Thursday, July 22, 2004
I was amused to find this article in Zmag today, especially after listening to Galwang's analysis of the concept of American masculinity with respect to Erich Fromm's book, earlier today. The brief Zmag article discusses the influence that male "macho" thinking has on the aggressive foreign policy in this country, and goes on to gently suggest that perhaps the need to assert their unbending manliness is what drives the political thinking of hawks in America. Being a somewhat blunt person myself, I prefer the less subtle and more direct explanation put forth by George Carlin on his rant about the first Persian Gulf War:
"I also look at war itself a little differently from most. I see it largely as an exercise in dick-waving. That's really all it is: alot of men standing around in a field waving their dicks at one another. Men, insecure about the size of their penises, choose to kill one another. That's also what all that moron athlete bullshit is all about, and what that macho, male posturing and strutting around in bars and locker rooms represents. It's called 'dick fear.' Men are terrified that their dicks are inadequate, and so they have to 'compete' in order to feel better about themselves. And since war is the ultimate competition, essentially men are killing one another in order to improve their genital self-esteem. You needn't be a historian or a political scientist to see the Bigger Dick Foreign Policy Theory at work. It goes like this: 'What? They have bigger dicks? Bomb them!' And of course, the bombs, the rockets, and the bullets are all shaped like penises. Phallic weapons. There's an unconscious need to project the national penis into the affairs of others. It's called 'fucking with people'. So as far as I'm concerned, that whole thing in the Persian Gulf was nothing more than one big dick-waving cockfight. In this particular case, Saddam Hussein questioned the size of George Bush's dick. And George Bush had been called a wimp for so long, he apparently felt the need to act out his manhood fantasies by sending America's white children to kill other people's brown children. Even his name, 'Bush', as slang, is related to the genitals without being the genitals. A bush is sort of a passive, secondary sex characteristic. It's even used as a slang term for women: 'Hey, pal, how's the bush in this area?' I can't help thinking, if this president's name had been George Boner...well, he might have felt a little better about himself, and he wouldn't have had to kill all those children. Too bad he couldn't locate his manhood."
Of course, making fun of heterosexual masculinity (or what passes as such in this society), is like shooting fish in a barrel. So I'll do it too.
Growing up in Korea, my parents and the adults around me did give me an impression of what it meant to "be a man"... just like in America, we were given standards to live up to. This was when I was quite young, but I remember being impressed upon that to be considered masculine was to act responsibly, honorably, and respectful towards others. Not that these traits were not expected of women: I think that those were the expectations put upon all mature, grown-up individuals in Korea... and in my male case, to be considered masculine was to become a mature person. Which is not to say that there are no prescribed gender roles that people face in Korean society, but the standards of attractive character that people aspire to live up to there are not so dependent on gender. Mature is sexy, if that makes any sense.
So it was something of a change for me, to move to a society where I was considered more on the effeminate side, if I were to act in a reasonably well-behaved, respectful manner. In order to be considered manly here, I'd have to work far harder than that: I would have to be forceful, assertive, and domineering. I would have show others my burgeoning confidence by being cocky and nonchalant, to the point of being irresponsible. I would have to be aggressive and territorial, in order to prove to the whole world my towering manhood. I would have to disrespect certain portions of the population, such as women and gays. These people, I would have to bring into submission.
Well, I never did like trying to live up to the standards of others, and having to change to American standards after moving here was too much. So, I kept my old Korean standards, and I settled for the emasculated image that came along with it here. And that was ok... I'm still busy working towards being a Korean man someday.
note: Galwang also recommends more Fromm.
"I also look at war itself a little differently from most. I see it largely as an exercise in dick-waving. That's really all it is: alot of men standing around in a field waving their dicks at one another. Men, insecure about the size of their penises, choose to kill one another. That's also what all that moron athlete bullshit is all about, and what that macho, male posturing and strutting around in bars and locker rooms represents. It's called 'dick fear.' Men are terrified that their dicks are inadequate, and so they have to 'compete' in order to feel better about themselves. And since war is the ultimate competition, essentially men are killing one another in order to improve their genital self-esteem. You needn't be a historian or a political scientist to see the Bigger Dick Foreign Policy Theory at work. It goes like this: 'What? They have bigger dicks? Bomb them!' And of course, the bombs, the rockets, and the bullets are all shaped like penises. Phallic weapons. There's an unconscious need to project the national penis into the affairs of others. It's called 'fucking with people'. So as far as I'm concerned, that whole thing in the Persian Gulf was nothing more than one big dick-waving cockfight. In this particular case, Saddam Hussein questioned the size of George Bush's dick. And George Bush had been called a wimp for so long, he apparently felt the need to act out his manhood fantasies by sending America's white children to kill other people's brown children. Even his name, 'Bush', as slang, is related to the genitals without being the genitals. A bush is sort of a passive, secondary sex characteristic. It's even used as a slang term for women: 'Hey, pal, how's the bush in this area?' I can't help thinking, if this president's name had been George Boner...well, he might have felt a little better about himself, and he wouldn't have had to kill all those children. Too bad he couldn't locate his manhood."
Of course, making fun of heterosexual masculinity (or what passes as such in this society), is like shooting fish in a barrel. So I'll do it too.
Growing up in Korea, my parents and the adults around me did give me an impression of what it meant to "be a man"... just like in America, we were given standards to live up to. This was when I was quite young, but I remember being impressed upon that to be considered masculine was to act responsibly, honorably, and respectful towards others. Not that these traits were not expected of women: I think that those were the expectations put upon all mature, grown-up individuals in Korea... and in my male case, to be considered masculine was to become a mature person. Which is not to say that there are no prescribed gender roles that people face in Korean society, but the standards of attractive character that people aspire to live up to there are not so dependent on gender. Mature is sexy, if that makes any sense.
So it was something of a change for me, to move to a society where I was considered more on the effeminate side, if I were to act in a reasonably well-behaved, respectful manner. In order to be considered manly here, I'd have to work far harder than that: I would have to be forceful, assertive, and domineering. I would have show others my burgeoning confidence by being cocky and nonchalant, to the point of being irresponsible. I would have to be aggressive and territorial, in order to prove to the whole world my towering manhood. I would have to disrespect certain portions of the population, such as women and gays. These people, I would have to bring into submission.
Well, I never did like trying to live up to the standards of others, and having to change to American standards after moving here was too much. So, I kept my old Korean standards, and I settled for the emasculated image that came along with it here. And that was ok... I'm still busy working towards being a Korean man someday.
note: Galwang also recommends more Fromm.
