Zonie63
Posts: 2826
Joined: 4/25/2011 From: The Old Pueblo Status: offline
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: UllrsIshtar Fem Dommes might not have their own kinky saga to be the next page turner, but females emasculating, demeaning and making fun of men, and anything to do with masculinity is all over the media, all the time. Turn on any random sitcom at any given time in the last 30 years, and you won't find a strong male role models in charge of the household. What you find is a woman either openly or secretly in charge, constantly demeaning her husband "pretending to let him make decision" while meanwhile emasculating him as a form of humor nearly non-stop. Pussy whipped wimps are funny these days... and have been for a long time... Name me one female character in the last 30 years who was treated and portrayed as Al Bundy from "Married with Children", Ray Barone, from "Everybody loves Raymond", Eddie Stark from " 'Till Death", Maxwell Sheffield from "The Nanny", Tim Taylor from "Home Improvement", Jim from "According to Jim", Doug Heffernan from "King of Queens Hal from "Malcolm in the Middle",... I could keep going here. All these men are pussies, whipped, made fun of, demeaned, babied, emasculated, talked down to, toyed with, and humiliated by women, on a regular basis, as the premise of the intended humor on the show. Their emasculation and submission to women IS the show. The domineering, bossy, intrusive, humiliating attitude with which women in these shows approach the men IS the joke. Name me a single show where the same thing happens with a gender role reversal. The standard image of the "henpecked male"/"nagging wife" has been a cornerstone of our culture for decades, if not centuries. Back in the old days, they were called "fishwives." The only show you named above that I've actually seen was "Married With Children," but as I recall from that show, the husband was the bread winner while the wife just sat at home eating bon-bons and watching TV. Neither one of them would be a positive portrayal of anything, although they might be symbolic of the amoral cynicism of our age. I'm not sure that these examples address the OP's question. They show the man who is still in the obligated role as being the dominant head of the household, but he's being demeaned and humiliated because he's seen as weak, not just by his wife but by society at large. He's just an average Joe, nobody rich, famous, strong, or powerful. George Jetson, Fred Flintstone, Ralph Kramden, Dagwood, etc. What we're seeing is a caricature, not real life. The role of the wives in these caricatures is to push their husbands to strive for better, as the old saying "Behind every great man is a woman to push him along" or something to that effect. These examples still illustrate a male-dominated dynamic, even though the nominal "leader" is pretty much a pushover and a marshmallow. The women are not leading by design, but more by necessity. The underlying message is that they're trying to show American males how they should NOT act, as I wouldn't think of them as role models (although I could be wrong on that point). One of the old guard of sitcoms was "All in the Family," but in that show, the main character was shown as a bigoted jerk, and while most characters may not be as extreme as Archie Bunker, they're often portrayed negatively and pretty much jerks who deserve what they get. Of course, one could draw upon other examples from pop culture (not just sitcoms). The typical action/adventure has the leading men in more dominant, heroic roles, while the women might either be tough fighters (but not quite so tough as the leading man) or often as damsels in distress, waiting to be rescued. That's pretty common, too, although there are some exceptions to the rule. Then there's the world of sports, which is also where a lot of supposed "role models" come from. I don't think they're portrayed as wimps.
|