2) National Man Day? Please be joking...

Just moments after submitting last week’s blog, I went on Facebook. I had an invitation to some random event called "National Man Day." Perfect...

Here is the description from Facebook, in all its man-tastic glory:

“This day is the day for all men to stand up and say, "Yes, I am a Man." And "Yes, I will step up and do manly things and whatever I want to do on this glorious day!" Come, make history! Be a part of National Man day. Take the world by the throat and tell them it's ok to watch Rocky movies all day. Tell them it's fine if you sit in your favorite chair and scratch yourself. Tell them it's normal to go shoot stuff or blow something up. Why? Because YOU ARE A MAN!!! You aren't some nancy that likes to frolic in the fields, unless it's a field of mines and you have an AK47 and a hand full of grenades... Then you really are a man! Yes on this day, men across the nation will be saying, "Screw you salad bar, with your salad and light dressings!" Men will step up and say, "I'll take that 20 oz steak, and yes, I'll eat it all. Because I'm a man!
National Man Day is about acting like a Man & taking responsibility for things we can control. Be a better father to your kids, hit the gym, punch a gorilla in the face, treat women like a gentleman, and most of all BE A MAN! A glorious testosterone filled MAN! I'm not asking you to throw some sissy party, or to go buy a new power tie because you're a man. All I'm asking you to do is step up live this day like a man would. Blow something up, shoot some animal, punch your buddy in the face for no reason, play football and literally knock someone's head off... Be a man like God intended you to be... Take this day and celebrate your manhood!”

As seen above, being masculine is apparently an amalgam of various things, from “literally knocking someone’s head off” to “being a good father.” It is somehow simultaneously, being a gentleman to women, but also a savage irrational caveman. It is also not being what the creator of the event considers “feminine,” which he describes using some epithets, like “nancy” and “sissy.” There seems to be a lot of hostility built up against those who do not blatantly act tough enough. I don’t really understand this extreme alpha-male sentiment, but apparently others subscribe to it. As of right now, over 170,000 people will take part in this event. For some strange reason, I’m thinking God didn’t really “intend” this.

This idea of manliness almost seems like a caricature, in response to what the creator probably sees as a rise in metrosexuality. For some reason, he feels a man acting less evidently “manly” is a problem. Gender roles really are changing, and this was just his way of dealing with it. I wish the best to anyone who is not a gunslinging, body building, animal killing, good father on Man Day.

Please know that I don’t really think anyone will be injured as a result of some ridiculous exhibition of manliness, as I'm sure that whoever created this event was doing it in jest. At least I hope so. But the fact that it was created at all really says something about some people’s ideas of masculinity in this country.

1) OBAMA-MAN TO THE RESCUE!

Ms. Magazine is a self-proclaimed feminist periodical. On the cover of the Winter 2009 "Special Inaugural Issue" is a photoshopped image of our current president. He's opening up his suit, like Superman does, to reveal a shirt that says, "THIS IS WHAT A FEMINIST LOOKS LIKE." Obama reportedly said, "I am a feminist," to the Feminist Majority Foundation chairwoman Peg Yorkin at a meeting. Plus, he supposedly has the strongest women's rights platform of any president so far.

Recently, however, this image and Ms. Magazine itself have come under fire by feminists. The criticism stems from the fact that Obama represents some kind of superhero in the image. Thus, people think it is implying that it takes a (super)man to save the feminists. I was not really aware that feminists were in any grave danger, so I don't really understand this argument.

First of all, I'm not a feminist, nor am I a male chauvinist or "masculist" (or whatever the opposite of a feminist is). I don't see the big deal with the picture. Maybe if GQ, Maxim, or some other strictly-male magazine had posted the image. And it had helpless women in the background (scantily-clad, to appease the target demographic, of course). And the caption on the shirt were more blatant, like "STEP ASIDE LADIES! OBAMA HERE, TO THE RESCUE!" Then, I'd see room for complaint. As it stands, though, this image was made the cover of a feminist magazine BY FEMINISTS THEMSELVES! So I highly doubt a feminist magazine would publish something they found offensive to women and feminists. If you take the time to read the article in the magazine, you'll see cover is meant to "capture both the national and feminist mood of high expectations and hope as the 44th President of the United States takes the oath of office." I think it achieves that.

Another criticism of the cover is that it is against the very values of feminism to have a male icon like this to be a feminist. That is ludicrous. It is completely hypocritical to say that men cannot also fight for women's rights. It's sexist and pretty much undermines the whole platform feminists stand for. How can you claim your goal is equality, if you don't like the idea of a man being a feminist? You can't. Either be a true equality-seeking feminist or the female version of the male chauvinists you hate so much. Pick one.

That's my two cents on the issue. It seems whoever is actually offended by this is just overly sensitive or reading too much into it. Not to mention, this victimhood over such a petty thing (especially one that is not even offensive!) kind of steps on the toes of the "strong woman" image that is so often portrayed. Put more energy into an issue that matters.