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Sydney Morning Herald op-ed defends male-bashing music videos
Submitted by anthony on Mon, 2008-11-24 01:46
Article here. Excerpt:
'Fair point. And if Cilmi is subverting the history of men's violence towards women, she isn't alone. Rather, she's evidence of a growing trend towards what might be termed reverse sexism or female chauvinism. Especially in advertising, where women are increasingly ogling, objectifying and victimising blokes.
...
In response, masculinists and men's libbers now argue they are the ones suffering. These days men are claiming the right to be victims too. Not that you will hear Kathy Lette crying.
"It's a man's world," says Lette, author of 10 novels about the sex war. "One hundred years since Emmeline Pankhurst tied herself to the railings and women still don't have equal pay, and we're still getting concussion hitting our heads on the glass ceiling - plus we're expected to Windex it while we're up there. Until women are treated as equals instead of sequels, we have every right to comically kneecap you in ads or song clips. And you're pathetic whinge bags if you complain about it."
I'm not complaining. As a man - albeit a man with a woman's name - Cilmi's video is not offensive. It's harmless and clever, with a mood that's more teen dress-ups than Nazi-themed sex romp. Not one of her victims looks distressed. These young men may be deprived of their liberty, but every hair is in place. That, presumably, is the main thing.
...
It's the former, a necessary step on the path to parity. For too long, men have held power at the expense of women; now, in a few corners of pop culture, this inequality has been overcorrected and replaced by an inverted inequality. In some music videos and ads, sex objects and sex subjects have traded places. As long as this inversion is both temporary and playful, I'm all for it.'
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Comments
Until we have equal pay, and
Until we have equal pay, and we're still getting concussion hitting our heads on the glass ceiling - plus we're expected to Windex it while we're up thereAnd you're pathetic whinge bags if you complain about it.
Wage Gap = myth
Glass Ceiling = myth
Windex = Stereotype
Whine bag = emasculation/lame
sigh, I try not resent women but it's difficult.
Quote
I was going to comment on Lette's quote in the article, but Michael beat me to the punch. One thing's for sure however -- someone oughta tell Kathy Lette that two wrongs don't make a right. You don't empower one segment of the population by bringing down the other; that's unjust.
And no, nobody at any time has any right at all to "comically kneecap you in ads or song clips," and should this happen, the punishment the offender receives shouldn't be influenced by the offender's sex/gender. So you've been victimized by misogyny for millennia? That's unjust of course, but that gives you no permission whatsoever to man-bash. News flash: replacing one injustice with another is not right. Clearly this Lette person is stuck in the twentieth century, if not earlier.
Other than that... aah, blah article. Could've been better.
______________________________________
Vince
http://againstmisandry.blogspot.com
"Stand up for what is right, especially if you stand alone."
Let us not ignore...
the dubious argument that the history of violence does not include women being violent. Academically flawed historically and anthropolgically. Add in violence against children, and the assumption in error is even more grossly exemplified.
Moreover, the inability to recognize that duplicitous applications of what violence is acceptable and what violence is not will ultimately be blurred, and celebrating rape and sodomizing women in the mainstream will become perfectly acceptable.
manonthestreet I SENT THE
manonthestreet
I SENT THE COMMENT BELOW TO THE NEWSPAPER
Your claim that there is no history of violence of women on men is false, at least as far as imagery is concerned. I suggest you take a look at the many wooded carvings in virtually any European Cathedral and you will see carvings showing women assaulting men. Also if you look at illuminated manuscripts you will again see similar images. Indeed in the middle ages if a woman assaulted a man then it was the man who was regarded as committing the crime. Yes you read that the right way round.
Still I done think your misinformation is entirety unhelpful. The more men understand exactly how women see them the better, as it increasing encourages us to avoid them. Something we are increasingly doing. Just don't expect it to be women first when the boat sinks.
the problem with this song...
I'd say the flip side of the coin is that there are songs floating around about rape like Police Truck and Sex Type Thing and her songs need to be tolerated if we expect the Dead Kennedys and Stone Temple Pilots to be tolerated.
On the other hand if you asked the Dead Kennedys and STP if the songs glorified rape and the subjugation of women they'd say of course not. Police Truck is clearly farcical and Sex Type Thing is about what goes on a rapists head, but neither of them seriously endorse rape.
The difference between these songs and Cilmi's song is that it not only endorses victimizing men, but she herself says there's nothing wrong with it.
Also it sucks.
Women have "objectified" men
Women have "objectified" men for centuries -as heroes, oppressors, violent brutes, idealized lovers, protectors, wallets, etc.
Cilmi's video with all its S&M bondage might be related to the emergence of the raunch girls culture phenomenon, where women unapologetically express their aggressive sexuality openly as a form of power.
One aspect of this is the celebration of female dominance over men, and the video depicts men being symbolically emasculated for the sexual pleasure of a woman.
The raunch girl culture shows up in lots of ways, and it is especially evident on college campuses.
My daughter attends an elite private university and spent only one year in a dorm because she got tired of witnessing drunken promiscuous sluts shagging their way through the semester and bragging about how many guys they banged.
A lot of these girls were from conservative Christian homes, taking advantage of their newfound "liberation."
I thank God I'm not as
I thank God I'm not as ignorant as the halfwits who wrote this biased article. And BTW, calling us whiners for not enjoying our kind being promoted as victims of violence = unbelievable hypocrisy. Everything else I wanted to say has already been said.
Evan AKA X-TRNL
Real Men Don't Take Abuse!
Utter ignorance
I don't blame these women who are oblivious to their double standards and hypocrisy. Women needs all the support and protection they can get - much like weak and endangered species that needs to be protected.