John Kass, writer for the Chicago Tribune, took it upon himself to create a "Get Out of Watching Sex and the City" Card for all of the other insecure males out there. Are men really so freaked out by SATC's hyper-femininity that they'll go to these lengths to put an end to it?
12 comments:
All I have to say is - GAG.
ARG! I read more of it. What a jackass! I feel compelled to write about him now - I hope you don't mind. We will fight back, Sara! Women unite!
Sex and the City : Men :: Rambo : Women
The problem isn't it's "hyper-femininity," it's the fact that significant others want to make men sit through the vapidness that is the show.
Sex and the City has no redeemable qualities to keep men entertained. It's two hours (or however long it is) of mind-numbing boredom.
However, I'm equal opportunity here. Women can absolutely complain about Jason Statham, Steven Seagal, and kung fu action movies. Those don't have things to keep women interested. When boyfriends drag women to those, yeah, feel free to complain.
(And yes, I'm speaking to the majority of both sexes here, obviously there are random people who go against the grain.)
I think you mixed up your analogy at the beginning there, b.
The show is anything BUT vapid. If people watched for more than a few minutes, they'd see that.
Last time I checked, girls weren't putting guns up to their boyfriends' heads making them go to these things.
If you don't want to see it, fine, but don't go around telling the rest of the men out there to avoid it at all costs. That's rude and a pathetic attempt to diminish what's a really great victory for women.
And who says that women DON'T like kung fu/action movies? I think that's a pretty broad generalization.
Speaking to the majority is just another form of stereotyping. I'd love to get your opinion when I lay into John Kass' piece on my blog.
Hey B,
You raise one good point and several bad ones. While I agree that the women on the show have certain...trite qualities to their personas that prohibits them from becoming, well, role models, you absolutely fail to see the significance of a movie like Sex and the City doing well - IT'S THE FIRST FEMALE BLOCKBUSTER IN YEARS(!!!), GOD DAMMIT!
You mention Rambo, well there are ten times as many Rambo's on screen as there are Carrie Bradshaw's and that's NOT fair. Not fair at all.
Both John Kass' and your type of misogyny are of the worst kind because both of you fail to acknowledge the inherent sexism that dominates the movie industry. The only reason men, like yourself, "fail" to be entertained (why do you need to be entertained 24/7 like a monkey, again?) is because our society tells us from the get-go (quite literally while we're still in the womb) what we should like as a gender and what we shouldn't like. Girls should play with dolls, wear pink, and act petite. Boys should play with trucks, wear blue, and be macho. That's bullshit. Women and men should be able to like Carrie Bradshaw, Rambo, and goddamn Alex DeLarge or Hedwig and his angry inch if they want to.
And, for the record, I fucking love action movies and kung fu movies, so step off. My partner, Jake, cries at both The Notebook and Rio Bravo. My best male friends' fucking love Douglas Sirk, Max Ophuls, and romcom's. And my best female friends love horror flicks. So, just because you gender stereotype and segregate yourself doesn't mean others do.
@Lisa: The analogy works because it's saying the reaction to the movies is similar given thee genders. Also, there is a statistical mean in every system. If you took all the males in the United States, the majority of them would not like to watch Sex and the City. Same thing with women and Rambo. That's not stereotyping, it's being accurate.
@ Sara: I'm sorry that I like to be entertained when I watch silly summer movies. And not only do I (and I will speak solely for me here) not get entertained, there's nothing intellectually stimulating about the movie. You have to have one or the other.
Also, I'd argue that horror movies are equally enjoyed by both genders.
@ You Both: I'm sorry, it came off as my defending Kass. I think he's a jackass for writing that and he's lazy to do so. You're right, it does down play the significance of the movie winning thee box office (or kind of underscores it since it demonstrates the animosity the movie is up against). There are 10 Rambos to every Bradshaw. And it isn't fair.
The only point I was trying to make was that it wasn't the hyper-femininity, it was just that guys generally (I know you two hate me saying that) don't want to see the movie and significant others will basically drag them there. Yes, this phenomenon does happen.
Now, that's fine, it's good to have some compromise in relationships, which is why I find Kass's article stupid. But I just didn't want it coming off as the hyper-femininity being the reason guys were annoyed by the movie. They just knew they had two hours coming up they weren't going to enjoy. (Again, suck it up guys).
B:
I'll comment more later, but what I meant with your analogy was that I think it's ordered wrong:
Sex and the City : Men :: Rambo : Women
vs.
Sex and the City: Women :: Rambo: Men
That's all.
@Lisa: I understand, what you're saying. I was just using it to say basically "Men dislike Sex and the City as much as Women dislike Rambo" that's all. We're on the same page though.
Also, I just wanted to throw this out there, I read this blog regularly (I'm actually bravesrrob from a couple months back, I was just logged into a different e-mail when I commented and have decided to stick with it in this thread for purposes of continuity). I don't read it to look for reasons to fight, I enjoy the insight on it. I don't comment alot of the time just because I either agree with what's being written or don't have anything to add. I'm not a random troll that came here to bicker.
Yes, we are on the same page about your analogy, b. What's your name, by the way?
I totally get what you're saying and you've been very articlulate and polite in defending your position. So, no worries. I'll comment more in detail on your points later.
Oh, and shameless plug (Sorry, Sara! I hope you don't mind!) - @b, please check out my blog sometime and comment whenever.
My name's Brian. I'll switch over to my main account since we've established that I am in fact BraveSrRob.
This made me crack up. Not particularly enlightening to the debate, but pretty awesome: http://abovethelaw.com/2008/06/justice_scalia_sarah_jessica_parker.php
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