So here I was taking a break from studying, and decided to visit my favorite blog, feministing.com, and I have stumbled upon a real treasure, more specifically an article in Slate magazine entitled "Real Men Cry and Do Laundry: An anthropology of the new male self-improvement mags" by Greg Beato. This is EXACTLY what you are working on in your research papers :) So Beato claims that men are facing extinction, figuratively speaking or, as he puts it "Increasingly superfluous, they're now the human equivalents of newspapers: out-of-step with a changing world and struggling to stay relevant, in some limited fashion, before they disappear entirely." This writer goes on to liken men's magazines (Esquire, GQ, Maxim) to women's magazines, in regards to how they promote fashion and spout 'how to score' tips which are non conducive to "retool[ing] the American male." He seems to prefer the tips on The Art of Manliness, a blog set up, two years ago, by a husband and wife from Oklahoma, a link to which is available on our class blog. Check it out.
It seems to me, that Beato is nostalgic for the masculinity of the old days, though he doesn't actually state how he views/understands that which men have lost along with their jobs? He points out, that men's magazines serve a different purpose: " Men's magazines are idealized Edens of irresponsibility, hedonism, wistful dreaming, places where all the women are gorgeous and underdressed, all the booze is top-shelf and on the house, and life's greatest challenges involve nothing more pressing than how to infuse your pocket squares with a little more rebel attitude." Do you agree? This is worth thinking about as you complete your selection of primary sources in a men's magazine.
http://www.slate.com/id/2270063
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