She's so Proud of her Little Boy

An Iowa Libertarian blogs on this statement by THK from the Drudge Report:

"I think men are supposed to be boys always. They just go through different stages and if wives understand that they can love them."

I know lots of women who think that way. And it's dead wrong.



I've been noticing how many television shows, commercials, songs, etc. all have this theme: male characters who are loveable idiots who could never make it without a woman to bail them out. It's rather pervasive when you start listing them all. It also really ticks me off.



Theory #1: This is backlash against the traditional oppression of women, then there will be backlash against our backlash, backlash against their backlash on our backlash, etc. until the pedulum reaches equilibrium and stops swinging.



Theory #2: It's simply human nature: the alphas picking on the lesser beings. Right now the male is the designated target, therefore all other social groups will find it tacitly acceptable to throw darts at will. Eventually, some other group will take their place and we'll demean them instead. Such intersocietal agressiveness will never stop, though we might throw a veneer of civility over it and pretend it's not there like the proverbial elephant in the corner.



Theory #3: Though it seems pervasive because it's slightly more socially acceptable than women-bashing, it's really just another symptom that a segment of the human race just not ready to grow up. There are extremists on both sides of the "gender wars" who are still lobbing grenades at each other. For example, this recap from one of the the Last Comic Standing shows on Alas, a Blog:

I don't know the guy's name, but he was talking about some kid (a boy) who was crying and saying he just wished his dad would stop hitting his mom. The "comedian" at this point says [paraphrased], "So, I looked at the boy and asked him, 'so, does your mom mouth off to your dad a lot?'" Cue laughter. And there was laughter.

Really freakin' hilarious, guys. But I don't think most men find it acceptable to beat women, and I don't think most women find it acceptable to treat men like imbeciles. It's just a vocal minority. Some women accept the violence, for a time, because of the lack of alternatives, or a feeling of low self-esteem. Men might do the same.



Personally, I subscribe to Theory #3: it's present, but propelled primarily by a minority of people. (NOTE: I'm not talking about an occasional joke about shopping too much or stealing the remote, etc. In fact, there's yet another really freaking annoying segment of the population that seems determined to ban all humor from the face of the planet because, like, god forbid we make fun of anyone for any reason. I mean the stuff where you know there's an implicit invitation, asking you to agree that all men are idiots or all women are bitches.) The rest of us become complicit when we laugh at the jokes and let the "men/women are so stupid" stuff go unchallenged when we know better. But in general, most of us have surrendered the gender wars and are enjoying the resumption of relations with the opposite sex. (Pun intended).



Okay, random philosophical musings over.