Good point. Unfortunately its often the extremists that get the press. I have a relation who is in a senior role in advertising who tells me that profiling men poorly is one of a smalll menu of strategies white good manufacturers use to sell their products.
It is mostly male marketing executives who are pushing this strategy as it hits in the market place very strongly. Their research shows that the provocative ad is remembered by the consumer. Interestingly objection to the ad is no preclusion for buying the products. In fact the opposite is the case. Unfortunately the rest of us who see the ad are subject to the subliminal message about men. The points made about glass ceilings are quite valid. Recent OECD stats about family and work note that Australians work harder in terms of hours than most other nations and this is trending upwards. I wonder what effect this is having on whether women are prepared to fight the glass ceiling as much as used to be the case. A recent High Court ruling about return to work for women has eroded progress made about flexible return to work. Interesting that a totally male court made the decision. What you say about sport is interesting - I wonder what one could conclude about the rowing controversy? Chris Vincent Patrick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:Hello, I think it is worthwhile to consider the treatment of the ordinary man and ordinary woman, beyond sporting or business heroes. Neither men nor women are significantly celebrated because of their economic achievements or political achievements. Ordinary women tend to be celebrated for their achievements in family life. Ordinary men tended to be celebrated less so as parents, and their contributions to the family are often denigrated by feminists. There has been a trend for women to be ascribed higher levels of expertise, and for men to be depicted as the fool. Men are more often the 'politically correct' butt of jokes, the idiot that noone will have sympathy for, or the 'jerk' in common parlance. Men have always been lampooned, but the recent balance is skewed. This was described by Warren Farrell in his 1999 book "Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say" [ISBN 0-87477-988-X], especially in Chapter 7 "When Male Bashing is Called Funny, but Female Bashing is Called Sexist." If you are looking for a book to begin intelligent debate at a school, I would recommend "Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say" as a starter. Dr Farrell is not an "angry divorced father", and has been elected three times to the Board of the National Organisation of Women in New York City, probably the only man to have done so. Cheers, Vincent Patrick ----------------- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >>Whether it is a feminist mesage or not is debatable but one might look at > > how men are portrayed in our media as a starting point. They are put down. > This does extend into the classroom. It would be niaive to think it > doesn't. > > I agree there are some media images and representations of men that portray > men in lampooning or derogatory ways. And these may influence boys' > perceptions of themselves and other males. At the same time, first, these > representations sit alongside a whole range of other representations > celebrating men's achievements, associating men with power and authority > and expertise, and so on. Just to give a quick example, *who* is it whose > economic achievements, political decisions, and historical activities we > see routinely reported on and celebrated in the media? It is men's. (Yes, > privileged men's.) (I would have added, sporting successes, but this and > the last Olympics have shifted this, though mainstream media coverage of > sport outside the Olympics is still focused very much on traditionally male > sports.) And second, one can also see in the media a wide range of images > and representations also portraying women in derogatory ways. > > So, if we're calling for complexity, let's use more complex accounts of the > media and its content and significance as well. > > Best wishes, > > michael. > > Yahoo! Groups Links --------------------------------- Find local movie times and trailers on Yahoo! Movies. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/pyIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/boysed/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
