Jul 09 2024
“All 50,000 workers at the Yue Yen Nike Factory in China would have to work for 19 years to earn what Nike spends on advertising in one year.” No Logo, Naomi Klein (p352)
“According to the 1998 United Nations Human Development Report, the growth in global ad spending ‘now outpaces the growth of the world economy by one-third.'” No Logo, Naomi Klein (p8-9)
In 1998, the overall ad expenditures n the U.S. were $200 billion. Which was (and still is) more than the GDP of most countries.
Jun 11 2024
“In response to the “informed consent” bill the Kentucky House passed on January 28th, which requires women to consult a doctor–by video conference or in person–at least 24 hours before having an abortion, Kentucky state representative Mary Lou Marzian proposed a rather tongue-in-cheek bill of her own: a law requiring women to approve their husband’s request for Viagra, and making only married men eligible to receive the drug.”
Great idea!
May 28 2024
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/06/us/man-bear-safety-tiktok-question-cec/index.html
May 16 2024
“She glances down at the members of Parliament strolling in across the pea-green carpet below. Suits, bald heads, and shoes shinier than mirrors. The men who never in their lives had to worry about getting pregnant, dying in childbirth, or trying to access an abortion within their own restrictive system.” Looking for Jane, Heather Marshall (p140)
Indeed. If men could get pregnant– That might have been the single most thing that would have changed everything …
May 03 2024
Very nice essay here!
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Identity+Politics+vs.+the+Law+of+Identity.-a0555411046
Apr 27 2024
Reeves quotes Kristof and WuDunn about the recent trend (which started in the 2010s): “Men in particular felt the loss not only of income but also of dignity that accompanied a good job.” from Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (p62)
Poor babies. Need I point out that women would not have felt that loss because they so often didn’t have an income in the first place or the dignity that accompanied a good job.
“Men are much more likely to commit suicide than women.” (p63)
Yeah. They are the weaker sex. And now, without the propping up a sexist advantage and priority, they are falling down.
I’ll add that my bet is that many a woman would’ve killed herself but for the kids she’d made and felt responsible for. Guess that doesn’t apply to men.
“Womanhood is defined more by biology, manhood more by social construction.” (p96)
What? Since when?
“This is why masculinity tends to be more fragile than femininity.” (p96)
I doubt that’s the reason. I’d point my finger at the fragile male ego? (Though yeah, I suppose it’s fragile only when idiot men accept that social construction.)
“When was the last “crisis in femininity”? That’s right: never.” (p96)
Um. Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique? Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch? The whole frickin’ second wave of feminism?
[about the term ‘toxic masulinity’] “It is a bad idea to send a cultural signal to half the population that there may be something intrinsically wrong with them.” (p108)
Ya think? (How clueless can Reeves be to women’s history?)
“Half of American men and almost a third of women (30%) now think that society ‘punishes men just for acting like men’ …” (p108).
Well, if the shoe fits. (And what, society hasn’t punished women for being female for, like, forever?)
“Masculinity is not a pathology. … It is, quite literally, a fact of life.” (p108)
Could be both.
And from p150 on, Reeves’ proposals for getting more men into health, education, administration, literacy … They’ve always been in the first three, in the upper tiers. Regardless, Reeves, you’re about fifty years behind. Those of us against sexism said all this and more back in the 70s. Ever year of John Stoltenberg (Refusing to be a Man)? Robert Jensen (The End of Patriarchy)? Apparently not. They’re not even in his index of names. Not even Marlo Thomas’ “Free to be (you and me)”?
My overall response? ‘Been there, said that, you weren’t listening, and now you think you’re hot shit for saying it’.
Typical.
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