“Too Much Estrogen”? HuffPo Sets It Straight

Last updated on: January 14, 2014 at 12:30 pm by Libby Anne

“Too Much Estrogen”? HuffPo Sets It Straight 2014-01-14T12:30:41-04:00 Libby Anne

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’ve felt for quite some time that many men are so used to male domination that gender equality feels to them like female domination. Do you know what these men don’t have? The experience of living as a woman in a world that is in many ways still very male dominated. Just like white people frequently don’t notice an absence of diversity in a movie while people of color will generally be keenly aware of that absence, even so men are frequently unaware of just how male dominated so many things still are because, as men, it’s not something they automatically notice. For women, well, it’s something that’s hard to miss.

I don’t usually do this, but I just have to share a HuffPo article titled “‘Too Much Estrogen’: The Golden Globes, Chris Christie and Men Who Don’t Want to Share Culture.” This article uses the response to the Golden Globes as an example of these processes I described above in action.

Brit Hume thinks Chris Christie is paying for a “feminized atmosphere,” in which his naturally tough guy (read: male) behavior has been erroneously cast as bullying. Meanwhile, the NY Post’s film critic Kyle Smith’s take on the Golden Globes was that there was just “too much estrogren.” These are just this weekend’s examples of men having a hard time-sharing culture. Sounds an awful lot like my 3-year-old brother, who used to chant, “Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!!!”

“Guys [like Christie] who are masculine and muscular like that in their private conduct, kind of old-fashioned tough guys,” explains Hue, “Run some risks.” Like being considered massive jerks. Feminists and women are ruining the fun that people have being thuggish and getting away with it. All that being required to be civil, polite, empathetic and considerate is so horribly emasculating. If only women would stop talking so much.

Smith, in the meantime, thinks that the Globes should have just been called “Girls.” Eww. The event, he explains, “was a deep dive into a pool of estrogen.” This is unsurprising, but his response is not uncommon when it comes to perceptions of gender and visibility. This is like my friend, with whom I share a great liking for many HBO series that are almost uniformly dominated by men’s stories, explaining without a shred of irony that “Orange is the New Black” simply has too many women for him to be interested in watching.

You can’t argue with the way people feel. Hume and Smith are not my dinner companions, however and you can argue against perpetuating destructive myths. Between them, Fox News and the New York Post reach tens of millions of people who have just been misinformed by poor framing and false equivalencies.

The Globes red carpet and crowd shots suggested a nice gender parity, everyone seemed to have a spouse or a date, usually of the opposite sex. There were a lot of glamorous and talented women. And they talked.

Horrors.

But, the night was a celebration of an industry in which women are remarkably discriminated against, hypersexualized, and subjected to double standards regarding how they look, age, paid and invested in. Yes, there’s that uncomfortable phrase, “discriminated against.”

First, let’s put Smith’s disgust in context.

Read the rest

The rest of the article contains fascinating information and is well worth the read.

Feminism

Previous Post

January 14, 2014

Just Whose "Freedom" Is HSLDA Defending?

Next Post

January 15, 2014 Raising Little Terrorists: Threats and Ultimatums Gone Wrong

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atheism Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism Family Feminism Homeschool Meta Parenting Patriarchy Politics Purity Quiverfull Social Justice Uncategorized Worthwhile reads

Select a Month February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who killed Goliath?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jonathan Samson Saul David