Into the mailbag...

I want to start out with a minor gripe. The word "masculism" is not a recognized word on the BlogSpot spell-checker and the word "feminism" is. Time to talk to the people at Webster's...

I have gotten a lot of good feedback on the items I have posted either on the comments section here, via Facebook or in person. First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has been reading. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one paying attention. I want to express again, however, that I'm not setting out to change everyone's mind out there. I will settle for just starting the conversation and helping people recognize that a conversation needs to take place. I figured I would use today's entry to address some things that have been raised by others who have read the blog and maybe start new discussions.

FROM P.J.: Actually MLB does a prostate cancer thing on Father's Day similar to their breast cancer promotion on Mother's Day (blue instead of pink). Plus they do more for prostate cnacer by donating money for each home run hit during the week of Father's Day and partnering with One-A-Day to donate $10 for each strikeout during the season and playoffs.

Thanks a lot to my "Other Little Brother" for filling me in on this. I applaud MLB for having a matching day to correspond with the Mother's Day festivities. The only issue I would raise is that I knew about the pink bat thing and I consider myself an avid baseball fan. I have never heard of this program and I think that alone kinda makes the point. I still like my idea better about the flesh-collored bats with purple rings...

FROM NICOLE: I think women go through pretty invasive exams at least once year from the time they're 18... as I'm sure you've been made aware. They are certainly not comfortable, but maybe more socially acceptable. Guys are taught by a homophobic society to be horrified about anything going in their rearend, when honestly, if you're not gay, something being shoved up your rear isn't going to make you gay.

In no way did I mean to marginalize the medical procedures that women go through. Having been present for MANY internal vaginal exams over the last year, I understand just how uncomfortable they can be. I was also informed by my friend Christa exactly what a mamogram entails. I learned just how uncomfortable that can be. I believe that we are taught that nothing should enter a straight man's rectum. I think that adds to the discomfort. I maintain that a prostate exam is still more uncomfortable that a B.S.E. but I understand the point totally.

FROM MPJCWBOSS: I think the fault lies with society in general. Society has always dictated that men be strong, never scared, never crying, never sentimental etc...this makes it impossible for men to even think about expressing their feelings openly and, therefore, they do not get the attention in many aspects of life that they want and deserve.

This is just a small part of the killer comments that my godmother leaves on my blogs. If you have time, try to read them. She raises some excellent points. She basically just boiled the whole problem with gender roles down to its bear bones. Men are expected to act a certain way as described and that contributes (at least at the basic levels) to EVERY problem that men face in regards to gender discrimination. Just as women spent most of human history trying to escape their roles as the less intellegent, weaker mothers and homemakers, men need to escape the same types of classifications made on them through these roles.

FROM M.G.: I was reading on a newsboard recently about a guy who felt unsure how to handle the following situation: He said "I was at a restaurant the other day and I saw a little kid slip and bust her face right in front of me. But I don't feel safe looking at kids anymore let alone, touching them so I just stepped over her and kept on going."

We're in a society now where if a guy just looks at a young girl for more than a second, he might be labeled a pedophile and because of it, guys feel unsure and really hesitate in situations that might clearly call for them to do the right thing and help someone out.

He also mentioned that he's not entirely sure if this is a masculist issue. I would say that it is in the way that men are seen more as potential sexual predators than women are. It made me remember an issue that was raised a few years ago when I was heading on vacation. I was going to visit a friend who works at Disney World. I LOVE going to Disney and I was planning on seeing her for a few days and hanging out in the parks for the other days. It was my father who raised the issue. He didn't like the idea of me going out in those parks alone because he said he "knew what he would think if he saw a guy walking around a place like that alone..." Not only is this a masculist issue, it may be a whole entry unto itself sometime soon.


The last issue I want to discuss today was apparently raised by my uncle this past weekend. He heard about my blog for the first time and mentioned that he had been seeing gender discrimination a lot on TV in commercials. He said that the male is always made to look like an idiot and is corrected or outdone by his girlfriend or wife. He used the example of the old Country Crock commercials with just the hands and the voices. For next week I would like to know some of YOUR ideas on gender discrimination in television commercials. Do you see it in the Country Crock ads? Do you have any examples of your own? How about some where the same happens in reverse?

I look forward to some fun ideas and hopefully an active discussion about this in the next post. Thanks again for reading! It really means a lot to me. :-)