The Moronification of men due to Feminism

[Kewai]

Hello all,

I recently got an assignment at school to write an essay and I actually found the topic quite interesting. The topic was "The 'moronification' of men is a further sign that feminism has taken away male role models for adolescent boys". I just finished my essay, but thought it was a pretty interesting subject and would like to hear your opinions.

[depp]

You should post some of your essay so we can comment more. It sounds like an interesting topic.

[Kewai]

Hehe, well it is a small little essay (Approx. 500 words). I dont really like the quality of it myself, but I guess I might as well post it.

Originally Posted by My Essay (Attempt)

In today's society, men are portrayed as idiots and morons and their place as role models for adolescent boys is becoming less predominant. A likely cause of these changes is feminism however; I believe that this is not the cause behind the moronification of male role models. I believe that the 'moronification' of men is due to better technology that detaches adolescent boys from their fathers and other male role models. I also believe that the fact that men work less labour intensive jobs also plays a role in the 'moronification' and the male role models decrease in importance.

Technology, such as the internet is an obvious cause of the decrease in importance of male role models. Today, young boys and teenagers will no longer look to their fathers for advice on potentially embarrassing questions or just help with homework. They will turn to the internet and search engines such as 'Google'. A study recently published in The New Zealand Herald concluded that nowadays when someone is asked an unknown question their immediate reaction is to 'Google it'. Social media has also meant that adolescents can turn to many other people for help when they are stuck with homework or personal problems. From personal experience, I have seen my peers ask for help with certain homework through the social network 'Facebook'. These questions are questions that have previously been directed towards parents before the use of the internet.

A decline of masculinity is clearly a reason why men are seen as 'morons' and adolescent boys look up to them less. Men are becoming less masculine as they switch to less labour intensive, 'desk jobs'. In the past, men would head out and chop firewood, fix the roof or even replace a tyre. However, as men have slowly stopped doing jobs such as working in meat works or a lumber mill they have become less accustomed to hands on lifestyle. This change has moronified the previously useful male art of a hands on approach of fixing things. This is obviously a reason why male role models are less predominant to male adolescents. Boys will no longer look up to their fathers, as they are not seen as strong and in charge and may be seen as boring or 'wimpy'.

However, advertisements depicting men as useless and stupid may also be to blame, and feminism may be a cause of these advertisements. Advertisements on televisions depict fathers and other males as morons, people that would not be able to live their life if it were not for the help of their woman companions. This media and advertising definitely ruins the role of the male role model and is likely to be caused by feminism. However, this type of advertising could in fact be caused by past and present sexism to woman! The woman has and still is to a certain extent the person who does the shopping for the household and picks the children up from school. The Advertising could not be caused from feminism at all; it could and most likely is caused by firms trying to advertise to their primary market, the simple-minded housewife. By making the housewife feel valued, the firm may be more likely to make more sales and in return gain more profit.

In Conclusion, I strongly disagree that feminism has caused the male role model to become less important to adolescent boys. It is obviously the cause of social media and the switch to desk jobs.

Please note: these are not specifically not my views. Expecially the part of "Simple minded housewife" I was just trying to get my point across quickly as we had a word limit o.O

In my own personal opinion, yes, Feminism has led to the moronification of men (Both in image and in practicality).

I hope that the quality wasnt to bad

[PollyThunder]

This is all just speculation, and you don't have a lot of evidence linking the two.
All in all a very weak argument.

[Kewai]

Originally Posted by PollyThunder

This is all just speculation, and you don't have a lot of evidence linking the two.
All in all a very weak argument.

Yeah, we didnt have time to build an arguement, we had less than one day of planning and writing(Well one lesson and homework that night), and we wernt allowed our sources when we were writing. So we couldent write it verry well . We had to write about it and this is the way we were told to do it iswell.

Thanks for your feedback though, I am more interested in the topic than my not so great writing

[doubledownrob]

Here's the problem... if i respond to this topic in the way that i want to, i will probably end up doubling your essay length, without even really trying. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you did what you could with a throughly shitty essay prompt. It is bad writing in and of itself, but more importantly, it invites bad writing. For starters "moronification" is not a word. But most importantly, it implies the very condition it is asking you to write about. The section of the prompt that reads "... is a further sign..." means that by simply accepting the topic and writing about it, you are tacitly agreeing to the notion that feminism has already removed role models for adolescent males. Thus, it pushes the writer towards agreeing with the premise, as the alternative is to admit that either the "moronification" of men is either not feminism's fault, or that if it is, it does not remove role models. That's what we call a terrible prompt.

I'll grant, i was an arrogant bastard in high school, but i was also a champion debater. I'd have been tempted to return that prompt with a single page containing two sentences, "This is a stupid prompt, and a waste of my time and yours. Please try again." What i probably would have done is written 500 words rejecting the entire underlying premise of the prompt... and then called it stupid.

[Kewai]

Yeah, I will agree to the fact that the essay is short, we were put on a word limit and a small amount of time. I would have loved to have written more and gone into a more detailed argument, but I didnt have the time and definitially not the skill.

The question was not verry well worded and I did not belive it was verry good, but it counts towards my final grade, so I have to do it. I did not really start the thread for a response on my essay, but for more opinions on the starting questtion. The teachers based the question on this article from the sydney Morning Herald, however we were told not to refrence it

Originally Posted by Sydney Morning Herald, Charles Purcell

Welcome to adland, where all men are morons

It was a few years ago that I first noticed men were being depicted as idiots in advertising. I'd put the issue aside, but Sarah McKenzie's article about the sexism of the Brut aftershave campaign brought it all crashing back.

I have no doubt that women have historical and ongoing problems about their portrayal in advertising, particularly being sexually objectified. I remember such scandals as the sexist Windsor Smith shoe ads, which showed women placed close to men's crotches as if about to perform a lewd act. But along with the creeping sexualisation of women has come the creeping moronification of men. If the default position in advertising for women is sex object, then the default position for men is that of imbecile.

Men used to be depicted as heroic characters in ads, products being the rewards for their manly efforts. "You got to work it hard, to be a Solo man. You're gonna take the lead and let the others follow," crowed the voice-over as our champion braved rapids in a canoe to be rewarded with a frosty, refreshing Solo at the end. "You can get it walkin'! You can get it talkin! You can get it working a plough! Matter o' fact I've got it now! Victoria Bitter! . . ." went the beer ad, run along with images of hard-working men engaged in back-breaking, yet satisfying, endeavours, the VB being the prize for their labours.


Today's ads don't seem to give a tinker's cuss about the nobility of men's endeavours. Men are no longer heroes but consumers. Worse, they're idiots. They might as well be saying, "Hey, dickhead! We don't care about your job and who you are! You're a worthless, interchangeable cog in the capitalist system! Catch!" as a six-pack is hurtled towards some poor bloke's melon.

Just as the soul-destroying messages in women's magazines are crafted by their female staff, so too are the negative messages about men crafted overwhelming by men in advertising agencies. For some reason, they have deduced that delivering a psychic kick to men's testicles is the best way to sell a whole host of products.

"Darwin was right," our faceless adman might say, "men are descended from apes! APES!"

"So let's treat them as the knuckledraggers they are," his pony-tailed sidekick might respond.

So it goes. The evidence is everywhere. Take the hapless boyfriend in the feminine hygiene ads who is too stupid to know what a tampon is or who runs away to the bedroom and refuses to come out until his girlfriend stops talking about them. Or the sap who wonders what "being regular" means in that cereal commercial featuring comedian Julia Morris, only to be told he doesn't get it. (If he gets bowel cancer that'll teach him, the stupid fool.) Or the ads where men's love of cars is treated as some kind of male-specific mental illness, his wife/partner rolling her eyes as he waxes the hood. Or the insurance ad where the bloke wouldn't know his arse from his elbow if a cyclone wiped out his uninsured home — fortunately his clever wife is there to help the simpleton understand. Even that "small penis" anti-speeding ad demeans men . . . and quite frankly wants to make me speed even more in revenge.

(One suspects that advertising targeted at the rich and wealthy has a somewhat more respectful tone: "Hey moron! You've made millions in computer software! Now buy this Learjet, you unreconstructed ape!" is unlikely to work with Bill Gates and his ilk.)

Then there are the dads – those chumps stupid enough to provide for their family and perpetuate the human race. Ad after ad depicts dad as some kind of daggy embarrassment, a Neanderthal more comfortable in the shed working with his tools or back in the Stone Age. Thank God mum is here to meet all of our emotional needs, prepare our food and discuss important life issues in baffling code ("I found something in your room"). Need more proof? As my friend Graham suggested, just take a look at what is written on the back of one syrup tin: "Pancakes — easy enough for dad to try!". Men built the rockets that went to the moon, but in 2010 man is barely intelligent enough to open a tin of pancake syrup.

In fact, there used to be a Japanese sitcom whose title translates roughly to "Stupid Dad", the story of a middle-aged Japanese salaryman who works himself to death in the traditional Japanese manner, only to be regarded as an idiot by his wife and family.

That's how modern advertising regards men – as an ageing salaryman unworthy of respect and who will buy any crap, no matter how it is pitched at them. Surely we deserve better.

Charles Purcell is a Fairfax writer.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/societ...#ixzz1Z2h2H0X3

I will face that my essay was...well crap, but I didnt have the ability to improve.I actually quite like the topic and would like to hear what other people think.

[snup]

only a short reply because i have this this called work.

the "Moronification" and commercials is nothing to do with Feminism its to do with the industry proving how it is simple and easy to do, if you use "an airhead of a woman" you will encounter wrath, if you use a guy they wont make too much of a fuss, simple as that.

[Kewai]

Originally Posted by snup

only a short reply because i have this this called work.

the "Moronification" and commercials is nothing to do with Feminism its to do with the industry proving how it is simple and easy to do, if you use "an airhead of a woman" you will encounter wrath, if you use a guy they wont make too much of a fuss, simple as that.

Yep, But I had to write about this question, so I did. It is quite interesting, so is the whole sexisim debate etc. I dont know why, but love hearing peoples opinions on the topic It intrests me, even if I am not that great at it myself. And I totally agree to the fact that if the woman were portrayed as stupid or useless there would be an uproar but as a man not many people will care.

[doubledownrob]

I have two further points:

1. Don't feel bad if your essay was crap, that article was crap too.

2. What the fuck are they showing on television in Australia? The only thing i watch from Australia is Hawthorn Hawks football.

[Kewai]

Originally Posted by doubledownrob

I have two further points:

1. Don't feel bad if your essay was crap, that article was crap too.

2. What the fuck are they showing on television in Australia? The only thing i watch from Australia is Hawthorn Hawks football.

Haha, thanks. I actually got above average marks in my english exam yay, surprise . And I am not even from Australia, I don't see why the teachers chose a news article from there.