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All hail the rise of cat men, an antidote to toxic masculinity (1 Viewer)

Peyton Marino

Footballguy
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-11/the-rise-of-cat-men-antidote-to-toxic-masculinity/8082618

I tried to copy and paste the text into this post, but there were too many pictures of "guys" holding cats interspersed in with the article to make it practical.  

Here is the premise:

An online movement of men is shrugging off the stereotype that 'cats are for girls' and flaunting their affinity for kitties, writes Hayley Gleeson. And they're giving others permission to embrace a gentler, more thoughtful kind of masculinity.
What say you?

 
I have a friend from Australia, married am American girl, became a US citizen and all that.  They have a couple kids, the youngest is a 5 year old boy.  A few weeks ago, his wife posted on the Facebook about how the kid liked to punch and kick the inflatable snowman Christmas decoration on their front lawn asking, "why do boys like to kick stuff all the time?". My response was, "no lie, I kind of want to kick it too".  

My friends Aussie sister went on a rant about how western society is so violent, especially including our movie and cartoon characters (kid is rightfully into the Avengers series).

Anyways, I thought it an odd rant.  Seeing this article about 'toxic masculinity' coming from Australia makes me wonder if there is something weird going on down under.

 
I have a friend from Australia, married am American girl, became a US citizen and all that.  They have a couple kids, the youngest is a 5 year old boy.  A few weeks ago, his wife posted on the Facebook about how the kid liked to punch and kick the inflatable snowman Christmas decoration on their front lawn asking, "why do boys like to kick stuff all the time?". My response was, "no lie, I kind of want to kick it too".  

My friends Aussie sister went on a rant about how western society is so violent, especially including our movie and cartoon characters (kid is rightfully into the Avengers series).

Anyways, I thought it an odd rant.  Seeing this article about 'toxic masculinity' coming from Australia makes me wonder if there is something weird going on down under.
There is something weird going on and it's not just down under. The idea that there is something inherently wrong with being male is the problem. They can shove their 'toxic masculinity' up there ****.

 
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I have a friend from Australia, married am American girl, became a US citizen and all that.  They have a couple kids, the youngest is a 5 year old boy.  A few weeks ago, his wife posted on the Facebook about how the kid liked to punch and kick the inflatable snowman Christmas decoration on their front lawn asking, "why do boys like to kick stuff all the time?". My response was, "no lie, I kind of want to kick it too".  
Nice. Did that line work?

 
I have a dog now, but once my kids go to college and I leave my wife, I'm definitely getting a new cat if you know what I mean.   Maybe multiple cats.

 
The single most important question I ask candidates when interviewing for my company is whether they are a dog or cat person.  I refuse to hire any cat people, they almost never work out.  Now, I'm in sales so this isn't a blanket statement as I'm sure there are plenty of jobs out there cat people do well at but sales isn't one of  them.

 
I have a friend from Australia, married am American girl, became a US citizen and all that.  They have a couple kids, the youngest is a 5 year old boy.  A few weeks ago, his wife posted on the Facebook about how the kid liked to punch and kick the inflatable snowman Christmas decoration on their front lawn asking, "why do boys like to kick stuff all the time?". My response was, "no lie, I kind of want to kick it too".  

My friends Aussie sister went on a rant about how western society is so violent, especially including our movie and cartoon characters (kid is rightfully into the Avengers series).

Anyways, I thought it an odd rant.  Seeing this article about 'toxic masculinity' coming from Australia makes me wonder if there is something weird going on down under.
So guys from Australia don't punch things, huh.

 
I have a dog now, but once my kids go to college and I leave my wife, I'm definitely getting a new cat if you know what I mean.   Maybe multiple cats.
Your wife is an ugly ##### and you want to divorce her so you can sleep with another woman, maybe even a few women. Right?

 
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There is something weird going on and it's not just down under. The idea that there is something inherently wrong with being male is the problem. They can shove their 'toxic masculinity' up there ****.
I can't like this enough. 

We've medicalized youthful maleness and imprisoned the older ones. 

Orange is not the new black, it's the new male.  

 
Christina Hoff Sommers was writing about this back in the '90s.

We now have a 61-39 undergrad disparity in college (women/men). And YET WE STILL wonder what's wrong with girls and math and science. 

Seems like they're doing quite well, actually.  
As a high school teacher, all I can say is boys are mostly embarrassing. Females dominate them in every way. Even female fights are more legit. If two guys are fighting and I walk up, they pretty much just break it up themselves. If 2 girls are fighting, they will rip out every last strand of hair before they physically get pulled away, they will swing on me, it's all in.

 
I know a cat guy.  He is single and a bit of a slob.  I know another cat guy and he married his high school sweetheart who dominates him in almost every way.

I don't know what I'm trying to say, but there are two examples of cat guy's who are nothing that I aspire to be.

 
As a high school teacher, all I can say is boys are mostly embarrassing. Females dominate them in every way. Even female fights are more legit. If two guys are fighting and I walk up, they pretty much just break it up themselves. If 2 girls are fighting, they will rip out every last strand of hair before they physically get pulled away, they will swing on me, it's all in.
I'd totally agree with you, and I think it starts with Western society and democracy, which Nietzsche called a slave mentality and Mencken then chimed in that Christianity had never benefitted a class (women) who had so little use for it.  

 
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I know a cat guy.  He is single and a bit of a slob.  I know another cat guy and he married his high school sweetheart who dominates him in almost every way.

I don't know what I'm trying to say, but there are two examples of cat guy's who are nothing that I aspire to be.
You are trying to say there is a correlation between men that own cats and men that are losers but because you are deep down a bit of a cat person yourself, you couldn't just come out and say it. 

 
I'd totally agree with you, and I think it starts with Western society and democracy, which Nietzsche called a slave mentality and Mencken then chimed in that Christianity had never benefitted a class (women) who had so little use for it.  
I don't know why (biological, cultural, other) but I am pleasantly surprsied when I get a male student worth a damn and surprised when I get a female student that isn't. Sports might be the only thing men are better at. 

 
I don't know why (biological, cultural, other) but I am pleasantly surprsied when I get a male student worth a damn and surprised when I get a female student that isn't. Sports might be the only thing men are better at. 
The VOAGS also. And the extreme ends of the intellect spectrum, which Larry Summers got run out of academia during his stay at Harvard for pointing out. 

Common (yet unspoken among psychometricians) is that women tend towards the Bell Curve, men set the ends. That might be your problem.  

 
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I don't know why (biological, cultural, other) but I am pleasantly surprsied when I get a male student worth a damn and surprised when I get a female student that isn't. Sports might be the only thing men are better at. 
I found this article interesting:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/02/the-boys-at-the-back/

Boys score as well as or better than girls on most standardized tests, yet they are far less likely to get good grades, take advanced classes or attend college. Why? A study coming out this week in The Journal of Human Resources gives an important answer. Teachers of classes as early as kindergarten factor good behavior into grades — and girls, as a rule, comport themselves far better than boys.

 
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The VOAGS also. And the extreme ends of the intellect spectrum, which Larry Summers got run out of academia during his stay at Harvard for pointing out. 
it is amazing how many people misunderstood (or more probably, didn't try to understand) what he was trying to say here.

 
I found this article interesting:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/02/the-boys-at-the-back/

Boys score as well as or better than girls on most standardized tests, yet they are far less likely to get good grades, take advanced classes or attend college. Why? A study coming out this week in The Journal of Human Resources gives an important answer. Teachers of classes as early as kindergarten factor good behavior into grades — and girls, as a rule, comport themselves far better than boys.
It's Christina Hoff. She's been at the forefront of this problem for so long and done yeoman's work advocating for boys in academia, long before we realized we had a problem.  

 
The VOAGS also. And the extreme ends of the intellect spectrum, which Larry Summers got run out of academia during his stay at Harvard for pointing out. 

Common (yet unspoken among psychometricians) is that women tend towards the Bell Curve, men set the ends. That might be your problem.  
That's true, there are way more males receiving special ed than females. 

 
I found this article interesting:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/02/the-boys-at-the-back/

Boys score as well as or better than girls on most standardized tests, yet they are far less likely to get good grades, take advanced classes or attend college. Why? A study coming out this week in The Journal of Human Resources gives an important answer. Teachers of classes as early as kindergarten factor good behavior into grades — and girls, as a rule, comport themselves far better than boys.
I can only speak at the high school level as it is all I have ever taught but behavior does not factor into grading in anyway other than females pay more attention in class, participate more in class, are more likely to study, more likely to do their work, more likely to try, etc. I definitely don't think the males are less intelligent. They are less mature, take things less seriously, are less organized, etc. Obviously this is all a bit of an overgeneralization. 

 
it is amazing how many people misunderstood (or more probably, didn't try to understand) what he was trying to say here.
It is amazing. It was also dangerous what he said in his position, because he started getting into the natural effects of heritable IQ, which is verboten in certain circles, especially at an Ivy. Even bringing it up is like a (and I quote John Madden's Lunchbox here for the nature of it) a wet fart at a dinner party. 

You just don't do it.  

But you're right. If we're interested in the real truth, perhaps it needs examining. 

 
I have three cats.  I would spit roast the first within minutes of any real crisis, and then (if it came to it) die of hunger alongside my dog. 

 
I can only speak at the high school level as it is all I have ever taught but behavior does not factor into grading in anyway other than females pay more attention in class, participate more in class, are more likely to study, more likely to do their work, more likely to try, etc. I definitely don't think the males are less intelligent. They are less mature, take things less seriously, are less organized, etc. Obviously this is all a bit of an overgeneralization. 
I think you are correct in your observation, and it's pointed out in the article as well. The question is, what's being done to help these kids?

"If boys are restless and unfocused, why not look for ways to help them do better? As a nation, can we afford not to? A few decades ago, when we realized that girls languished behind boys in math and science, we mounted a concerted effort to give them more support, with significant success. Shouldn’t we do the same for boys?

WHAT might we do to help boys improve? For one thing, we can follow the example of the British, the Canadians and the Australians. They have openly addressed the problem of male underachievement. They are not indulging boys’ tendency to be inattentive. Instead, they are experimenting with programs to help them become more organized, focused and engaged. These include more boy-friendly reading assignments (science fiction, fantasy, sports, espionage, battles); more recess (where boys can engage in rough-and-tumble as a respite from classroom routine); campaigns to encourage male literacy; more single-sex classes; and more male teachers (and female teachers interested in the pedagogical challenges boys pose)."

 
I think you are correct in your observation, and it's pointed out in the article as well. The question is, what's being done to help these kids?

"If boys are restless and unfocused, why not look for ways to help them do better? As a nation, can we afford not to? A few decades ago, when we realized that girls languished behind boys in math and science, we mounted a concerted effort to give them more support, with significant success. Shouldn’t we do the same for boys?

WHAT might we do to help boys improve? For one thing, we can follow the example of the British, the Canadians and the Australians. They have openly addressed the problem of male underachievement. They are not indulging boys’ tendency to be inattentive. Instead, they are experimenting with programs to help them become more organized, focused and engaged. These include more boy-friendly reading assignments (science fiction, fantasy, sports, espionage, battles); more recess (where boys can engage in rough-and-tumble as a respite from classroom routine); campaigns to encourage male literacy; more single-sex classes; and more male teachers (and female teachers interested in the pedagogical challenges boys pose)."
I don't know....seems easier to just give them a cat.

 
I think you are correct in your observation, and it's pointed out in the article as well. The question is, what's being done to help these kids?

"If boys are restless and unfocused, why not look for ways to help them do better? As a nation, can we afford not to? A few decades ago, when we realized that girls languished behind boys in math and science, we mounted a concerted effort to give them more support, with significant success. Shouldn’t we do the same for boys?

WHAT might we do to help boys improve? For one thing, we can follow the example of the British, the Canadians and the Australians. They have openly addressed the problem of male underachievement. They are not indulging boys’ tendency to be inattentive. Instead, they are experimenting with programs to help them become more organized, focused and engaged. These include more boy-friendly reading assignments (science fiction, fantasy, sports, espionage, battles); more recess (where boys can engage in rough-and-tumble as a respite from classroom routine); campaigns to encourage male literacy; more single-sex classes; and more male teachers (and female teachers interested in the pedagogical challenges boys pose)."
We are indeed lagging behind the Western world in this. The British were addressing this as early as the '90s in order to get men off the dole and seeing what feminist-friendly policies had done to their economy. The Aussies picked up on this, and New Zealand is not far behind. 

We need to do something about this. I'm not an MRA guy, but a 60-40 disparity at the higher education level mixed with the migrant nature of manufacturing jobs is a disaster.  

 
I think you are correct in your observation, and it's pointed out in the article as well. The question is, what's being done to help these kids?

"If boys are restless and unfocused, why not look for ways to help them do better? As a nation, can we afford not to? A few decades ago, when we realized that girls languished behind boys in math and science, we mounted a concerted effort to give them more support, with significant success. Shouldn’t we do the same for boys?

WHAT might we do to help boys improve? For one thing, we can follow the example of the British, the Canadians and the Australians. They have openly addressed the problem of male underachievement. They are not indulging boys’ tendency to be inattentive. Instead, they are experimenting with programs to help them become more organized, focused and engaged. These include more boy-friendly reading assignments (science fiction, fantasy, sports, espionage, battles); more recess (where boys can engage in rough-and-tumble as a respite from classroom routine); campaigns to encourage male literacy; more single-sex classes; and more male teachers (and female teachers interested in the pedagogical challenges boys pose)."
 I get what you are saying Person in the Yellow Hat, we need to cater school to boys. We can't expect guys to just do their school work and do well in school unless we make it extra special just for them. 

 
 I get what you are saying Person in the Yellow Hat, we need to cater school to boys. We can't expect guys to just do their school work and do well in school unless we make it extra special just for them. 
Wait, Ilov. Hasn't there been a direct curriculum and systemic change in order to serve girls better. Remember the critical and political acclimation Reviving Ophelia got? I mean, this isn't a zero-sum game necessarily, but people have treated it that way. 

Systemic and curriculum changes need to be made, or we're going lag behind other societies.  

 
 I get what you are saying Person in the Yellow Hat, we need to cater school to boys. We can't expect guys to just do their school work and do well in school unless we make it extra special just for them. 
You're looking at it from a high school perspective (the grade level you teach, and your use of the word "guys"). MITYH is talking about grade school (his use of the word "boys", using extra recess to help).

But we've been making things extra-special for girls for years now. Why not make things extra-special for boys? Especially if it helps them out.

 
You're looking at it from a high school perspective (the grade level you teach, and your use of the word "guys"). MITYH is talking about grade school (his use of the word "boys", using extra recess to help).

But we've been making things extra-special for girls for years now. Why not make things extra-special for boys? Especially if it helps them out.
That was put much more eloquently than I did. 

Thank you.  

 

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