Machoman's Androgyny

Macho (Machismo) men in current society are not macho men they used to be. They are running towards Androgyny rather than Machismo. What happened to them? Did they finally realize that egotistical, self-centred, control freaks will not do the job? Did they find out that everybody eventually started to turn away from them?
How ironical it is that Village People sang a song called ‘Macho Man’, in 1978. The song is about a male body, the macho body.

“Jogging in the mornings, go man go
works out in the health spa, muscles glow."

Is this really an accurate portrait of the masculinity in 1970’s society? Where is that typical macho man that displays a rejection of bodily maintenance and self-care, in order to express the masculinity? Perhaps, that macho man we used to picture in our head is just an illusion.
After all, Macho man has his soft spot. His Body…

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Macho Man

Body...wanna feel my body?
Body...such a thrill my body
Body...wanna touch my body?
Body...it's too much my body
Check it out my body, body.
Don't you doubt my body, body.
talkin' bout my body, body,
check it out my body

Every man wants to be a macho macho man
to have the kind of body, always in demand
Jogging in the mornings, go man go
works out in the health spa, muscles glow
You can best believe that, he's a macho man
ready to get down with, anyone he can

Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey!
Macho, macho man (macho man)
I've got to be, a macho man
Macho, macho man
I've got to be a macho! Ow....

Macho, macho man
I've got to be, a macho man
Macho, macho man (yeah, yeah)
I've got to be a macho!

Body, its so hot, my body,
Body, love to pop my body,
Body, love to please my body,
Body, don't you tease my body,
Body, you'll adore my body,
Body, come explore my body,
Body, made by God, my body,
Body, it's so good, my body

You can tell a macho, he has a funky walk
his western shirts and leather, always look so boss
Funky with his body, he's a king
call him Mister Eagle, dig his chains
You can best believe that, he's a macho man
likes to be the leader, he never dresses grand

Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey!
Macho, macho man
I've got to be, a macho man
Macho, macho man
I've got to be a macho! (all right)

Macho, macho man (yeah, yeah)
I've got to be, a macho man
Macho, macho man
I've got to be a macho! All Right!

Ugh! Macho..baby!
Body, body, body wanna feel my body,
Body, body, body gonna thrill my body,
Body, body, body don'tcha stop my body,
Body, body, body it's so hot my body,

Every man ought to be a macho macho man,
To live a life of freedom, machos make a stand,
Have their own life style and ideals,
Possess the strength and confidence, life's a steal,
You can best believe that he's a macho man
He's a special person in anybody's land.

Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey!
Macho, macho man (macho man)
I've got to be, a macho man
Macho, macho man
I've got to be a macho! (dig the hair on my chest)

Macho, macho man (see my big thick mustache)
I've got to be, a macho man
Macho, macho man
I've got to be a macho! (Dig broad shoulders)

Macho, macho man (dig my muscles!)
I've got to be, a macho man
Macho, macho man
I've got to be a macho!

Macho, macho man
I've got to be, a macho man
Macho, macho man
I've got to be a macho! HEY!
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p.s. There's ongoing radio documentary on BBC called "MachoMan". Check it Out!

Melancholy of Sickness

Blushings on my cheeks, a little bit pale forehead and watery glassy eyes…
Sickness improves my melancholiness and appearance…
There’s something about being sick and being melancholy. It’s not the sympathy from others. It’s not the sympathy from yourself either. It’s more of a mechanical switch, which has been turned on. Clearer thoughts go through my mind with my sickness and my melancholy. Resulting in tendency to look inwards rather than outwards. How healthy is being melancholy?!?!? I think it's ok to be in ‘romantic agony’.

‘Gradually, the tubercular look, which symbolized an appealing vulnerability, a superior sensitivity, became more and more the ideal look for women – while great men of the mid and late nineteenth century grew fat, founded industrial empires, wrote hundreds of novels, made wars, and plundered continents.’ – Illness as Metaphor, Susan Sontag –

Men of these days being FAT??? They should sign up for a gym membership quickly before other people find out.

Healthy Life-Style = Threats to Masculinity

Is our (MEN!!!) masculinity in threat?
As the Society became more health conscious, a healhty life style has been promoted through out the society. In these days, even MEN are health conscious, inside-out. How does that effect the traditional notion of masculinity? Does METROSEXUAL, threats(?) to replace the traditional notion of masculinity? Are Women becoming more masculine than MEN in current contemporary society?

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Gender Differences in Perceptions on Health Values and Healthy Lifestyle
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- Perception on health values is obscure concepts that have many influential aspects around them. Therefore, it is quiet hard to define its characteristics. Among these obscure characteristics, one of the most interesting concepts that relates closely to health values is the healthy lifestyle. It seems that the concept of a healthy lifestyle has merged deeply into our culture, becoming part of the cultural movement. One’s so called a healthy lifestyle is eating organic foods, going to a yoga session after work and taking your alternative medicines to balance your dietary. However, this so called a healthy life style is not a concept that can be defined so easily. A healthy lifestyle can be eating one meal a day or eating three meals a day, depending on a person’s perception on what is regarded as healthy. Many factors influence one’s perception on health. Among them, a gender plays an interesting role in determining one’s perception on health. It is a well-known phenomenon that males have lower life expectancy comparison to females. Large number of studies suggested that the lower life expectancy of males is due to their less healthy lifestyle and less engagement with health-prompting behaviours. Further, these “less healthy lifestyle” and “less health-prompting behaviours” seems to be results of a traditional social portrait of masculinity. A rejection of bodily maintenance and self-care, in order to express the masculinity is a key element of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ that has been suggested by some studies.(Bunton & Crawshaw 2002) However, as a social perception on masculinity changes through out a period of time, the males’ masculine identity tend to change with it. Thus, this change has a large impact on males’ perception on health values and healthy lifestyle.
- Two aspects of this general phenomenon are the main interest of this research.
First, a general changes in social perception on masculinity and its influences on males’ health values and their perception on a healthy lifestyle.
Second, a conflict resolution between a social trend (?) of healthy lifestyle and its threat to males’ masculine identity.
- Various forms of research will take place, such as a brief interviewing, a small social experiment and film viewings.


Bibliography

Bunton, Robin & Burrows, Roger: Consumption and health in the ‘epidemiological’ clinic of late modern medicine. In: The Sociology of Health Promotion. Critical analyses of consumption, lifestyle and risk, pp. 206-222. Ed. R. Bunton, S. Nettleton & R. Burrows. Routledge, London 1995.

Bunton, Robin & Crashaw, Paul: Risk, ritual and ambivalence in men’s lifestyle magazines. In: The Commodification of Health Care, pp 187-203. Ed Henderson S. & Petersen A. Routledge, London 2002.

Butler, George: Pumping Iron, 1977.

Von Lengerke, Thomas: Health Policy Perception and Health Behaviours: A Multilevel Analysis and Implications for Public Health Psychology, Journal of Health Psychology, Vol. 9, No. 1, 157-175 (2004).

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'Greater masculinity usually brings greater social status for males, and many English words such as virtue (from the Latin vir for "man'", also used in words such as vim and vigor and virulent) reflect this, implying a clear association with strength.' - from Wikipedia on "masculinity" -

Rhizomes, Not Trees!!!

No trees required in this posting...
It's purely rhizome driven rhizome driven posting that will drive into rhizomic chaos. Our consciousness has no start no end. Although, it is perceived as if it starts with our life and ends with our life, unconscious consciousness drives large part of our lives. Where does it start? How far our memories go back to remember the start of our consicousness? Do our brains consciously forgot about the start point of our consciousness? Only more questions are arised as our consciousness dashes towards end of its life span.