have enough clout to transform the market, lulling males into compliancy though materialism.
Couple of things:
One is that my argument focuses on the changes that have led groups other than men advancing themselves and gaining power. Women have become more indivualistic making more money than they used to. You bring up Barbie’s, interestingly enough I had a class last year on contemporary issues and read an article on how Barbie is no long the clear cut best selling doll for girls. The long popular Barbie who can be seen as the idea women introduced in 1959. However nowadays Bratz is slowly becoming the most popular doll. Look what Bratz introduces, not the idea housewife but a girl, who believes she is better than everyone, kind of modeled after many of the teenage pop singers or movie stars. Bratz almost serves like violent video games do to little boys. They teach girls to have these unique attitudes and to try to be these icons that boys drool over. They desensitize girls into these tramp-like attitudes. Men become more violent because of this desensitization by video games; women become desensitized wearing skimpy clothing, and buying all these clothes, and accessories that they don’t really need. You mention women like to look good for men, but men like to look good for women. This change is evident as women are no longer the stereotype in the kitchen housewives that they used to be. We see women as the people who like to buy things, the more consumerist between men and women. You can see this as the behavior in little children. Girls playing with dolls they bought have tea parties with tea cups they bought, but boys like to get dirty. They fight, and play in the mud right? Now look at the men in fight club. They have drifted away from what their id, or inner desires want them to do, and buy into consumerism, much like girls do at a young age. Evidence in Bob. Bob who bought into consumerism in order to become manlier, but in the end he now has body features of a woman. Because Bob didn’t just lift weights but through consumerism bought steroids, he now has bitch tits. Fight Club stresses this, and this is one of the messages Palahniuk wanted to get across. Men are becoming feminized through consumerism in that they now are buying and doing things, they used to not do. You are right in saying men don’t want to admit it because this falsifies their manhood. My argument was not that women are taking over consumerism, it is that men are becoming out of touch with their masculinity, stating that my argument is flawed shows that you misunderstood my argument. Also to the statements of basketball, sports are a way for men to establish their masculinity. Women in sports are often seen as more manly than other girls, mainly because the idea of sports until recently was a male dominated idea. Women did not play sports, much like men did not cook in the kitchen. As women have progressed in social movements, they have attempted to allow women more chances to achieve in areas dominated by men. That’s the point of my argument, women have advanced socially whereas men have not, and almost digressed. Before 1980 it was hard to find men cooking for their families nowadays it is not that uncommon but still looked upon strangely. Pop culture works both ways, male artist try to stereotype women, however women artist try to push women to do things that men used to do.
Overall, your essay definitely brought up some new point I did not pay attention to, and it provoked inquiry. A couple of comments on what you said on your response comment:
"The idea of being masculine and being a man is that you look the way you want to, because you are a man and you are supposed to be in charge." You might want to specify what culture you’re talking about. Masculinity as supposed to be in charge, and the other ways in which you defined it, aren’t looked at in the same way everywhere. There are some places, for example, one tribe in Africa where the male stays home and gossips and the women go hunt and are more aggressive.
“My argument was not that women are taking over consumerism, it is that men are becoming out of touch with their masculinity, stating that my argument is flawed shows that you misunderstood my argument.” I believe that it was you that had the uncertainty in your writing. I, too, had a similar understanding. I would suggest making sure that people beside yourself agree on the same topic of the paper. Perhaps, you should check with people of both genders, since this is a paper on males and females. You may have done this, though, outside of my knowing.
“Before 1980 it was hard to find men cooking for their families nowadays it is not that uncommon but still looked upon strangely.” Where is it looked upon strangely? Where do the facts come from? I know plenty of men who love to cook and BBQ, and I can’t think of anyone who has said it was weird or out of the ordinary. From my knowledge, BBQ is a form of cooking and a manly thing to do.
“Pop culture works both ways, male artist try to stereotype women, however(sic?) women artist try to push women to do things that men used to do.” Is it a problem that women do things similar to men? To me, it looks like you are arguing that women are given stereotypes by men and women push other women to do new things. I don’t see the comparison. I think it would be better, and read better, if it meant that, despite stereotypes that they received from men, women are trying to do new things. You say that women are trying to do things that men used to do. Well, only men used to go to college. In fact, at one point only men needed to learn to read. Women only needed to learn and do womanly things, like sew and produce children. Are you honestly saying that women should be back in the homes, raising the children and making sure dinner is ready on time?
In response to what you brought up:
When talking about cultures in an essay, from my understanding it is the culture of what you are writing on, in this instance Fight Club. While you brought up a good observation, referring to that one culture in Africa being different from just about the rest of the world is a little far-fetched but I appreciate the criticism as it taught me to be a little careful in the future when I write essays perhaps as controversial as one like this. However being masculine in my paper, meant in the western cultures, the culture Fight Club took place.
Another note is that when I meant you misunderstood my argument, I meant that perhaps you got a different impression that what I originally was trying to get across. I did check that others agree with what I wrote about, however isn’t an argumentative essay supposed to bring up new ideas that few people had thought about before?
The argument with BBQ while a specific example, shows a weakness in my argument, however I was referring to in general. The example I was trying to put across was that in general women used to be the ones cooking in households on a nightly base, not special occasions such as a football game, or as a celebratory event. Now, as more women have jobs, more and more men are seen in the kitchen, cooking on a nightly base. When you are a little kid, and you go to a friends house it used to be the mother cooking, now more and more men are seen in the kitchen. BBQ is almost cooking for pleasure, where cooking every night is cooking because you have too, look at it that way and I think you will see what I am trying to get across. It goes back to ingrained stereotypes (while not saying I agree with them), since people especially little kids whose mothers cook, see a man cooking they thing something is wrong, I know that was the case in my family as my dad actually cooks. When kids talk about whose parents cook when they are at school for example, a majority of them say their mothers cook, but when those whose fathers cook, say that it is their dads who cook eyebrows are raised as this is going against what society teaches little kids. Since kids opinions are mostly their parents or the general consensus of society since they have not matured enough to give it much thought, this really tells us something on where society places men and women.
As to the pop culture argument I was responding to what you said in your response to my essay. “Music videos portray women as arm candy, and basically, sex sells.” Now while this is true, this is true for mainly music videos made by men. Look at most of the women artist, in their music videos men are often portrayed as “boy toys.” It’s a two way street. I don’t understand how you made the assumption that I want women in the kitchen, making babies and cleaning up the house. That’s a false accusation as women who strive to better themselves by getting a better education are a lot more interesting and fun to be around that women who are not as self motivated. Just because I am arguing about something happening, does not necessarily mean that I liked the old ways better, because first of all I wasn’t around for the old ways, but secondly the more people who get a good education, and have strong desires to better their way of life allows this country to prosper better.
Again I was arguing that because of this feminist movement for women to better themselves as people, which I am ok with, has forced men to take roles that they used to not take, taking away from this alpha male dominance that used to dominate our culture. In Fight Club, we see the narrator doing things stereotypically women used to do. He is staring at furniture catalogues, and is so into how his house looks, going against what is defined as normal; men do not normally decorate houses. Look at little kids, little girls love to go shopping they are consumers, it is almost an instinct, they love it. Little boys don’t like shopping at all, they would rather play in the mud and fight, being consumers is something that just does not appease them at an instinctual level. We have become such a consumerist country; and men now are forced to just continuously buy into this consumerist culture, whereas women thoroughly enjoy it as it is something they have always enjoyed. Seeing the narrator buying into this consumerism with such a passion raises questions as that part of the book was not put their just for plot purposes it was intended to get a message across. Even in the bathroom where he is reading a magazine, you would think that the magazine is porn, he has his pants down even to compliment that idea, however it isn’t, it’s an IKEA catalogue. This shows a progressive change to something most men do and enjoy in the bathroom with a magazine, to bringing an IKEA catalogue into the bathroom. It should I believe raise questions as to the change in our culture.
Before I get into my comments, I am going to point out that I am male.
I noticed that you initially make a problematic initial definition of what masculinity is. You say that “Tyler is seen as the embodiment of all that is masculine: strong sexual drives, violent, and an alpha male, he likes to be in charge.” The thing that must be kept in mind here is that gender is not defined in and of itself, but only relative to the other gender. If both genders have a quality, that quality is no longer gendered, but universal. So if you define masculinity as something, you are also saying that femininity is not that.
The main problem with this definition is the alpha male point, in that men like to be in charge. Later in the essay you make reference to one of Jack’s problems, in that he is taking up the role of the beta male, rather than the masculine role of the beta male. The very idea of an alpha male inherently means that beta males will exist. However, how this is attributed to femininity somewhat puzzles me. Also, is the fact that this definition automatically says that women are by definition subordinate, at least as compared to men. Although not in your initial definition, you also attribute “rugged individualism” as a quality of masculinity. Again, in saying that this is what masculinity is, these qualities are excluded from the realm of femininity. So here it is implied that women are NOT individualistic. You also said in one of your responses that video games desensitize men to violence. Yet, one of your three original defining characteristics of masculinity is “violent.” If men are violent by nature, than how can they be desensitized to violence?
You also split many ideas down and sort them between genders as either feminine or masculine, irrelevant of any complications. This is mainly done with consumerism, which is not that simple of a concept. Some research has actually shown somewhat to the opposite of what you propose. “With both spouses earning, a wife contributed 90 to 100 percent of her earnings to household expenses whereas men rarely gave over 75 percent” (Mecher 1988). In other words, it is men, not women, which are spending more of their money on things that they did not need. Although it may be the popular image that women are the ones who like shopping, some men will just as impulsively buy new video games, actions movies, etc. These are not things which are feminine by nature, but are still at the core of consumerism. You say, “Lynn M. Ta, attributes the values of society and this shift to a feminist culture to capitalism. Capitalism creates this idea of material wealth you are what you own. It places people in a hierarchical structure based upon what they own, and how much money they make.” As you established, hierarchy, stemming from male desire for dominance, is a masculine trait. This social implication of capitalism can just as easily be the new form of the alpha-beta complex, rather than a feminine dominance of society. In none of this am I saying that the masculine is to blame for any of this, but I think it is unfounded to unilaterally blame such broad and vague problems against feminism.
On a similar note, you point out how boys growing up without fathers do not learn the “masculine instincts” that they would otherwise learn, and some masculinity would be lost as a result. Instinct, by definition, is “innate” (OED). So any male instincts that exist are obtained by being male, not from any learned sort of behavior. Instinct, by the very nature of what it is, cannot be learned or unlearned. So whatever traits you may be specifically referring to might not be intrinsic to masculinity, but merely the traditional opinion of it.
You say your argument is that “women have advanced socially whereas men have not, and almost digressed.” However, the ways in which women have advanced include sports and working in more male dominated lines of work. This would suggest that society has become more masculinized. Masculinity is essentially an arbitrary term that adopts meaning from individual societies. Here, I agree with you; being a man in the US means being tough, rugged, and strong etc. Femininity, though, is no longer being caring and domestic, but rather strong and driven. The feminist movement did not involve women leading with sentimentality and cooking tips. It involved giving speeches, being completely emotionless, wearing suits and conforming to the notion of success exemplified by males. So if the feminist movement has made women more like the men you have idealized as embodying “raw masculinity” and refusing “to accept these values place upon him by others,” what’s the problem? I mean, one of the only remaining differences between men and women is pure physical strength. So it would seem then that your problem is that men don’t value their own strength anymore. Yet you argue that it is a bad thing that they buy into consumerism that tells them to be stronger…?
You talk about consumerism a lot and how that has robbed men of their freedom to express their masculinity. You reference Jack with the IKEA catalogue and how consumerism suggests a progressive move towards feminism. However, most industries were created and are run by men. I find it very hard to believe that women had a huge hand in the incredible presence of consumerism in today’s society. Yet when you say “Men who used to value strength and athleticism, now value money and material wealth,” it seems that you are suggesting that material wealth correlates directly with feminism. Actually, when you bring up Viagra for men and looking skinny for women, you kind of eliminate that point because you’re showing that both are victims of consumerism. That, I definitely agree with. I think consumerism is a wonderfully designed way to get people to spend money and forget what is important. However, it’s not some trap women designed for men to rob them of their masculinity. Women, too, are made to feel that they need to buy their femininity: breast implants, face lifts, and a size zero waist. Men are told they need “Viagra, protein shakes, even steroids” to “become real men.” You downplay the effect of the media on women to prove your point. Men are obviously negatively affected, but if you’re going to argue that “feminization” is to blame, you really need to show that women aren’t victims in the same ways men are. If they’re equal, consumerism is at fault, not feminization.
You also claim that women have changed who they’re attracted to and that this makes men shift towards being more sensitive and emotional and less masculine in order to “spread his seed.” First of all, unless you think it’s important that men impregnate various women, I don’t really see how this is a problem. It’s not like really masculine men can’t find women that will have sex with them/ marry them if you’re actually talking about spreading seeds. But, referring back to what you said in your paper, divorce rates have gone up since the feminist movement. So, if that’s the case, they already didn’t like who they were marrying. Feminism isn’t a cult- you don’t just decide you don’t like someone overnight after being married to them for years. Women were stereotypically more caring and sensitive before the feminist movement. So, chances are their desire for someone caring and sensitive is not something new. You’re right- there are still a lot of women who go for athletic and rugged men. There probably were then too. If anything, I will admit that women are choosier about who they date/marry due to empowerment from the feminist movement, and yes, I suppose that makes it a little more difficult for men. However, feminization hasn’t victimized men. Feminization just made it so women say they don’t like certain men instead of just marrying them anyways. If we’re talking about victimizing though- you’re now weighing making it more difficult for a man to find a partner with women spending their lives married to someone they probably don’t like very much. If the really masculine man settles, he ends up marrying some feminist he doesn’t like. If the feminist doesn’t settle, it’s much more difficult for her to find a partner. They’re equally unfortunate scenarios and no one is being victimized.
What exactly, then, is the feminization you dislike so much because you’ve really only proven that the media degrades the purity of a man’s masculinity.
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