Yesterday, on my way home from a used bookstore (one of my favorite places) I saw a bumper sticker that intruiged me. It said:
Naturally, this brought to mind other "real men" claims such as "real men cry" (or don't cry, depending on who you ask), "real men wear pink," "real men wear purple" and any other "real men" claim you of which you can think.What do these claims imply? Surely not all "real men" do these things, and surely there are some who cry not, wear pink, etc, who are not "real men" (whatever does that phrase mean anyway?).
And do these claims further imply that if anyone wears a kilt or cries or wears pink that they are a "real man?" I know plenty of women who do these things (well, I don't know many who wear kilts).
Obviously if you have Scottish ancestry you oughtn't be ashamed of it, but why would anyone otherwise have cause to wear a kilt? And even if you are part Scottish what would it accomplish to do such a thing?
All of these wonderings from one little bumper sticker. What are your thoughts, kilt wearers? readers?
Curious,
Sophie
Maybe they are secretly embarrassed to wear a kilt, so they are really telling themselves that it is okay.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what it is about all the "real men..." statements.
I think the more appropriate phrase in most cases would be "real men aren't afraid/ashamed to...." because that's the point I think the people are trying to make.
ReplyDeleteI'll take as an example the phrase "real men cry." In this case, the sentiment is that men shouldn't be afraid that people will think they're weak, feminine, or "sissy" if they dare to show emotion-- but better phrasing would be that "real men aren't afraid to cry." Some "real men" don't cry, for whatever the reason, though they may be perfectly willing to show emotion in appropriate circumstances.
Personally, I think it would be pretty neat to know a bagpipe-playing man who wasn't afraid to wear a kilt sometimes to show pride in his Scottish heritage. :)