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« Maybe Christian Science is on to something | Main | Blurb Racket »

And sometimes a cigar is a metaphor

Schwarzeneger_hummerA new study by a Cornell researcher has found that men whose masculinity is threatened are more likely to buy an SUV, support the war in Iraq, and gay-bash.

Obviously, these guys doth protest too much. They should just relax and get themselves a facial.

(via Eyeteeth)

Posted by Charles Star on 08/09/2005 | Permalink

Comments

i suspect it was a study by a gay researcher whose meager grant money income can only afford him a Ford Fiesta and who opposes the war.
(at Columbia? naaaaah.)

whats next?
a study that black people aren't good swimmers because their bones are too dense and they sink in water.

Posted by: hornsofthedevil | Aug 9, 2005 5:57:36 PM

Too close to the bone there, hornsofthedevil? (Also, Cornell and Columbia are two totally different schools.)

Posted by: Charles | Aug 9, 2005 6:02:49 PM

doh! i meant Cornell....
(damn you and your no editing option!)

its just an assisnine study from top to bottom. divisive pseudo science that tries to mask free will and affirm stereotypical thinking. whats his next one? that those who oppose the war are more likely to lie about an affair they had and habitually make unwanted sexual advances on strange women?

keep reaching.

Posted by: hornsofthedevil | Aug 9, 2005 6:09:30 PM

Yup, way too close to the bone.

Posted by: Jason Grote | Aug 10, 2005 11:55:32 AM

Nope, the research tends to support the massive demographic data that car manufacturers have collected over the years. For example, consider the chapter entitled "The Reptile Brain" from Keith Bradsher's "High and Mighty: The Dangerous Rise of the SUV", which discusses how auto manufacturer's marketing groups have indeed identified SUV owners as anti-neighbor, selfish, very ambivalent towards their children, self-centered, concerned about how others see them, etc., etc.

Posted by: Dean Costello | Aug 17, 2005 10:56:28 AM

I think anxiety about being manly enough drives a lot of consumer-type decisions. That is a hot button constantly being pushed by Madison Avenue. One must assume they do it for a reason, because advertisers are all about the bottom line.

Masculinity is a complicated construct. All sorts of things get associated with it: earning power, sexual attractiveness, power, the ability/willingness to do violence, etc.

There is so little rationale for the war that I think millions (especially men) support it just because they think it's important for America to stand up and fight. They don't even seem to care WHO we fight. It's just about proving how tough we are -- as if suicide bombers are going to be scared out of performing their horrific missions.

Posted by: Jon | Aug 17, 2005 6:07:02 PM

It took a study from Cornell to tell us this? I have known this for years...I mean, who hasn't? Any man who tells the truth would have been able to tell you this. I am in the Army, and it is the same thing. All the guys who consider themselves real "men" drive the big SUV's and smoke the cigars and talk about "fags", and all of us anti-war soldiers (kind of an oxymoron, no?) ride our bikes around base and don't smoke and are gay friendly, it is almost stereotypical. In my platoon alone, all of us progressive thinkers use macs, ride bikes, only one of us smokes, etc. I wonder how much money they blew on this "study"?

Posted by: James | Aug 19, 2005 10:03:13 AM

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