em1913

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Posts by em1913

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  194

  Is Being a “Manly Man” a Bad Thing?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.

  shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.

  men should be less masculine.

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  em1913

  There are certainly some things in behavior that are the result of chemical interactions in the brain. One of the most fascinating things I ever heard was a radio interview with a female-to-male transsexual, who described the impact testosterone therapy had on his brain: he'd be sitting on the subway and he'd see some random guy and be consumed with thoughts of wanting to beat him up. He hadn't had a lifetime of learning to control those impulses, so it was an unexpected and difficult situation for him to have to handle, and hearing him describe the "rush" in his mind was fascinating.
  

  But sociologically we're a lot more complex than our brain chemistry, I change my own oil, set my own points (I have an old car), grease my own tie rods, and fix my own differential. I also sew my own clothes, cook my own food, and nurture my own kids. There is nothing "gendered" about any of this behavior other than the gendering that society gives it. The idea of a strict line between "masculine" and "feminine" is one of the myths that caused me to get wise to the WTS.
  
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  194

  Is Being a “Manly Man” a Bad Thing?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.

  shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.

  men should be less masculine.

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  3. 
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  em1913

  The phrase "toxic masculinity" doesn't even mean what most people think it means -- it was coined to refer to behaviors and attitudes that are toxic *to men themselves,* especially to the idealization of the repression and denial of emotion and to the idea that there is a strict line between "masculine" and "feminine" behavior that must never be crossed. That's *toxic masculinity,* because it sets a standard for so-called manhood that no man can possibly achieve. Or in JW terms, it's the DO MORE voice implanted in the back of your mind, where a goal is set that will never and can never be reached. Toxic.
  
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  58

  THIS IS IT Tony Morris Identifies King of Norht

  by scotoma in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is the announcement we have heard “about” but now it has been released to the whole world.

  its in the 2nd of a three part serries about the jw annual meeting (oct 2018).

  to minute 52. .

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  em1913

  Somewhere, F. W. Franz is saying SEE I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG.
  
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  194

  Is Being a “Manly Man” a Bad Thing?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.

  shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.

  men should be less masculine.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  em1913

  I knew a lot of WWII vets, and they weren't the swaggery "he man" type. One was an elder in my congregation -- a really kind, jovial man, and the one elder I genuinely liked. He'd been in the Pacific Theatre during the war, and he'd talk about how it was, how they'd drink hair tonic and Sterno as a way of killing the tension, that kind of thing, but he never glorified it as any kind of a Manly Rite of Passage. The analogy he used was "if you had bugs in your house, you'd do what you had to do to get rid of them. It wasn't glorious or noble, it was just something that had to be done." I'd consider him a true "manly man," simply because the thought of "manliness" as something you had to define was a thought he probably never had in his life. How he got to be an elder among the posing, posturing little twerps who surrounded him, I could never understand.
  
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  194

  Is Being a “Manly Man” a Bad Thing?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.

  shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.

  men should be less masculine.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  em1913

  Let's just say that my dear old man directed his sexual appetite in the wrong direction -- the family of the fifteen year old girl was not amused, nor were the police. And the aggression kind of wore thin about when I saw him chasing my mother around the kitchen table with a knife. (And this was way back before anybody talked about that ole bugaboo feminism, just to be clear. Pop was a man of his time, a time when knuckles were proudly dragged and us ladies knew our place.)
  
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  194

  Is Being a “Manly Man” a Bad Thing?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.

  shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.

  men should be less masculine.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  em1913

  Most of the "alpha males" I've come across have been alpha only in their own minds. More like epsilons striving impossibly for the delta, like those guys who waved their "ADMINISTRATION" ribbons in everybody's faces at the circuit assembly and then couldn't figure out how to get their car out of the parking lot when it was all over. My father had a lot of the qualities named above, especially the aggressiveness and the "sexual appetite," but all he ever got out of it was a dose of the clap. If that's "manly," then the world is better off without it.
  
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  194

  Is Being a “Manly Man” a Bad Thing?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.

  shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.

  men should be less masculine.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  em1913

  Certainly more so, in my definition than a, let's say, a flinty, clench-jawed Sgt. Rock type who goes into a snit over a TV commercial.
  
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  194

  Is Being a “Manly Man” a Bad Thing?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.

  shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.

  men should be less masculine.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  em1913

  I once knew an ultraflamboyant drag queen (you meet a far better class of friends once you get out of the WTS) who I'd call very "manly," if manly means having an unshakable confidence in who you are and the courage to be that person regardless of what those who live their lives in terrified quivering conformity to what they believe their "proper role" to be think they're entitled to say about it.
  
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  194

  Is Being a “Manly Man” a Bad Thing?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.

  shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.

  men should be less masculine.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  em1913

  The manliest man I ever heard of was Fred Rogers -- a man of absolute principle, of absolute kindness, and absolute confidence in his mission in life. If all men followed his example, the world would be a far better place. There's nothing manly about being an asshole.
  
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  37

  Mind Numbing Meetings

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  without a doubt, jw life is boring.

  and those meetings!

  5 congregation meetings, meetings for field service, elders meetings, judicial meetings, meetings to figure out who was qualified to clean the toilets....🤔.

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  em1913

  I hated the Thursday meetings with a passion. I worked till 6pm on those nights, and had just enough time to grab something at McDonalds and eat it in the car on the way to the meeting, only to get the side-eye from the elders because I didn't look "put together" enough to suit them.