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Bryan Safi

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Masculinity In Crisis!

Posted: 08/05/10 09:06 PM ET

After a brief love affair with metrosexualism, the pendulum of American culture has shifted back to the straight side. And who wouldn't want to be a real man? Look at the rad Old Spice guy! Real men do awesome things like ride horses, grow mustaches, lift weights, seduce girls, own motorcycles - they are, in other words, the total opposite of feminine.

The new ethos seems to be... Bring back the real guys and smear those queers.


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After a brief love affair with metrosexualism, the pendulum of American culture has shifted back to the straight side. And who wouldn't want to be a real man? Look at the rad Old Spice guy! Real men d...
After a brief love affair with metrosexualism, the pendulum of American culture has shifted back to the straight side. And who wouldn't want to be a real man? Look at the rad Old Spice guy! Real men d...
 
 
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inthedesert
Those who never question will fall for anything.
03:10 PM on 08/10/2010
This brings to mind Swanson's Hungry- Man- Wife- Beater TV dinners.......
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joebben
05:36 PM on 08/12/2010
LOL!! f/f
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dmsdzinr
Progression wit a twist of sarcasm.
10:51 AM on 08/10/2010
Being a True MAN is NOT lifting weights, riding motorcycles, riding horses, growing a mustache, seducing girls, etc. It is being intelligent, caring, living life to its fullest. Those other things usually make for "machismo" and men who cheat on women, bash other men, etc.
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jjgg5
11:06 AM on 08/09/2010
The "That's gay" comment is pejorative and homophobic.
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03:54 AM on 08/10/2010
The problem with saying the phrase is that it is consciously or subconsciously giving the word "gay" negative connotation. However, I think it is rarely, if ever, intended to be negative towards the population that represents the adjective in question.
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Tom Matlack
Man, Husband, Dad, Writer, Venture Capitalist
09:18 PM on 08/08/2010
check out www.goodmenproject.org if you want to find out about REAL men dude...
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
dimplasm
More chocolate, please.
01:10 AM on 08/08/2010
I love the old spice commercials. My husband, not so much. I think they are probably aimed at women. If not, they seem to do very well with the female viewer.
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LeftRight
TANSTAAFL
03:53 PM on 08/08/2010
They'd BETTER be aimed at women! Cause most guys I know (including myself....) laugh our tails off at the commercials, but it ain't gonna get me to BUY anything!
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05:15 AM on 08/10/2010
Exactly. Guys do not want the girls to think they smell like their dads.
12:34 AM on 08/08/2010
I don't know if this is what Safi is getting at, but it seems like the real problem is the false conflation of femininity with homosexuality. If we are able to separate those two notions in our minds, then virtually none of these ads should be considered offensive toward gay men, who, more often then not, are far more masculine than their straight counterparts.

This is not to say that they are not offensive; the feminine-homosexual stereotype has been so proliferated that most people understand the two as a single concept.
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Priori Decoherence
Skål til fitte og brannvesenet
09:12 AM on 08/10/2010
I agree with your point on the conflation of femininity with homosexuals. While I have known gay people that displayed a lot of effeminate personality, I have had more gay friends that were far more masculine then the homophobic bullies that litter our state with hate.

As an aside: Having been friends with people on both sides of the issue, I would say most of the homophobic motivation is based on low self-esteem and homosexual attraction. Until a person can know internally that it is natural to have feelings of attraction to members of the same sex for a myriad of reasons and that such attraction does not necessarily mean they are gay, fear is a natural result.
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shel3364
12:29 AM on 08/07/2010
mmmmm... the Old Spice guy..... yummy....
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karela
09:21 PM on 08/06/2010
The Old Spice ads are great. This girl loves looking at the guy's bod and it's the most entertaining, smiling, enjoyable commercial in years. If all commercials were as much fun, we wouldn't hate them so much. People go by droves to You Tube to watch the Old Spice ads lots of extra times. When was the last time you heard of that? Well, OK; the big horses at half time ads are great too.
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dnaromney
08:09 PM on 08/06/2010
While I understand the point he is trying to make here, I didn't interpret the Old Spice ads that way at all. In fact, I think that they are so over the top, any attempt to interpret them as hostile is strained. They seem to be a playful good-natured mockery of the "masculinity" that this commentator finds so objectionable.
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Ali Rockwood
06:05 PM on 08/06/2010
real men, like real women, follow their best instincts, try to take care of their loved ones, and behave responsibly and true to their own nature and character. "real" people own requisite genitalia that identify them as belonging to one gender or the other- behavioral norms being appropriate to femininity or masculinity are purely subjective in today's society. perception=reality as far as "girly" or "manly" -ness goes.

women had to fight for our rights to vote, work (for a paycheck), cut our hair short, divorce, use birth control, and wear pants. men are going to have to fight for their rights to take care of babies and express emotions other than anger. the opponents will be the same people--those who feel that gender roles have been defined for good reason by god and the church and that there is only one righteous path. feminists blazed the trail and suffered abuse and ridicule for refusing to conform over the past 100 years, now it's up to "dudenists" to traverse that uncomfortable terrain.

i'm sick to death of ads depicting males as helpless to feed themselves, find gifts for their wives, or care for their kids. i don't really care how men want to smell, that is personal. i know chicks who like to smell like cookies, fruit, bug spray (imo), brothels (again, imo), dudes, flowers, grass, all kinda stuff, nobody cares. just don't smell like moldy cumin and the world will thank you.
05:12 PM on 08/06/2010
Funny, but sad too. Some guys are really narrow in their worldview...
04:51 PM on 08/06/2010
At first I thought that new Old Spice commercial was absolutely dreadful. On second viewing I thought it was absofuckinlutely dreadful.
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Fogy
RIP, ignorance
04:37 PM on 08/06/2010
Make sure to watch the videos that follow. Great!
04:09 PM on 08/06/2010
In my opinion, the 'panic' that has been induced over things like metrosexualism etc., is merely the same 'panic' that ensued when women began to break down the walls of their assigned gender roles. Women have enjoyed that choice of liberation from traditional roles here for about a generation. But what of men? What are our options? I've seen a number of articles on this site alone over the issues both men and women have concerning stay-at-home dads and the like. And such are often considered 'losers' undeserving of the love and support of their wives.

We're told to be more emotionally expressive by our mates, but only in private. In public, we have a socially acceptable emotional range of what? 3 notes? We too, are emotional beings. We are simply not allowed to properly express them, or depend on the empathy of others. When women say things like: "I want a 'Manly' guy, but not all emotionally walled off." They do not realize it's an either/or proposition. Being 'Manly' IS being walled off. Give us the chance to grow into other roles besides 'Power-mad Womanizer' or 'Poor, Lonely Loser', and I can assure you, you'll have fewer complaints.
03:21 PM on 08/06/2010
Old Spice: Grandpas's idea of a shower.

(Leno routine.)
04:49 PM on 08/06/2010
Still funny