Turn on the TV these days and what you see mostly are strident, angry women. In your face, particularly if it’s the face of a male. Sarcastically putting the males in their places. Lately, and increasingly, punching the lights out of the men when its called for and sometimes when its not - just to let the men know who the bosses are these days: WOMEN: THE NEW MEN!!!
Why is it that in most commercials being shown on TV the man is the goofball, the doofus? In family commercials Dad is the dummy of the household, butt of derision, the one who is lame, who needs to be brought up to speed, often by the kids in the family. And if they’re not the ones doing it, then there’s the man of the house - MOM!! - the authority figure, the one who wears the pants (think Hilary Clinton) - the one with the BALLS (again, think Hilary Clinton). Poor dad - he no longer knows best. Its all about mom now.
The silent majority, the oppressed, the disenfranchised, life force being discriminated against, and disrespected today - are men. Man as hero - where has he gone? The closest thing we have these days to a heroic man are ….. males who appear to be geeks and nerds .The real endangered species these days are guys who are admirable, comfortable in their own skins, masculine without trying to be - guys, in short, who feel no need to jump up and down on couches ( uhh - he ain’t one of ‘em).
In my opinion the losers in this equation are the women. In the name of equality and feminism- women have begun to act like men. Look at an old episode of Murphy Brown. Then look at a current episode of a show that’s on TV today, Boston Legal - and compare Candace Bergen in both shows. Formerly she sounded, in the quality of her voice, like a woman.
Today she sounds like a MAN. Look at the clothes she wears on the show (again, think Hilary Clinton). She’s become manly…. A manly woman: The NEW WOMAN.
What’s being lost is the polarity between the sexes. La Difference: The celebration between the male energy and the female energy. Men have noticed this. But aren’t saying anything, because its not politically correct. Today, political correctness means celebrating feminine empowerment (think Sex and The City, Desperate Housewives, Army Wives ad nauseum), woman as goddess etc. - all the Oprah bullshit. And speaking of the goddess of ego-speak, Ms. Winfrey - why whatever happened to the studmuffin in your life - Steadman?
There is something about Oprah that is, to me, off-putting. Is it me or does her voice sound like that of a 12 or 13 year old boy’s? And her mannerisms, too, seem to me to lack femininity. In some strange way she seems devoid of womanliness.
I also believe and its mostly to do with her financial success, that Oprah is the pre-eminent role model of what it is to be a woman today. There is, to me, something scary about this, if its so. That has nothing at all to do with the success she’s become, nor with her fortune or her supposed independence. What’s scary to me is - HER- the woman she appears to be. There is nothing about her I find or am able to feel from her - of genuine warmth, or vulnerability. Nothing about her as a woman that is alluring to me as a man. I’m not sure she can be moved viscerally by male energy (unless perhaps it takes the form of jumping up and down on her couch). When it comes to the opposite sex, Oprah seems to be - somewhere else. To me she is a strange role model unless all a role model needs to be is fabulously wealthy. It has nothing to do with her color, or her girth; c’mon, I can see why Queen Latifa is a star - she’s a babe. She digs men. She’s a lady, too. But, Oprah as role model…. Like I said, to me, THAT IS SCARY. People tend to imitate role models. They try to model themselves after the way they see them behave. YIKES!!
Men are hungry for women who make them feel good. About them being men ….about them being themselves….about there being women in the world that they can be friends with, associates with and sometimes lovers with….relishing all those qualities that women have always possessed that have captivated, and elevated us as men that I no longer see absolutely any trace of on afternoon talk shows or in my living room any more watching TV.
I saw a Country & Western Awards show on TV some months ago. I noticed that all the women performers (Reba &co,) were singing songs that all had the same message: “I am woman, hear me roar” …“ I’m a powerful woman who doesn’t need a man” blah, blah, blah. At one point in the show Country superstar George Strait sang a song “HOW ABOUT THEM COWGIRLS.” And just for a moment - there it was! A man singing about the beauty that is WOMAN. Celebrating it ….singing about it/ admiring and loving the all that is the feminine energy in a country song. WOW!! He nailed it! He stopped the show.
I saw the faces of the men AND THE WOMEN in the audience. It was a moment - a baptism of LOVE / POLARITY and MUTUAL ADMIRATION- a celebration of the polarity between the male and the female energy! And it was so refreshing to see - just for that moment the absolute GRACE of the male and the female energy COMPLEMENTING ONE ANOTHER. And it had absolutely nothing at all to do with competition, with women acting like men, acting tough, or physically behaving as though “I’m gonna kick your ass!” The truly, truly great love stories that I have seen in a motion picture theatre like CASABLANCA, A PLACE IN THE SUN, GONE WITH THE WIND, (The French Film) HAPPY NEW YEAR, SOUNDER, SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, (even) THE ENGLISH PATIENT to name just a very few - are all centered around a man and a woman who love one another and whose love, each for the other is a COMPLEMENT the audience bears witness to that is the very essence of the grace that exists at the very center of who and what we are as human beings, male AND female: TOGETHER.
Yes, indeed and Amen, too. We need more a that kind of celebratin’. We need more a that: men being just men - and women actin’like …. well, then, there, now …… ACTIN’ LIKE WOMEN….INSTEADA’….. LIKE MEN.
..............
No comments:
Post a Comment