|
Male Insecurity and Anger
I was going to write about something different but decided to write about men and their fear and insecurity after I saw some of the responses to the movie BARBIE.
Such a great upheaval by men worldwide, some of whom actually saw the movie! The anger some of them spewed on Fox News was almost comical. Really? You are getting this upset over a movie about Dolls??
Men (and some women), it appears are easily scared when they see the opening scenes of the movie. The opening shows a whole country of Barbies (Barbie land) in all the leadership roles and no Kens leading anything except "Beach."
If men are so insecure that they feel they cannot have us women see a "pretend" society of women leading everything while men were relegated to minor roles than I'm thinking men are in really bad shape.
Their fear is palpable! I guess I would remind them of a few historical facts in the Real World that may help to have their fears allayed or made larger;
1. In the history of the world there have been
several tribal societies that were all women.
Men were only allowed when they were
needed for procreation & sex. Young boys
were allowed as they were still dependent on
the care of their mothers.
Apparently these societies did VERY WELL
and survived for centuries.
2. This upset reminds me of a similar outbreak
of male fear in the 60's when Good
Housekeeping Magazine did a study. The
study was to see if women who were
married would get married again if they had
to do it over again. The sample as I
remember was huge, tens of thousands of
women subscribers filled out the study
Questionnaire. Overwhelmingly women said
they would not get married again. I think it
was almost 90%.
As soon as the study was published in the
Magazine all Hell broke loose! The
researcher was attacked brutally and so
were the publishers. It was amazing to see
men being so afraid that their wives would
not get married to them if they were given
a chance to make the choice again!
No one talked about what an incredible
phenomenon had been uncovered: when given
a chance Married women would not do it if
they had the choice again.
Now we know that was the warning of what
was to come; Currently more of our
worldwide population are unmarried rather
then married. And women saying they do not
want to get married ever!
I can almost hear some of you asking me what we need to do to lower the fear men are having when they see we may not need them?
Other than get them all a group rate in Therapy there is not much we women can do.
You can assure the men you love and who love you to relax and not take this so seriously while simultaneously pointing out why you need them.
You can point out the obvious that after years of a fight for equality men are still mostly in charge.
Or you can help them retrain themselves for their new "supportive roles." You know the roles I'm talking about. That's right! They are the roles you've been holding for your entire lives!
Who better to retrain them than the women who have held those "Supportive" roles for centuries!
By the way, John went with me and Val Hodgson to the movie. He wants men to see it as an object lesson! He thought it was a great visual for women AND men to see. It is a great description of Patriarchy and of how women have been discriminated against as men use it. Men it appears get insecure and then they get angry! Yup they express insecurity and fear by getting Angry. So let them get angry and don't let them take it out on you!
So go see Barbie and take your "men folk" with you!
By the way Anne Brack, one of your fellow WMF® Grads, saw the movie and did this handy patriarchy diagram. I thought it was brilliant.
Enjoy!
Note: In Hollywood this movie is breaking glass ceilings for women directors. It made more money in its first weeks for the studio then almost any movie on record. So other women in the business have been elevated by "Barbie"
| 
