It's Only "Pandering" When It's Not to Straight White Men. Fantastic Four is here…I’m not going to see it.
The reviews are bad and until someone in Hollywood realizes that for the Fantastic Four to succeed they need someone to do to Dr. Doom what Heath Ledger did to Joker, every single future Fantastic Four movie is probably going to remain bad. However, the current movie is notable for another reason, and that’s the casting of Michael B. Jordan, a black actor, as Johnny Storm, typically depicted as white / on fire. For a more in-depth look at how some people react to this in our post-racial utopia, let’s go to the Internet… The important word here is “pandering”, which means to distastefully indulge.
Why-straight-men-have-sex-with-each-other. There’s a pretty clear gender divide in how Americans deal with straight people who dabble in gay activity.
When heterosexual women make out with one another at a bar or party, it’s generally understood that they’re simply playing around for attention, or exploring the fluid space that is female sexuality. When heterosexual men hook up with each other, on the other hand, it’s seen either as an act born of desperation — think men who are locked up — or an indication that while they may claim to be straight, they really aren’t — think disgraced GOP members of Congress. The Economist. “IT’S all to do with their brains and bodies and chemicals,” says Sir Anthony Seldon, the master of Wellington College, a posh English boarding school.
“There’s a mentality that it’s not cool for them to perform, that it’s not cool to be smart,” suggests Ivan Yip, principal of the Bronx Leadership Academy in New York. One school charges £25,000 ($38,000) a year and has a scuba-diving club; the other serves subsidised lunches to most of its pupils, a quarter of whom have special needs. Yet both are grappling with the same problem: teenage boys are being left behind by girls. It is a problem that would have been unimaginable a few decades ago. Until the 1960s boys spent longer and went further in school than girls, and were more likely to graduate from university. The reversal is laid out in a report published on March 5th by the OECD, a Paris-based rich-country think-tank. The OECD deems literacy to be the most important skill that it assesses, since further learning depends on it.
The Economist. “Manvertisements” and Toxic Masculinity. Although it’s not a recent trend, “manvertising” seems to come in waves.
A couple of years ago, it was the Dr Pepper Ten commercials, the tagline for which was just, “It’s not for women!” Today, a variety of products, from candles to sandals to yogurt to body wash, are subjected to the glare of toxic masculinity in an attempt to widen the purchasing demographic for certain products. So what is toxic masculinity, and why is this a problem? Toxic Masculinity One of the most commonly misunderstood phrases in feminist theory is toxic masculinity. Toxic masculinity is what disguises emotional immaturity as a stereotypical male stoicism (think of the gruff action hero who’s unable to cry or show any emotion but anger), and encourages men to use physical size and strength as a weapon against other men, along with anyone perceived as weaker than them. The Dangers of Toxic Masculinity The problems of toxic masculinity in action, however, go beyond stereotyping and name-calling.
Enduring Messages. 3 ways to reform toxic masculinity after Gamergate. One of the ongoing missions of my writing is to make men better.
Self-improvement is one of the keys for men who want to have greater social success—whether it be sexual, romantic or otherwise. Unfortunately, the idea of “what it means to be a man” tends to get in the way. As more and more men confront the fact that the white, heterosexual male is no longer the automatic default, more and more people cling to a fetishized ideal of “manhood” predicated on supposedly “natural” aspects of manliness that men should supposedly aspire to have. But these “ideal, manly” traits actively harm men and women—a form of toxic masculinity. Of course, just saying the words “toxic masculinity” is enough to prompt some people to immediately become defensive and aggressive. I’ve written before about how toxic masculinity hurts men and women. The Fight to Leave The Performance of Masculinity Behind Toxic masculinity is an inherently narrow and restrictive band of behavior, belief, and appearance.