Parker's The Waltz can apply to just about any uncomfortable situation one has ever experienced. The facade of enjoyment when talking to one you despise. Or telling your boss you will gladly stay extra hours in the office per his request, knowing that you'll have to tell the guys you won't be able to make it to the bar. Or just telling your girlfriend she looks great in that shirt, even though it is WAY too tight and that muffin-top is ready to blow.
The Waltz is so easy to relate to because we all have to hold our tongue at times for the sake of being respectful, even if it is the last thing we want to do. Through the incongruity between her respectufl conversation with "Mr. Jukes" and the suffering thoughts within her head, I felt like I was dancing in Park's shoes: getting kicked in the shin, dying to get off the dance floor, wanting to get as far away from my dance partner as possible to avoid further shame and physical pain.
Although many of us can relate to these uncomfortable situations, I have sympathy for Parker being a woman, with expectations upon her to simply give in to Jukes' request for a dance and with no way of getting out. Jukes, as a man could at any time have decided to end the dance, sit back down, do whatever the heck it is he wants to do. Poor Dorothy. She has to remain "lady-like" and let the jerk take her wherever he chooses.
While it may sound insecure, there are many times when guys, including me, upon taking a girl out, or dancing, wonder: Is she enjoying this? Having fun? She is smiling, but inside, does she want to get the heck out of here ASAP? Certainly, one does have a good idea if a person is being sincere with their smiles and their "thank you's". Still, with social pressure on all of us to be polite toward one another, one can never be certain if the other person is just dreading their time with you. The Waltz takes us into that dreadful position of having to remain polite, while hating every second of what is going on. We laugh at the situation because we are on the outside: Reading every thought and word of dialogue with dramatic irony knowing the true feelings and thoughts of Dorothy as Jukes is completely ignorant of her attitude.
We've all been in that situation or one similar, Therefore I, and I believe most of the class liked The Waltz because we could relate. I just might have to tell my boss to go screw off in the future. I'm hanging with the boys tonight.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Unable to Relate to Skillet and Fode
Upon reading Relating to Skillet and Fode, I had no clue as to what was going on in the story...at least what was supposed to be humorous. With nothing to write on the humorous aspect of the story, there is none, I did some background research to understand what message Percy was trying to get across.
I still have no idea what he was writing about. I checked out his page on Wikipedia, and was surprised to see that Percy, though the son of plantation-owning U.S. Senator, conversed regularly with Harlem poet Langston Hughes and others of the Harlem Renaissance. All I could really appreciate about Skillet and Fode is the kind disposition Percy had toward Skillet, a black-boy he played with in his youth, and Ford, his worker/companion during his older years. The dialogue between Ford and Percy is not necessarily what one would expect between a black man and a white man during the early 20th century. Though racial tensions ran high in the south during this period, and still decades later, the two carry on like good time friends. Ford, able to call Percy a "little old fat man" and Percy with a sub-par comeback of "You damn fool". That Percy could see beyone Ford's color during these times is something to admire.
Let's be honest, there is absolutely no point to any of the stories Ford tells to Percy when the two are overlooking a river. As a 22 year old in the 21st century, I find no deep meaning to any of the stories Ford tells. It appears that neither does Percy, remarking that the second story Ford tells him is "just as inconsequential" as the first. Perhaps someone of these times could find meaning: A former slave, a slave owner, a white or black man living in the south at the times.
It was only through discussing the story in class that I understood the meaning of "Martin" in the second, inconsequential story. The point being that the "negro" man kept waiting around in the scary house, peering at the cats in front of him. Getting bigger and bigger as they come, the biggest cat says something to the point of "we aint goin do nutin til Martin comes." Who is Martin? A literary reference, also used in Twain's Roughing It, to describe a person who evokes fear even in the biggest of men, or in this case cats. Although the story then made sense, once understanding the meaning of Martin, it still didn't seem to have any meaning to the overall story.
If I had to struggle to find humor within this story, which I will do, I will say that when the black workers jestered that Percy's car is actually theirs, because it is THEIR work that payed for his car, and that Percy is initially unaware of their observation, the dramatic irony does work somewhat to produce a smile, but not much more.
The third story, of a black man who puts off work he promised to a white man, only to be told by a cooter that he "talks too much" isn't so much funny as it is a prophecy. Should the black man have said nothing about the cooter, he wouldn't have receive the whooping from the white man once the cooter did not speak in the white man's presence. Hence, the black man should have said nothing, but couldnt, because, as the cooter says, "nigger, I tole you you talks too much."
Should I have been alive during the early 1900s, or have been familiar with "negro stories", perhaps I could have found something to relate to within this entirely irrelvant story. But with no lense within which to view this story, Skillet and Fode failed to make an impression on me.
I still have no idea what he was writing about. I checked out his page on Wikipedia, and was surprised to see that Percy, though the son of plantation-owning U.S. Senator, conversed regularly with Harlem poet Langston Hughes and others of the Harlem Renaissance. All I could really appreciate about Skillet and Fode is the kind disposition Percy had toward Skillet, a black-boy he played with in his youth, and Ford, his worker/companion during his older years. The dialogue between Ford and Percy is not necessarily what one would expect between a black man and a white man during the early 20th century. Though racial tensions ran high in the south during this period, and still decades later, the two carry on like good time friends. Ford, able to call Percy a "little old fat man" and Percy with a sub-par comeback of "You damn fool". That Percy could see beyone Ford's color during these times is something to admire.
Let's be honest, there is absolutely no point to any of the stories Ford tells to Percy when the two are overlooking a river. As a 22 year old in the 21st century, I find no deep meaning to any of the stories Ford tells. It appears that neither does Percy, remarking that the second story Ford tells him is "just as inconsequential" as the first. Perhaps someone of these times could find meaning: A former slave, a slave owner, a white or black man living in the south at the times.
It was only through discussing the story in class that I understood the meaning of "Martin" in the second, inconsequential story. The point being that the "negro" man kept waiting around in the scary house, peering at the cats in front of him. Getting bigger and bigger as they come, the biggest cat says something to the point of "we aint goin do nutin til Martin comes." Who is Martin? A literary reference, also used in Twain's Roughing It, to describe a person who evokes fear even in the biggest of men, or in this case cats. Although the story then made sense, once understanding the meaning of Martin, it still didn't seem to have any meaning to the overall story.
If I had to struggle to find humor within this story, which I will do, I will say that when the black workers jestered that Percy's car is actually theirs, because it is THEIR work that payed for his car, and that Percy is initially unaware of their observation, the dramatic irony does work somewhat to produce a smile, but not much more.
The third story, of a black man who puts off work he promised to a white man, only to be told by a cooter that he "talks too much" isn't so much funny as it is a prophecy. Should the black man have said nothing about the cooter, he wouldn't have receive the whooping from the white man once the cooter did not speak in the white man's presence. Hence, the black man should have said nothing, but couldnt, because, as the cooter says, "nigger, I tole you you talks too much."
Should I have been alive during the early 1900s, or have been familiar with "negro stories", perhaps I could have found something to relate to within this entirely irrelvant story. But with no lense within which to view this story, Skillet and Fode failed to make an impression on me.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Sykes, Pryor
One of the more interesting portions of the comedian presentations were their backgrounds. I had already known, from an interview she had on The Tonight Show, that Sykes had previously worked for the N.S.A.. It's surprising to hear that a woman as funny as her, had previously worked for a government agency. Employees who aren't immediately thought of as funny or humorous, but connotatively thought of as dull, boring, and work-orientated. That she used to work for the government and has become a successful comedian just goes to show that anyone, no matter what their profession can possess a great sense of humor and story-telling ability.
Sykes' routine on how woman think too much is a common joke in comedy. However, she made her routine unique by acting as the "average" woman who thinks 100 words per second only to find herself thinking about why she "thinks so much". Though our presenter, Alex, told us that Sykes' rarely uses racial humor in her routine, Sykes was also unique in that when she did use racism in her routine, she personified it through a racist dolphin. The joke here was enhanced with the idea of a racist dolphin, as opposed to a racist human, making it hilarious that a dolphin would shun a hug from Sykes.
Although I had known that Sykes had previously worked for the N.S.A., I had no idea that Richard Pryor's father was his mother's pimp, and that he had grown up in his grandmother's brothel. It's one thing to go into comedy after working for the government, but to become one of the most successful comedians of the 20th century with that kind of childhood is incredible. I'm sure that when Pryor was expelled from school at 14, no one excepted much from him.
Though I knew Pryor was a successful comedian, I had only seen him in movies never having watched his stand-up. He succeeds, as our presenter was saying, at making fun of himself. The best way to make -light out of a bad situation is to laugh about it. When Pryor lights a match and asks the audience" do you know what this is? It's Richard Pryor running down the street!" he is changing that audience's attitude toward the incident to make them think it wasn't so bad.
Sykes' routine on how woman think too much is a common joke in comedy. However, she made her routine unique by acting as the "average" woman who thinks 100 words per second only to find herself thinking about why she "thinks so much". Though our presenter, Alex, told us that Sykes' rarely uses racial humor in her routine, Sykes was also unique in that when she did use racism in her routine, she personified it through a racist dolphin. The joke here was enhanced with the idea of a racist dolphin, as opposed to a racist human, making it hilarious that a dolphin would shun a hug from Sykes.
Although I had known that Sykes had previously worked for the N.S.A., I had no idea that Richard Pryor's father was his mother's pimp, and that he had grown up in his grandmother's brothel. It's one thing to go into comedy after working for the government, but to become one of the most successful comedians of the 20th century with that kind of childhood is incredible. I'm sure that when Pryor was expelled from school at 14, no one excepted much from him.
Though I knew Pryor was a successful comedian, I had only seen him in movies never having watched his stand-up. He succeeds, as our presenter was saying, at making fun of himself. The best way to make -light out of a bad situation is to laugh about it. When Pryor lights a match and asks the audience" do you know what this is? It's Richard Pryor running down the street!" he is changing that audience's attitude toward the incident to make them think it wasn't so bad.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Acceptance in Comedy
Ellen Cleghorn had a funny bit in her comedy routine about her dating a black man who is very dark, much darker than her. Cleghorn's grandmother told her that she had worked real hard to get Cleghorn as light-skinned as she is, and now Cleghorn was going to screw it all up by being with a dark-skinned black man. It was a funny bit as it talked about a common theme in comedy these days, race relations. Of course Cleghorn doesn't sound like a jerk or racist in her comedy because as a black woman she is able to make that joke about darker-skinned vs. lighter-skinned black people. The boundaries placed on what is acceptable for someone to say in their routine is largely based on the comedien's sex, race, age, background. I laughed hard at Cleghorn's joke, but had a white man or woman said the same joke, I would've found my self cringing.
Christine Rhea is able to diss her audience without coming off as disrespectful. She begins her routine by saying something to a male audience member, but she shows off those pearly whites with a big smile after doing so. See, she isn't so mean! She's able to tell off the audience member, but not come off as disrespectful. At the same time, a comedien's personality will let the audience know if they should expect to be disrespected. No one is going to a Don Rickles performance expecting to get a warm compliment. The persona Rickles has created allows him to get away with some rather nasty comments.
Christine Rhea is able to diss her audience without coming off as disrespectful. She begins her routine by saying something to a male audience member, but she shows off those pearly whites with a big smile after doing so. See, she isn't so mean! She's able to tell off the audience member, but not come off as disrespectful. At the same time, a comedien's personality will let the audience know if they should expect to be disrespected. No one is going to a Don Rickles performance expecting to get a warm compliment. The persona Rickles has created allows him to get away with some rather nasty comments.
Comedic Timing/Pacing
The All American Girl Margaret Cho couldve greatily improved her performance we had watchen in class would she have limited the pauses in her routine. When I think about the comediens that the class responded well to, Bill Burr and Chris Rock for example, those comediens have a well timed pacing within their acts that keep the laughs coming. There is a steady flow of aggressiveness or anger throughout their routine that the audience connected to. What an audience doesn't want is what Cho did, tell a joke, take about four seconds to recollect her thoughts, and then continue. But waiting can just kill a routine, especially, if memory serves me right, Cho didn't make any "returns" to previous jokes. So not only did the flow of the routine get interrupted by her incessant pausing, there were no return jokes that connected her routine together.
Now compare that to Wanday Sykes performance. Already familiar with Sykes, I knew I would enjoy her performance. She doesn't pause between every single joke, and does a great job at keeping a joke going if it is met with a good response from the audience. For Example, she tells a joke about police officers checking her breasts for finger prints. The audience laughs at the absurdity of having her breasts checked for finger prints, and Sykes keeps the laughs coming.
"I got to be honest, I started to like it" - audience laughs
"My next appointment is on Tuesday. I've been going there since '86" - audience dying from laughter
So she keeps the joke going by adding additional lines to the joke, about beggining to like the absurd procedure, and later revealing that she has been doing it for years!
Pausing in a routine is necessary when an audience is laughing so loud during a routine, or to establish that a grouping of jokes has ended so as to prepare the audience for a new set of jokes/story lines. When used randomly however, the audience, as was the case with our class, lost attention/interest in what Cho was talking about. I can remember her impression of her mother, and the steve "THE gay" that called for Cho, but I dont remember there being jokes that piggy-backed off of the original. Pacing and timing are everything in comedy, something I assume Cho perfected as she is still working today, and has appeared in films, even action films like Face/Off. But when comparing Sykes performance to Cho's it is obvious that Sykes' timing throughout her routine led to a better response from her audience.
Now compare that to Wanday Sykes performance. Already familiar with Sykes, I knew I would enjoy her performance. She doesn't pause between every single joke, and does a great job at keeping a joke going if it is met with a good response from the audience. For Example, she tells a joke about police officers checking her breasts for finger prints. The audience laughs at the absurdity of having her breasts checked for finger prints, and Sykes keeps the laughs coming.
"I got to be honest, I started to like it" - audience laughs
"My next appointment is on Tuesday. I've been going there since '86" - audience dying from laughter
So she keeps the joke going by adding additional lines to the joke, about beggining to like the absurd procedure, and later revealing that she has been doing it for years!
Pausing in a routine is necessary when an audience is laughing so loud during a routine, or to establish that a grouping of jokes has ended so as to prepare the audience for a new set of jokes/story lines. When used randomly however, the audience, as was the case with our class, lost attention/interest in what Cho was talking about. I can remember her impression of her mother, and the steve "THE gay" that called for Cho, but I dont remember there being jokes that piggy-backed off of the original. Pacing and timing are everything in comedy, something I assume Cho perfected as she is still working today, and has appeared in films, even action films like Face/Off. But when comparing Sykes performance to Cho's it is obvious that Sykes' timing throughout her routine led to a better response from her audience.
Fish Out of Water (The Full Monty and Calendar Girls)
Common in humor is the "fish out of water" story: Ralphi May, a white guy, going to an all-black movie theater, Dave Chappele's stand-up bit about being driven to the middle of the ghetto by his limo-driver, a story I've told about the time I went to Harris Stowe for work, only to be selected as a talent show judge for an all-black talent show and audience.
When the gender roles are reversed in The Full Monty and a group of "older" women nearly bare it all for charity in Calendar Girls, these are two other examples of the fish-out-of-water theme used to advance the humor in both films.
Men aren't supposed to strip, that's for women! But what happens when a group of men lose their jobs and have to make money stripping? These guys experience a reversal of gender roles and gain insight into what it's like for women to do the same thing. Mark Addy's character, an overweight working man, fears how the women in the audience will react to his portly shape. Roberty Carlye's character has to to learn how to dance erotically on stage while in the presence of his son. Tom Wilkinson's character has to maintain his masculinty even though his wife gives him his lunch in a pink lunchbox. I wasn't always persuaded to laugh by the British Humor, but the film's funniest moments happen when the men have to learn how to strip, how to prepare themselves to bare all on stage. The insecurities that men must feel having to strip often do not come into mind when they think about women stripping. It's just supposed to be normal for a woman to strip, thats what some choose to do. But with their backs against the wall, the gang in The Full Monty must do the same, showing that whether its men or women stripping, we all share the same fear and insecurities over body image and reputation that comes with revealing all to strangers.
Sticking to the fish-out-of-water theme, let's turn our attention to Calendar Girls. I didn't think the film was funny, but not that it needed to be as it was more of a "cute" film, so still enjoyable. While the women posed in their calendar for a good cause, raising money for a hospital, their efforts for a good cause quickly led to a distorted reputation for the women as seen by a photographer and his staff after the success of their calendar. Getting ready for a photoshoot, the photographer asks them to get nude, assuming that thats just something they do. Humor does not ensue, as Julie Walters character marches off the set, explaining to Helen Mirren's character that she just isn't comfortable with whats happening. The film is more of an exploration into how the women's efforts toward a good cause can be turned into exploiting their methods toward achieving their goal. Here they started out trying to raise money for a hospital, and are then appearing on the Tonight Show and expected to get naked for a photo shoot. I say it is a "cute" film because as the audience we go on the same ups and downs that the women do throughout the movie. They are all good, decent women and I cared about the characters throughout the ordeal of raising money for the hospital, and then dealing with the repercussions for their posing nude.
The movie had funny moments, such as when Mirren's son walks in on her taking off her top, or when the women's husbands are waiting for the final results of the calendar (as discussed in class it is as if them are waiting for the news of the birth of their child, with the photographer acting as the doctor with the good news). I wouldn't characterize the film as a comedy, as there are some dramatic moments, but it was a cute film that used the fish-out-of-water theme to show the pros and cons of their appearing their very popular calendar
When the gender roles are reversed in The Full Monty and a group of "older" women nearly bare it all for charity in Calendar Girls, these are two other examples of the fish-out-of-water theme used to advance the humor in both films.
Men aren't supposed to strip, that's for women! But what happens when a group of men lose their jobs and have to make money stripping? These guys experience a reversal of gender roles and gain insight into what it's like for women to do the same thing. Mark Addy's character, an overweight working man, fears how the women in the audience will react to his portly shape. Roberty Carlye's character has to to learn how to dance erotically on stage while in the presence of his son. Tom Wilkinson's character has to maintain his masculinty even though his wife gives him his lunch in a pink lunchbox. I wasn't always persuaded to laugh by the British Humor, but the film's funniest moments happen when the men have to learn how to strip, how to prepare themselves to bare all on stage. The insecurities that men must feel having to strip often do not come into mind when they think about women stripping. It's just supposed to be normal for a woman to strip, thats what some choose to do. But with their backs against the wall, the gang in The Full Monty must do the same, showing that whether its men or women stripping, we all share the same fear and insecurities over body image and reputation that comes with revealing all to strangers.
Sticking to the fish-out-of-water theme, let's turn our attention to Calendar Girls. I didn't think the film was funny, but not that it needed to be as it was more of a "cute" film, so still enjoyable. While the women posed in their calendar for a good cause, raising money for a hospital, their efforts for a good cause quickly led to a distorted reputation for the women as seen by a photographer and his staff after the success of their calendar. Getting ready for a photoshoot, the photographer asks them to get nude, assuming that thats just something they do. Humor does not ensue, as Julie Walters character marches off the set, explaining to Helen Mirren's character that she just isn't comfortable with whats happening. The film is more of an exploration into how the women's efforts toward a good cause can be turned into exploiting their methods toward achieving their goal. Here they started out trying to raise money for a hospital, and are then appearing on the Tonight Show and expected to get naked for a photo shoot. I say it is a "cute" film because as the audience we go on the same ups and downs that the women do throughout the movie. They are all good, decent women and I cared about the characters throughout the ordeal of raising money for the hospital, and then dealing with the repercussions for their posing nude.
The movie had funny moments, such as when Mirren's son walks in on her taking off her top, or when the women's husbands are waiting for the final results of the calendar (as discussed in class it is as if them are waiting for the news of the birth of their child, with the photographer acting as the doctor with the good news). I wouldn't characterize the film as a comedy, as there are some dramatic moments, but it was a cute film that used the fish-out-of-water theme to show the pros and cons of their appearing their very popular calendar
Are All Married Women THIS Miserable?
Erma Bombeck's What's a Nice Girl Like Me Doing in a Dump Like This? has it's funny moments, but is most of the time downright depressing. As a young, single man, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I'm NOT the intended audience for this piece. I can't relate to the woes of married life, but I'm convinced after reading this that I should scratch "marriage" off of my "to-do" list.
Seriously, are all married women THIS miserable?! Unappreciated, addicted to knitting, looking for any excuse that will stop them from raising their children?! Someone needs to tell this woman to quit her bitching. To hell if I'm ever going to be stuck with a wife who says that "kids are rotten. They really are."
I didn't dislike everything about WANGLMDIADLT. The addicition to knitting, which spiraled into an addiction to water painting was funny. And it's in moments like that where her writing is so outrageous that I like the article. No one gets addicted to knitting, but it was a funny way to talk about how a mom would escape from her hated reality.
Ok, so I'm not the intended audience for this piece. I just don't care to hear yet ANOTHER woman to talk about how she doesn't have a beach body, doesn't like her husband, and gets pissed off at the responsibilities of motherhood. C'mon lady, you shouldn't have gotten married and pregnant in the first place.
Is married life perfect? Of course not. Nor can any woman live up to the standards of 50's housewife Harriet from The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. But this piece is just so depressing and dark it makes me feel guilty for ever being born. And this woman thinks her children's schools had too many snow cancellations? Listen lady, I lived in northern Virginia in '95, back when we were getting three feet of snow and school was cancelled for whole weeks at a time. Shut up. My mom wasn't getting pissed off at us because we rushed to play in the snow.
I didn't come from a perfect family. My parent's got divorced. And looking back on life, I wish there were times when I was younger that I would've thanked my mother more often for all the things she did for me and my brothers. BUT WE WERE KIDS! We're supposed to be selfish. Thats who we are! Childhood selfishness and ignorance does not make us "rotten".
Basically, Bombeck is just way too negative. I know that if I was a mother, I could relate to a heck of a lot more to what she is saying than I could ever do now. But referring to her children as "rotten" and complaining non-stop about her husband? This woman should give up knitting and water colors and just stick to Jack Daniels. Life ain't perfect...something Bombeck should've known before she got married
Seriously, are all married women THIS miserable?! Unappreciated, addicted to knitting, looking for any excuse that will stop them from raising their children?! Someone needs to tell this woman to quit her bitching. To hell if I'm ever going to be stuck with a wife who says that "kids are rotten. They really are."
I didn't dislike everything about WANGLMDIADLT. The addicition to knitting, which spiraled into an addiction to water painting was funny. And it's in moments like that where her writing is so outrageous that I like the article. No one gets addicted to knitting, but it was a funny way to talk about how a mom would escape from her hated reality.
Ok, so I'm not the intended audience for this piece. I just don't care to hear yet ANOTHER woman to talk about how she doesn't have a beach body, doesn't like her husband, and gets pissed off at the responsibilities of motherhood. C'mon lady, you shouldn't have gotten married and pregnant in the first place.
Is married life perfect? Of course not. Nor can any woman live up to the standards of 50's housewife Harriet from The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. But this piece is just so depressing and dark it makes me feel guilty for ever being born. And this woman thinks her children's schools had too many snow cancellations? Listen lady, I lived in northern Virginia in '95, back when we were getting three feet of snow and school was cancelled for whole weeks at a time. Shut up. My mom wasn't getting pissed off at us because we rushed to play in the snow.
I didn't come from a perfect family. My parent's got divorced. And looking back on life, I wish there were times when I was younger that I would've thanked my mother more often for all the things she did for me and my brothers. BUT WE WERE KIDS! We're supposed to be selfish. Thats who we are! Childhood selfishness and ignorance does not make us "rotten".
Basically, Bombeck is just way too negative. I know that if I was a mother, I could relate to a heck of a lot more to what she is saying than I could ever do now. But referring to her children as "rotten" and complaining non-stop about her husband? This woman should give up knitting and water colors and just stick to Jack Daniels. Life ain't perfect...something Bombeck should've known before she got married
On Steinem, "Men"struation
I didn't expect to enjoy Gloria Steinem's article If Men Could Menstruate. Steinem, one of the most revered feminists of the 20th century, often comes off as a femi-zealot in my opinion. Most of what I have read about her has depicted her as an important figure in the women's rights movement, but a woman who's positions on social issues have become more and more extreme over the years. So, surprised I was to find that this woman, who supposedly stands for the advancement of women's rights, yet referred to Sarah Palin as a candidate who "opposes everything most women want and need", actually has a sense of humor. Although I disagree with just about everything Steinem is going to say, I have to give credit where credit is due, and say that her article, while funny, is also so true of our society.
Menstruation=yuck. Its a natural part of the human body, but so is using the bathroom, and I'd hate hearing a woman talk about that too. But what if it wasn't women that bled, but rather men? Would it be cool and manly if men menstruated? Steinem believes so, and she is correct.
She says that "whatever a 'superior' group has will be used to justify its superiority, and whatever an 'inferior' group has will justify its plight." As men, we have been the dominate sex, women not so much. If we were the ones to menstruate, believe me, and her, we wouldnt be embarrassed to talk about it. A guy among guys is welcome to say "man I just took a huge shit" or " i gotta piss like a racehorse." Thats considered normal among men to use "potty humor" in regular speech. Should a woman do it, (a cold chill is running up my spine) ...gross. How un-lady like! So when she asserts that men would purchase the Paul Newman Tampons and the Muhammed Ali Rope-a-Dope pads, she is right. As men we brag about our scars, muscles, fights, things that prove our masculinity. You'd better believe that as men we would brag about how much we bleed as much as some men joke about how "big" they are "down there". A guy who can't handle his alcohol is often referred to among young men as a "two beer queer". So I could see a guy who didn't bleed that much degraded as a "no rag fag".
Steinem begins to over-exaggerate her assumptions with references to Paul Newman and Robert Redford starring in Blood Brothers and newspaper headlines that read Summer Shark Scare Threatens Menstruating Men. But one cannot provide satire without a little bit of hyperbole. Either way, Steinmen's article, unlike Steinem, is surprisingly insightful, smart, and accurately portrays the disparity's between what is acceptable in male and female culture.
Menstruation=yuck. Its a natural part of the human body, but so is using the bathroom, and I'd hate hearing a woman talk about that too. But what if it wasn't women that bled, but rather men? Would it be cool and manly if men menstruated? Steinem believes so, and she is correct.
She says that "whatever a 'superior' group has will be used to justify its superiority, and whatever an 'inferior' group has will justify its plight." As men, we have been the dominate sex, women not so much. If we were the ones to menstruate, believe me, and her, we wouldnt be embarrassed to talk about it. A guy among guys is welcome to say "man I just took a huge shit" or " i gotta piss like a racehorse." Thats considered normal among men to use "potty humor" in regular speech. Should a woman do it, (a cold chill is running up my spine) ...gross. How un-lady like! So when she asserts that men would purchase the Paul Newman Tampons and the Muhammed Ali Rope-a-Dope pads, she is right. As men we brag about our scars, muscles, fights, things that prove our masculinity. You'd better believe that as men we would brag about how much we bleed as much as some men joke about how "big" they are "down there". A guy who can't handle his alcohol is often referred to among young men as a "two beer queer". So I could see a guy who didn't bleed that much degraded as a "no rag fag".
Steinem begins to over-exaggerate her assumptions with references to Paul Newman and Robert Redford starring in Blood Brothers and newspaper headlines that read Summer Shark Scare Threatens Menstruating Men. But one cannot provide satire without a little bit of hyperbole. Either way, Steinmen's article, unlike Steinem, is surprisingly insightful, smart, and accurately portrays the disparity's between what is acceptable in male and female culture.
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