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Is Your Birth Control Emasculating Men? The Daily Mail Thinks So!
22 Comments | Posted by Maria-Mercedes in birth-control
A new study has found that women who are on the Pill tend to favor boyish-looking men over more traditionally masculine men. This study has given the writers at the British tabloid The Daily Mail a chance to link women’s birth control habits with what they say is the “softening” on male celebrity pin-ups. Women went from lusting over furrowed-browed hunks like Steve McQueen to pining over lady-boys like Zac Efron, the Mail says. Good heavens! It turns out that even when men are the one changing it is still women who are to blame.
While the study is some-what interesting (even if the shift of women being attracted to boyish men is admitted to be marginal) the Mail’s story is both wrong and annoying. First, it glosses over the doe-eyed, boy-ish men that were idolized by women in the ’60s: Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Ricky Nelson to name a few. All we are saying is that for every Sean Connery there is also a Davy Jones. The article also ignores the contemporary male idols that fit into the traditional mold of masculinity: Clive Owen, George Clooney and Jon Hamm. I don’t think that the Pill is keeping these men from getting drenched in women’s droll whenever they make a quick run to the grocery store to pick up some milk. The article seems to assume that the only current male celebrity who is getting any female attention is Zac Efron, who was chemically created in a Disney laboratory out of puppies and self-tanning lotion to appeal to 12-year-old girls (i.e., girls not taking the Pill) so the idea that he is the prime example of the change in Pill-taking women’s taste is a huge misrepresentation.
The article also assumes that there is only one type of masculinity and that men (and women) are expected to either conform or be in awe of it. Not every man should be expected to fit into a narrow, out-dated idea of masculinity and not every women should be expected to be attracted to it. However, the idea that brooding, dark men have gone out of favor is almost laughable and boyish teen idols have been popular ever since the purchasing power of the teenager was discovered in the ’50s. The shift in popularity from macho “real” men in the 1960s to weakling Nancy-boys of the 2000s is completely imagined by the article’s author. And why does hormonal birth control have to get blamed for this non-existent trend? It almost feels like the underlying theme of the article is that women who take birth control should be blamed for the emasculation of men. Should Pill-popping ladies who have always found themselves attracted to big-eyed boys feel ashamed? And what about a woman who doesn’t use hormonal birth control but isn’t attracted to the article’s narrow definition of masculine attractiveness–what then?
Dumb. Like men’s opinions on what type of female beauty is more attractive changes with time, so does women’s opinion of male beauty. First off, you’re totally right that ‘manly men’ are still popular. Second, even if a ‘boyish’ look was more popular now, so what? Right now, feminine beauty is more of a slim but hourglass figure. A decade or two ago, it was stick-thin. Before that, it was ‘curvy.’ Before that still, it was flat as a board. I mean, what do we blame for the fact that obesity is no longer seen as beautiful? Or that reddish or dark hair is currently more stylish than blonde? If our body types and physical appearances can go in and out of fashion, why is everyone in an uproar about women’s tastes not being the exact same as their grandmothers’?
It’s not that it’s the physical attributes so much as the behaviors etc. that go along with them. Pretty little nancy-boys generally have no clue how to throw a punch nor change a tire.
Because you know, the sexiest thing in the world is a man who is incapable of solving any problem without behaving like an uneducated redneck and punching everyone.
Knowing how to change a tire and/or throw a punch does not make a person an “uneducated redneck”. My fiance AND I can do both and do them well, and we’re both educated and reasonably cultured individuals.
Syd loves to throw around racial slurs while declaring herself a victim of racial intolerance.
My mommy taught me how to change a tire :)
Here’s another question:
Why the hell is anybody reading the Daily Mail??
I ask myself that question frequently…
The Daily Mail is a publication that makes me ashamed to be British, quite frankly.
My feelings exactly. It worries me the amount of people who read, and actually believe the shit they pump out.
We read the Daily Mail for two reasons… 1) To laugh at the idiots, 2) To better understand the nature of the idiocy we are fighting against, in order to combat it.
I read the Daily Mail, athough I very rarely agree with anything it says (and when I do it’s because they’ve accidentally said something sensible for all the wrong reasons!) simply because I need to know what their arguments are if I am to have any chance of refuting them.
I’m sorry but I cannot contribute to this discussion as you have put the thought of Jon Hamm into my head and I am now a puddle of lust.
Question: what self-respecting grown woman is attracted to Zac Efron?
Haha! Seriously!
One who is having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that she’s actually bisexual? One of my friends dated a string of pretty boys before realizing that she was actually looking for a woman.
Zac Efron isn’t pretty!
And what I meant is that Zac Efron is marketed to 12 year olds, he hasn’t got a very… grown up, let’s say, type of sexuality.
I don’t get the Robert Pattinson attraction at all, he looks creepy and dirty to me.
Not at all “proved” in any way…Just sounds like a certain Daily Mail staffer is having a midlife crisis to me. heh.
“Chemically created in a Disney laboratory out of puppies and self-tanning lotion” – brilliant!
I would not put George Clooney into the Clive Owen/Jon Hamm group–he’s not as far along on their masculinity scale. There’s a touch of an older Zach Efron there.
Jon Hamm is a sexy beast. Nuff said.
I’ve really enjoyed reading your site, and right I’m trying to lose some weight too. I’m 50 years old and trying to lose 50 pounds by playing Just Dance for Wii. Its only the second day, but progress has definitely been made!