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By Dean Arrindell, October 12, 2011 1:12 am

Ad makers still don’t know how to appeal to men without pushing women away.

Volkswagen is going after men for the new version of the VW Beetle. The company found out the previous incarnation of the car had more female buyers than male ones. So, to make the new Beetle appeal to men, they say the car is “a boy.”

In the commercial for their low-calorie soda, the makers of Dr. Pepper Ten say it only has “ten manly calories” and the tag line is that “It’s not for women.”

Articles about the car and the soda point out that the conventional wisdom is that men won’t buy those products if they think the cars are for women or the drink doesn’t “seem macho enough.”

Maybe, but there must be a way to appeal to men without becoming that little boy who writes “no girls allowed” on his bedroom door. The Beetle ad is trying too hard: “This car isn’t girly,” implies the ad. Dr Pepper Ten tries to be so macho, I wonder if they considered infusing the drink with testosterone, too.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The Old Spice Guy doesn’t do this. Commercials for the body wash are technically aimed at women, but they still need a macho stamp of approval for men to use it. And by appealing to both men and women, the Old Spice Guy ads don’t exclude anything feminine to prove how masculine it is.

Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Photo credit: Jonathan Welsh/Wall Street Journal.

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By Dean Arrindell, October 9, 2011 10:16 am

On Monday’s episode of “The View,” a conversation about “niggerhead” written on a stone on property leased by Gov. Rick Perry’s family turned into a discussion about “nigger,” “the n-word” and who should use which.

It’s hypocritical for African-Americans, like Sherri Sheppard, to say “nigger,” but think people of other races are barred from saying it under any circumstances. It doesn’t take into account the intent of the person using the word. Saying it recklessly or maliciously is very different from reporting a story as Barbara Walters was doing in the segment above.

Yes, it’s a very offensive word, but to have an honest and respectful conversation about the word “nigger,” you need to say it. Clarity is important when talking about race. Calling it the “n-word” isn’t protecting the delicate sensibilities of others. It’s immature. If you’re having a discussion with adults, use adult words.

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By Dean Arrindell, October 5, 2011 12:26 am

Vladimir Putin apparently has two jobs: Prime Minister and Action Man.

That second title is what The Atlantic recently called him. They posted 32 pictures of Putin doing many manly things: He’s a race car driver, shirtless hunter and a martial artist. He also dives for treasure, rides with leather- and tattoo-clad “motorcycle enthusiasts” and is a concert pianist. (So, he’s cultured, too.)

As much swagger Americans like our elected officials to have, I’m glad our politicians don’t go to the extremes of Putin. The worst American equivalent in recent memory would be Bush’s “Mission: Accomplished” carrier landing in full Top Gun flight gear. If there was a photo of Rick Perry jogging with his Ruger .380 pistol, that would probably be a close second.

Yes, politics is a lot of theater, but there’s an easy way for every politician to prove they are tough, strong and worthy of their position:

Keep their word and do their job.

UPDATE: Theater, by definition, is staged. Turns out Putin’s treasure diving trip was staged, too.

H/t: Art Of Manliness

Photo credit: Alexei Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images via The Atlantic

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By Dean Arrindell, September 15, 2011 4:57 pm

Did you know September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month? I didn’t, until I saw an interview with former Florida State University football coach Bobby Bowden. He appeared on CNN to talk about surviving prostate cancer and why he hid his diagnosis when he was coaching.

At the end of the interview, Bowden touched on the fact that men have a harder time talking about prostate cancer compared to women talking about breast cancer. I don’t agree that they’re the “same” thing, but there’s definitely more of an open public discussion about breast cancer than there is about prostate cancer.

If guys aren’t interested in talking about it or at least hearing about it, then the one in six men who get prostate cancer are more likely to die from it. But since I got interested in this topic a few years ago, it seems like people are more open about it.

The website Bowden is associated with is called On The Line. It has information for both men and the women in their lives on how to fight prostate cancer. I just found Zero Cancer that educates and promotes screenings for prostate cancer. There’s also the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the American Cancer Society.

According to the ACS, men should get screened no later than age 50. Screenings should begin earlier if they are in a high-risk group. Please, for your sake and the sake of the ones you love, get screened.

Here’s Bowden on CNN:

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By Dean Arrindell, September 13, 2011 11:02 pm

As a new father, this story from the New York Times grabbed my attention. It reports on a study that showed testosterone levels decrease in men when they become fathers. The more fatherly activity a man participates in, the more his testosterone drops.

Why the drop? The study suggests it helps men be more committed in their relationships and support their partners in child rearing. In other words, the study suggests that on a biological level, men are supposed to be engaged in raising children.

“The real take-home message,” said Peter Ellison, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard who was not involved in the study, is that “male parental care is important. It’s important enough that it’s actually shaped the physiology of men.”

To many, testosterone equals manliness, but several researchers in the article make a point of saying men shouldn’t worry that children and the drop in testosterone that goes with them, will kill their manhood.

The lowering of their testosterone did not prevent the men in the study from having more children. “You don’t need a lot of testosterone to have libido,” [said the study's co-author Dr. Christopher Kuzawa].

“If guys are worried about basically, ‘Am I going to remain a guy?’” [Emory University anthropologist Carol] Worthman [who was not involved in the study] said, “we’re not talking about changes that are going to take testosterone outside the range of having hairy chests, deep voices and big muscles and sperm counts. These are more subtle effects.”

Dr. Ellison explains why he thinks some men may be afraid of this study.

“Unfortunately,” Dr. Ellison added, “I think American males have been brainwashed” to believe lower testosterone means that “maybe you’re a wimp, that it’s because you’re not really a man.

“My hope would be that this kind of research has an impact on the American male. It would make them realize that we’re meant to be active fathers and participate in the care of our offspring.”

Perhaps this will reassure some men that it’s manly – in the biological sense – to be a full partner in raising children.

Read the full article here.

H/t: Art of Manliness.

Photo credit: bobhouser/Flickr

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By Dean Arrindell, August 16, 2011 11:02 am

A couple of weeks ago, the Huffington Post compiled a slideshow of photos to find out what sexism looks like. Where did they look for sexism? On stock photo websites:

In an effort to enlighten ourselves, we searched the term “sexist” on several stock photography sites, and we came up with some fairly resolute results. First of all, almost all sexism occurs in the office. Second, coffee and ties are often unwitting accomplices to sexism. Third, there’s a guy out there somewhere who has a shirt with little pigs all over it and the word “Sexy” in big letters. Watch out for him: he’s clearly very sexist and dangerous.

It’s hard to put humor aside when looking at some of the photos. They’re more ridiculous than sexist.

As they pointed out, many of the photos chosen by the companies (or maybe just by HuffPost) take place in an office. It’s at work where there’s an obvious imbalance of power. It wasn’t always men, though, who were the perpetrators of sexism (or ridiculousness).

But what makes this fascinating isn’t that these photos are ironclad definitions of sexist behavior. Some of them clearly aren’t. But they are what someone, somewhere – specifically, researchers at these stock photo companies - perceive as sexist. Because two people won’t perceive a situation in exactly the same way, discussing perceptions usually lead to interesting conversations.

So, take a look at the slideshow at the Huffington Post and tell me what you think.

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By Dean Arrindell, August 12, 2011 4:15 pm

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Parliament is exploring ways to ban social media during situations of widespread emergencies like the riots that have swept the country for the last weeks.

Speaking in the House Of Commons on Thursday, he said:

Mr Speaker, everyone watching these horrific actions will be stuck by how they were organised via social media.

Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill.

And when people are using social media for violence we need to stop them.

So we are working with the Police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality.

Logistically, it may be impossible and his statement may have just been “bravado,” but it’s a bad idea to suggest that stifling or banning communication over social networks is a good tool to fight crime.

Laws over speech and expression in the UK are different than in the US. The libel laws are much stricter, and you can’t even make fun of a session of Parliament even when they’re being complimented by comedians like Jon Stewart (see below). Those differences aren’t reasons for a Western democracy to restrict free speech like a dictatorship. Fighting and preventing crime is a priority in any country, but things get tricky when you’re dealing with speech. One person’s threatening language is another’s good idea.

Journalism professor Jeff Jarvis wrote this about Cameron’s suggestion to block social media: “When anyone’s speech is not free, no one’s speech is free…Censorship is not the path to civility. Only speech is.”

A clip from The Daily Show With John Stewart.

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By Dean Arrindell, August 3, 2011 3:09 pm

Last week I found out Porgy And Bess is coming to Broadway.

I’m very excited.

Porgy And Bess, based on the 1925 novel Porgy by DuBose Heyward, is about a crippled street beggar in Charleston, South Carolina and the woman he falls in love with. Bess is addicted to drugs and is already with Crown, the baddest dude in Catfish Row. That doesn’t stop the romance between Porgy and Bess.

The book was turned into an opera in 1935 with lyrics by Heyward and Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin. The story became a feature film in 1959 starring Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandrige, Sammy Davis. Jr., Pearl Bailey, and Diahann Carroll.

I based my M.A. thesis on the book the movie, examining masculinity and the idea of the black bad man as Heyward’s inspiration for the story.

There’s a lot to be said for the progressiveness of the opera. It was one of the first American shows to incorporate black and European classical music.

The story of the people behind it is equally fascinating. Heyward was from an aristocratic white Southern family, and had a curiosity (bordering on envy, which I argued in my thesis) for the blacks he saw in Charleston. He wrote a book about them and teamed up with the Gershwins, two Jews from New York, to conceive an opera based around this story using black music and starring black actors. It was a great example of American racial and regional diversity.

On the other hand..

Continue reading '“Porgy And Bess” Is Coming To Broadway'»

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By Dean Arrindell, July 17, 2011 10:18 am

Sex Columnist Dan Savage talked to Stephen Colbert on “The Colbert Report” about his premise that monogamy shouldn’t be requirement for marriage. It’s a great interview, but what’s worth noting is Savage’s distinction between modern marriage, how marriage used to be, and who changed it.

It’s that gay people are forcing straight people to admit that they redefined marriage decades ago. Marriage used to be a gendered institution. It used to be a property transaction where a man took possession of another man’s property – daughter and it became wife – and that’s not what marriage is anymore.

Marriage, when straight people do it, is the legal union of two autonomous equals. And they get to then define their marriage. A marriage can be monogamous or not. There can be children or not. It can be for life or not. There can be – It can be religious – the ceremony – or not. It’s up to that couple. That institution as straight people practice it, as straight people redefined it – there’s no logical case to be made to exclude gay couples from it, monogamous or not, from an institution that doesn’t exclude straight couples, monogamous or not.

That’s a great reminder for those who signed the Marriage Vow.

See the full interview here:

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By Dean Arrindell, July 3, 2011 11:55 pm

Underage drinking is a problem on The 4th Of July.

Especially for young men.

A study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, finds that alcohol-related emergency room visits for men under 21 doubles when we celebrate our nation’s independence. ER visits for women under 21 increase on the holiday as well, but not as much as men.

Besides the issue of underage drinking, there’s also the question of why there’s such a big difference between men and women.

Dr. Pete Delaney, director of the Center for Behavioral Statistics and Quality at SAMHSA, said, ”The social reality is that most girls are probably not drinking as heavily as boys, and they’re probably not getting into fights or even driving as much as boys.”

Here is an ABC News clip with Dr. Michael Anderson from UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital:

Hmm. Men (or in this case, boys) engaging in risky behavior that negatively impacts their health in greater numbers than women? Sounds like what doctors were saying a few months ago about some perceived notions of masculinity being unhealthy.

Read the full story about underage ER visits at ABC News.

Have a fun and safe Independence Day!

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