Review of "Media and Male Identity": 80% of mass media representations of men and male identity portray men as villains, aggressors, perverts and philanderers. There is little equivocation; men are predominantly evil. [pdf]

queenmaeve · 2009-04-20T13:24:41+00:00

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dan1123 · 2009-04-20T16:53:30+00:00

FTA:

Home Improvement is another TV show which offers men up for our amusement. Significantly, Tim Allen made his name in a stand-up comedy called "Men Are Pigs". Nathanson and Young in a pioneering Canadian study says the show portrays men as slobs and fools, but they can be housebroken by women. "Without the civilising [sic] influence of Jill's feminist lessons, Tim would be just another male barbarian" (cited p.83).

I don't know about this. Maybe I'm biased, seeing as Home Improvement is a show I grew up with and happens to be an old favorite, but I think the character "Wilson" plays a very important role that is overlooked in this quick dismissal of the show. HE is the one often giving advice to both Tim and Jill.

kanuk876 · 2009-04-20T07:27:56+00:00

FTA:

Perhaps one clue as to the continual mis-representation of fathers is that the most prolific opinion writers on fatherhood in Australia were , with one exception, women. Adrienne Burgess is quoted as a fatherhood expert, yet she is no father, and her book on the subject was written before she was even a parent. In one outstanding case, Leslie Cannold wrote a piece on fatherhood for the Good Weekend but did not include a single interview or comment from a man. As Macnamara says, try to imagine a man writing on motherhood.

You can't make this stuff up...

kanuk876 · 2009-04-20T07:32:57+00:00

FTA:

people who keep pushing the idea of the ‘flawed male’ can only promote the social exclusion of many young men. Macdonald et al. agree, saying that we must actively promote in men and boys a positive sense of self. If we want our societies to have caring, engaged young men, we need them to grow up in a society that values and encourages them, not one that attacks, ridicules and relentlessly blames them.

Not to mention attacks their sexuality with a butchers knife when they're only a few days old, but I digress...

If we continue to allow systematic attacks on men, society will pay the price in terms of higher male unemployment, escalating social unrest, and more men in prison.

Well... I think that trend is firmly established by this point.

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