Have you noticed that in most songs, especially hip hop, if the song is sad and slow, it's mostly tragic songs about the girl, but when its fast and bumping, its about how sexy she is and how they want her in bed?
Weird huh?
I remembered a commercial a while back about how girls are so vulnerable to stuff from the media (I think it was a Girls Scout commercial).
It's true, females are so much a target to the media, they want them to do this and that without giving them second thought, and I think it's unfair.
But....
How come the media show us men as brain dead, violent, horny, no good, psychopaths?
This is completely unfair...
Females may have been told to "look better", but males are shown to "be like this...you'll get the money, women, fast cars".
The media is not helping us males. They're making us look bad.
People act like men don't have feelings, they don't care about what goes on, they just want money, women and power. That may be true to some men, but what about us who sees this and knows they're not like that, but people think they are?
We have to show the media that we're not like that. We do care.
We want to live a happy life, we want someone to love, we want to know that we're glad that someone enjoys being with us.
But the media wants us to look bad?
Media...what the hell?
Listen...there are men out there who do a lot more than what you (the media) has shown.
We have men who are so smart, they can invent machines or practice medicine to benefit mankind. We have men who spend billions of dollars to help those in need. We have men who didn't have fathers, who grew up raising their kids and showing them what being a father is all about. We have teenage boys, who decided not to pick up guns and drugs and knives, and instead spend time with their family, help out with the community and even graduate from high school or college. We have boys who don't get in trouble in school and respect their family and friends. We have baby boys who are destined to do great things and have at least someone taking care of them so they can live life.
I'm not being pro male or anything...I just think it's time the men who are doing good things deserve their thanks.
To all the males and females who do great things, help their family and friends and communities...Thanks :)
Mancouch Says: First of all, the media is not a monolith it is a vast variety of entities. Secondly these media outlets are dominated (both on the creative and business sides) by men. Thirdly nearly all media is targeted towards men. Fourth, given two and three there are a vast array of portrayals of men across the media spectrum. It just seems a bit pus to complain about how men are portrayed when men have all the power.
Comments (44)
If the media is portrayed by men yet does not reflect men very well that would indicate that they are actually very lenient toward's men's images.
@Parsimony@xanga - How so?
@QuantumStorm@xanga - Think about it they have control over what men's ideal images are yet they choose representatives like Homer Simpson and Peter Griffith the like. Doesn't that reflect abit of arroagance or humility on their part of how men should be?
@Parsimony@xanga - Or they are just harsh judges of themselves and are attempting, in a misguided fashion, to appease the opposite gender by "humbling" themselves in the media? Your statement would make sense if they portrayed men in a much more positive light.
Mancouch, if the media is aimed at men then why is the vast majority of daytime television programmed for women? I do not remember ever having fallen into the correct demographic to watch Days of Our Lives or to be enticed by a Swifter commercial. Cut the crap.
@QuantumStorm@xanga - We can agree that men are superficial to some degrees with their significant others or potential sexual partners so to show themselves in lower standards yet still have attractive life partners shows to some degree how lenient they are with themselves.
@Parsimony@xanga - Clarify please. Your sentence structure is awkward.
"The media is not helping us males. They're making us look bad.
"
should be
"The media is not helping. They're making _____ look bad."
That's all you need to know about the media.
Just because men run the media primarily doesn't mean that they're portraying men correctly...I imagine most of those 'entities' that make up the media cater to specific demographics (which are composed of both genders, so who's running the media isn't as important as it would seem intuitively). It's mainly about economics, really, and there isn't too much room in the media demand-wise for portraying people realistically. I do agree that referring to 'the media' as this single entity out to get us is a little misleading, but it's kind of useful to look at it that way in that you can analyze it and try to infer things about people's general ideas regarding what things/values have entertainment value-- and, like everything else, being 'general' is a trade-off (but not useless!). Also, in a weird way, we kind of control the media based on our tastes, so maybe we should be examining our own values and not the doings of some 'media entity.' Who knows O:
@QuantumStorm@xanga - Men tend to consider looks and virtues in their potential partners yet they are represented by the likes of Peter Griffith. (A bumbling moron, difficult for the average woman to admire). It's a big double standard.
Lol.
I feel like if either gender were truly upset by the way they're made to look in the public eye they would stop filling magazine ads, tv roles, and movie roles that perpetuate whatever negative image. But we don't, because money is involved. The media is a business like any other. These portrayals are a marketable product. That's the nature of the beast.
@Parsimony@xanga - But how does that show arrogance? If men are typically portraying themselves as fools, that would more strongly suggest that they are self-critical or at the very least attempting to appease women. I'm not following how a negative self-portrayal equates with arrogance.
@QuantumStorm@xanga - If it doesn't show arrogance, it must show leniency in some way. I think it's arrogance because they know women in general are not that finicky towards them. Or maybe it's women's grace that is really reflected in such made up situations.
Griffith is a down right A-hole at times yet his wife is a picture of modern grace. Homer is an idiot and Marge is again gracious. If it's not humility then it has to be arrogance or stupidity to be able to act so outrageous and not be aware of it.
@Parsimony@xanga - I think I see where you're going with this. In essence, are you saying that because the women in media still accept the flawed portrayal of men, that it suggests the men who produce the media think women have lower standards?
@QuantumStorm@xanga - Yes, in essence and still have no qualms about being who they are in objective terms. If I took judgement out of the equation. I can see that true love would oversee such flaws in men and focus more on their redeeming qualities ie in Homer's case.
@Parsimony@xanga - Makes sense.
I think it's a problem to look at the media as an accurate portrayal of anything, period.
We have news channels with clear agendas, television shows that are intended to portray caricatures and stereotypes of both men and women and reality series that deliberately place people in rather immoral situations to begin with (anyone remember Temptation Island?).
So yeah, the media gets men wrong about as often as they get them right. The same goes for women, though. And probably animals too. I mean, Fox actually aired specials about 'When Animals Attack' -- after watching that I imagine I'd be afraid to go to the zoo. Wouldn't you?
Out of all the men out there that I've met... I've had mostly guy friends btw, I hate girl friends... Their so annoying... Anyway, out of all the men, guys, and now-a-days boys I've met, that's exactly what they are... Ignorant, horny, violent, and all that other crap. Men are such pigs... It's hard to find a decent guy anywhere now-a-days... But I guess after being cheated on by guys who just wanted sex and couldn't get it from me 6 times in a row... It's hard to believe there are good guys out there. I mean, come one, I finally found the guy for me, we are still together, he can be a jerk sometimes but whatever at least he listens to me and we can have good conversations and great sex... But good guys now are harder to find than a freakin needle in a hay stack. What ever happened to chivalry? Opening doors for their girlfriends? Buying them flowers or something just cause? All the good stuff? Where did it all go?
Men are also extremely selfish creatures usually.
Now, I'm not saying all guys are like this... But out of all the males I've known and know now... 95% of them are almost the exact description you gave of how the media portrays them.
Woman, whatchu doin' outside that kitchen? MAKE ME A FUCKING SANDWICH, BITCH!
This may be true but women are usually shown as domineering money draining bitches or stupid whores. We all know it's true. Ever see an episode of Gossip Girl ? Or Two and a Half Men???
My mom and I were having a conversation about this a few days ago...how men seem to dumb themselves down in this way through the media. They belittle themselves, kind of like women who use only their looks and sex to get everything in life. Think about all the shows where this dumpy fat dumb man is married to a hot intelligent funny woman. Also all the shows like manswers, and let's talk about most of the posts featured on "man"couch? 101 things guys like: boobs, sex, blow jobs, explosions, meat, cars. That's pretty insulting isn't it? To say that is all guys like and are interested in? And seeing that makes us women feel pretty shitty. But that said the media doesn't portray anyone well really, and unfortunately it's not gonna change.
you could say that they're trying to tell the [hot] women to not have standards, to not look for anything in a man and just be dedicated to him. usually, in a show where there's a hot wife and an undesireable husband, the wife doesn't have a job and is a housewife, so it's kind of telling women to be very hot and into her looks and be a housewife.
not that loving your husband and staying in shape and taking care of the family is a bad thing...
If there wasn't a market for this kind of material then it wouldn't exist. If no women cared about Appletinis, Cosmo, chick flicks, and shopping, then Lovelyish wouldn't exist; just like how if no man cared about "sex, guns, explosions, and sports," then Mancouch wouldn't exist.
On the original author's point, I see plenty of examples of male characters in these sorts of roles all the time. Doctors who fight to save a patient's life, lawyers who pick up a pro bono case for the sake of justice, guys who are overall good people. I feel women have more a bone to pick over being shown less in these positions than men do.
I don't agree at ALL with the mancouch disclaimer. Sounds like something a WOMAN would write COMPLETELY disregarding all the points made by the author. Way to go, man-couch. Fix that top, your tits are showing.
@striemmy@xanga - @Inchored@xanga - Nicely put... on BOTH accounts. I'm SURE having tampon commercials play during breaks from football or ultimate fighting isnt for the men watching. Pick up ANY magazine off of the racks and check out the fucking masthead... and show me where MEN dominate. Go ahead, I'll wait... I won't hold my breath for you to prove me wrong though. This goes to writers and producers of shows as well.
But at the same time... the "media" isnt out to "make friends" they're out to make profit... and being that women drop more coin on products(and regularly are loyal to TV shows and will more than likely make sure they are infront of the TV to watch than a man would) than men do its only smart to show men in whatever light it takes to get women to watch and spend.
I'm not bashing women AT ALL. But to write off the authors claims in a 4 sentence "matter of fact" type of manner is bullshit. How's the google ad revenue treating you? Got those student loans close to being payed off yet?
You all realize why in the media its marketed mostly an or dominated towards women....its cause we are more likely to spend the money on things. An you know that is part of it, not all put certainly a good part.@erahslover@xanga - thank you!