Interesting Article on Masculinity

[moonshdw99]

I'm curious as to what you all think on the subject.

You are what you eat:
The pervasive porn industry and what it says about you and your desiresExcerpt from the article

Comments

[raconteurx]

Erotic film appeals foremost to men because, as a rule, men are more visually oriented when it comes to arousal. Erotic fiction appeals foremost to women because, as a rule, women are more mentally oriented. Men tend to prefer eye candy, while women tend to prefer brain candy. These are generalizations, of course, and don't hold true for every individual.

[declanmcmanus]

What you're saying doesn't address the central point, however; the visuals presented to us men in pornographic material is essentially reperesentations of men being dominant over women, asserting control over women, or experincing pleasure at the expense of the women depicted. When the women portrayed are acting as if they are experiencing pleasure it is from performing acts of giving pleasure to the men.

My response: The article's author is taking on one particular set of acts portrayed, and that not all porn (and certainly not the porn that most appeals to me) falls neatly in the categories described summarily by the references to "Blow Bang #4".

I'm intrigued by the premise the author put forth; that masculinity is a false ideal deserving to be rejected completely as harmful to women.

I'm not sure how I feel, whether I can agree entirely, and if not, what defense I can make for masculinity.

It's worth pondering, I guess.

[raconteurx]

I was actually adding a small point which I felt the author overlooked, about all I could manage given the time that I posted originally. Male identity is at a crossroads, and has been for at least a quarter of a century. Short of genetically altering the species into hermaphrodites, eliminating gender identity is impossible. Our socio-cultural evolution has not come that far along. Someday it may, if the transhumanists are correct.

Unfortunately, the auther additionally overlooks that behavior is part of our enculturation. Rather than focus, as the author has, on a very narrow example of erotic film, a far more useful perspective might have examined the way in which the lack of strong, positive role models of mature masculinity and of meaningful rites of passage has essentially crippled modern development of masculinity.

Both erotic film and fiction center around fantasy rather than reality. As a masturbatory exercise, most people regardless of gender seem to prefer this separation. The simple truth is that many of us are mildly

[declanmcmanus]

[This seems rambling on second reading, but I'll leave it stand in case it actually gets my point across accidentally]

I am personally experiencing that crossroads in "Male identity" as I find myself perplexed and irritated in my reactions to many of the men around me.

I've never considered myself especially masculine compared to my cohort growng up, yet now I find many of the younger men (<35)I encounter as "soft" in may ways I find troublesome, or at least perplexing in comparison to myself

[garney]

Wow, that is far too mentally challenging for 7am

but he has some good points, about how we are all shunted into our little male and female roles expected by society

what would happen, what would we become, if we didn't have that?