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Topic: Will you celebrate 'Man Day'? (Read 636 times) |
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Blunderov
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"We think in generalities, we live in details"
  
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Will you celebrate 'Man Day'?
« on: 2009-06-12 09:34:58 » |
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http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_News&set_id=1&click_id=79&art_id=nw20090612054327261C395765
Will you celebrate 'Man Day'?
June 12 2009 at 10:17AM
Celestine, Indiana - Two American men have declared Monday "National Man Day" only to find there's already a romantic holiday that falls on that date.
Ninteen-year-old Joel Longanecker and his 26-year-old brother Aaron have for months been rallying thousands to their masculine cause on Facebook. More than 260 000 people have pledged to "stand up and do manly things" on Man Day.
But it turns out June 15 is also "Sneak a Kiss Day," a day for sweethearts to steal smooches from their sweeties.
The Man Day organisers urge participants to take part in "manly" activities such as football, hunting or watching Rocky movies.* They claim real men don't "sneak" kisses.
- Sapa-AP
*[Bl.] And gladiator movies too, surely? Must have gladiator movies. And Spartan naked wrestling too. Sine qua non. Hopefully your General and mine, JC Christian (patriot), will represent - 11/10 on the manly scale as I need not remind.
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letheomaniac
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Re:Will you celebrate 'Man Day'?
« Reply #1 on: 2009-06-15 05:44:09 » |
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Quote:| "stand up and do manly things" on Man Day. |
[letheomaniac] I'll put money on the fact that their definition of "manly things" does not include, for example, fixing broken things around the house. I'm pretty sure that the "manly things" that they have in mind are more of the beer-swilling, football-watching persuasion... 
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"You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." - Dorothy Parker
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letheomaniac
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Re:Will you celebrate 'Man Day'?
« Reply #2 on: 2009-06-24 08:21:31 » |
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[letheomaniac] An interesting aside, I thought...
Source: National Geographic
Author: Brian Handwerk
Dated: 18/6/2009
NO-FATHERS DAY: Remote Group Has No Dads, And Never Did
What would Father's Day—and every other day—be like without fathers? Maybe not so bad, according to experts on the Mosuo culture of the Chinese Himalaya.
The women of this matrilineal society shun marriage and raise their kids in homes with their entire extended families—but no dads.
By most accounts, children seem to do just fine under the arrangement.
"They are a society that we know hasn't had marriage for a thousand years, and they've been able to raise kids successfully," said Stephanie Coontz, family studies professor at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.
No Fathers: It Makes Genetic Sense?
Men of the Mosuo, who live around Lugu Lake on the border between Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces, do help to raise kids—just not their own, with whom the men typically have only limited relationships.
Instead the men help look after all the children born to their own sisters, aunts, and other women of the family.
Rather than "one father with a kid, it will be four or five uncles. That [father] role is shared among a number of people, and these are very large extended families," explained John Lombard, director of the Lugu Lake Mosuo Cultural Development Association.
The unusual parenting arrangement makes genetic sense, in terms of extending the family line—and many Mosuo men actually think of it that way, Lombard said.
"If you [father] a child with another woman, you can never be absolutely sure that the child really shares your genes," he said. "But if your sister has a child, you can be 100 percent sure that the kid shares some of your genes."
"Walking Marriages" But No Fathers
The women of the Mosuo's agricultural villages head the households, make business decisions, and own property, which they pass on to their matrilineal heirs.
In the unique Mosuo tradition called the walking marriage, women invite men to visit their rooms at night—and to leave in the morning.
Women may also change partners as often as they like, and promiscuity carries no social stigma.
The practice has made the Mosuo famous, particularly to male Chinese tourists, many of whom see the walking marriages as evidence of sexual liberation and wanton lust, experts say.
Though there are tourist-oriented brothels in Mosuo villages, most are staffed with non-Mosuo women and are considered shameful by the Mosuo, according to the the Lugu Lake Mosuo Cultural Development Association Web site.
"I think sometimes the media gets carried away with the possibility that the women can have all these husbands," said filmmaker Xiaoli Zhou, who produced and reported the 2006 documentary on the Mosuo, The Women's Kingdom.
In fact, most Mosuo women don't change walking-marriage partners very frequently. And they rarely carry on more than one romantic relationship at a time.
"Many of the women I interviewed had only had one or two relationships in their lives," Zhou said.
Family First
The lack of live-in fathers shouldn't be taken as evidence that the Mosuo don't value family life, said Lombard, of the Lugu Lake Mosuo Cultural Development Association.
In fact, they value it above all other relationships—particularly those founded on the sometimes fickle feelings of male-female amour, he said.
Extended families of siblings, uncles, aunts, and others are said to be extremely stable, Lombard added.
For example, there are no divorces to destablize the families. And even the death of a child's biological father has little effect on the family, given the father's distance from the family and the extensive support network in the household.
Brent Huffman, co-producer of The Women's Kingdom, said, "The society does kind of create this question: Are fathers really necessary?
"It's hard to think of in Western society, but there, it works."
[letheomaniac] No doubt it works due to the fact that lawyers and paternity tests are rather thin on the ground in those parts. Sounds awesome!
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"You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." - Dorothy Parker
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MoEnzyme
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Re:Will you celebrate 'Man Day'?
« Reply #3 on: 2009-06-24 09:46:48 » |
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I'm not a big one for holidays in general which is why I don't feel enthusiastic about a "Man Day" anymore than I do about "Mothers Day".
As I have gotten older and more experienced, however, I do admit that I've generally become more of an advocate for the male perspective rather than just presenting myself as an example of the class. Of course I don't think that men really have anything in particular to recommend them over women, but rather I simply recognize my partiality in the war of the sexes - something I was initially skeptical of, but have since been unwittingly indoctrinated into by women. (Mo briefly plays show and tell pointing to the long trail of daggers in his heart). In any particular situation, barring some other ethically egregious factors, I'm not in favor of men apologizing for the simple fact of being male, having a Y chromosome, a penis, etc.. When someone presents a relationship issue to me, I'm the first to admit that I'm partial to male interests (as I've said already barring other ethical shortcomings). Ironically, most of the women I deal with seem to appreciate that more than assuming some false feminism.
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I will fight your gods for food,
Mo Enzyme
(consolidation of handles: Jake Sapiens; memelab; logicnazi; Loki; Every1Hz; and Shadow)
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letheomaniac
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Re:Will you celebrate 'Man Day'?
« Reply #4 on: 2009-06-24 10:34:19 » |
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Quote:I'm not a big one for holidays in general which is why I don't feel enthusiastic about a "Man Day" anymore than I do about "Mothers Day".
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[letheomaniac] Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Valentines Day... all sleazy corporate money-grubbing pseudo-occassions, IMHO. When corporations and their attendant ad agencies can't sell you something using scare tactics, they resort to tugging on your heart strings.
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"You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." - Dorothy Parker
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