Men's magazines
Aug. 23rd, 2011 03:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defibrillate...are not boring (generally), which is more than I can say for most magazines targeted to women (which is sad). And you know what? The amount of naked/almost naked women in them doesn't offend me as much as the fact that there aren't naked men in women's magazines. Women get objectified a lot, sure. But most of the time when I pick up a magazine targeted to dudes, there's as much 'be good enough to win the approval of women' content in it as there is 'be good enough to win the approval of men' content in magazines targeted to chicks. I think the thing that would actually tip the scales to equal or close-to-equal in this corner of media is, in fact, equality in nudity. And I bet sales would skyrocket for anyone willing to pioneer the idea.
Well, one other thing, actually: There is a TON of content in many men's magazines devoted to learning to do things dudes haven't traditionally done for themselves, like cooking. Why, in women's magazines, are there not articles on things like how to change your car's oil? Diminishing the idea of gender roles is pretty important, imo, so how about some media support?
Maybe I should write some letters about this.
Well, one other thing, actually: There is a TON of content in many men's magazines devoted to learning to do things dudes haven't traditionally done for themselves, like cooking. Why, in women's magazines, are there not articles on things like how to change your car's oil? Diminishing the idea of gender roles is pretty important, imo, so how about some media support?
Maybe I should write some letters about this.
It makes perfect sense!
Date: 2011-08-31 06:07 am (UTC)That's true, and it's hard to objectively evaluate your behaviors when you've been steeped in a society that condones wrong behaviors. I think many men truly don't mean to be harmful or demeaning, but they genuinely can't see how they're doing that. I remember back in 9th grade when my creative writing class was reading The House on Mango Street and we had a discussion on the scene where the main character is raped - and NONE of the guys in class could see why it was such a bad thing. A couple of them finally seemed to at least grasp that it wasn't good when our teacher said to imagine how they'd feel if someone had done it to their sister or mother, but that relationship implies a bit of ownership to the average guy, so I think they were more offended over the idea of someone else touching something they considered, in a way, 'theirs.'
Most people aren't morally concerned with what's right or wrong or just, they're only concerned with what's accepted. If something's 'normal' it must be fine, right? Ugh.
So I do think analytical capability - or maybe just tendency - plays a huge role in social problems like this. If you ask the average person why society does a particular thing a particular way, their answer would probably be something like, 'I don't know... That's just what we do.' Which isn't good enough. It is as long as the action in question benefits you, but if it doesn't, well... I at least find myself wishing people would take a closer look at the way they and their society functions. My number one complaint about humanity is that, on a whole, it's absolute shit at analyzing data.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-02 12:24 am (UTC)The male "ownership" of the female body is still so, SO frustrating. Did you know that if you were married and 24 and wanted to get sterilized in some states they would WANT YOUR HUSBAND'S PERMISSION?
I've found the best way to combat this is to be engaged. "Why did you say that?" or "what makes you think that?" Questioning the thought process usually comes off as less like what most think of ask "attacking".
And don't get me started on the tech industry. My never ending battle. :/