"The women of Bikini Kill let guitarist Billy Karren be in their feminist punk band, but only if he's willing to just "do some shit." Being a feminist dude is like that. We may ask you to "do some shit" for the band, but you don't get to be Kathleen Hannah."--@heatherurehere


Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Gender Comics Roundup: Men Are Callous, Sex-Obsessed Cretins Who Don't Know How to Load a Dishwasher. Oh! And Women Are Nags.

Once again, the daily comics paint a bleak picture as to what it means to be gendered. (Until we fix our formatting, click on any comic to enlarge.)

How Men Interact with Each Other: No Empathy Allowed

Funny, because this describes exactly how I interact with my male friends! First of all, I only do so while drinking. Secondly, I only inquire as to how they are doing if it doesn't involve me directly. Thirdly, we never empathize with each other. That would be girly. Or gay. Or both.

Men let their significant others be burned alive because they like to watch boobies:
I have to admit that F-Minus is still one of my favorite comic strips. Tony Carrillo often has stuff in his strips that subtly defy gender norms, actually. But this one irks me, in part because of the violence-by-neglect involved. It still would have been "funny" if, say, the house was just burning down around him, but instead his wife is burning to death. Which doesn't make it funnier, to me. (To be fair, I'm being heterosexist here: The guy could be bi and his 'hon' might be a guy. Still, his SO is, as I mentioned, burning to death.)

Men Can't Do Chores, and Women Are Really Good About Nagging Them About It:
So good at it, in fact, that they can teach men a class on it! ha! Take that, nagging wives and girlfriends! And take that, erm, men who don't load the dishwasher!

Of course, there are problems regarding how men do and don't share household chores, so there is a way in which this is both funny and true. Still, both men and women seem to be mocked here, or at least the traditional stereotypes of 'em. Also, apparently, to properly load the dishwasher you have to do it like you're doing yoga.

Women Only Want Strong, Burly Men:
My namesake, Jeff, is mistaken on at least two counts: One, that drinking a healthy drink will make him tall and strong and, two, that all women only want men who are tall and strong.


On a slightly more serious note, it is interesting what happens to one when one realizes that there are people who find one's current body type hawt. You go through life thinking you have to measure up to some set of standards, and then somebody comes along as chastises you for wanting to get rid of your belly, because that's what they like (in part) about you. It's disorienting.

6 comments:

Amy Alkon said...

Women do want men tall and strong. They'll trade off looks to a great degree (for a "provider"), but generally want men who are taller than they are. I've written about this. Even a woman who's 3'10" wants a man who's taller than she is -- not that there are a lot of 3'9" guys out there. Read a little, huh, in between whining.

Amy Alkon said...

And a lot of women are nags. And they're dumb for nagging.

Jeff Pollet said...

Thanks for the delightful insights.

Jeff Pollet said...

"And a lot of women are nags. And they're dumb for nagging."
Sounds like you've got a great idea for a book with the same appeal as "Men Are From Mars, Women Are from Venus."

venus in furs said...

Gender stereotypes annoy me greatly. My boyfriend can get out of many a serious conversation by accusing me of being a 'nagging woman'! And yet when he moans its 'constructive' plus he says 'I have to talk to you as i cant talk to my friends about it!'. What indeed are friends for? Well if you go by the male stereotype, they are purely for beer drinking and sports/'wimmen' watching!!
I do sometimes wish he had a male friend to talk to PROPERLY, as sometimes there are things i just cannot give a decent perspective on.

Jeff Pollet said...

@vif: It's a problem, men not having intimate friendships with other men. Of course, lots of men do have such friendships, but they're kind of difficult to cultivate, even for those of us who are actively seeking such things. There are just a lot of cultural currents we have to swim against to get that.

Most of my women friends, they wouldn't keep a guy around very long who used the phrase "nagging woman" in anything but an ironic way. What's up with this guy? Maybe he should date Amy Alkon, above. ;)