Now and then we wonder who the real men are

I do some talking-much of it tongue-in-cheek, but some of it serious-around here about, for lack of better words, "girlishness" and "boyishness." It's something that's important to me on many levels and in many ways.

In my entertainment, I like smart, headstrong female characters (see: Hermione in the Potter movies). I also like these qualities in my friends and lovers. I hope those of you who've been reading this blog for a while would agree that my liking for those qualities is reflected in many of the posts in it.

Of course, they're also what I like to write, and have always liked to write, in my female characters. Something that I really like about writing Keitha, Annabel and Colley is that to different degrees, all of them are about the masculine in the feminine, and vice-versa.

As I discussed recently, one of my favorite television shows is Gilmore Girls, and Amy Sherman-Palladino one of my favorite television writers (going back to Roseanne). Lisa is my favorite Simpson. Like everybody else in America, I'm in love with Chloe on 24.

Yet as we've seen, I also bristle at the notion, seemingly held by some, that having a vagina automatically makes one better than having a penis. Related to this is what I perceive as an implication that no woman has ever hurt a man, men have only hurt women.

I'm here to tell ya: It ain't necessarily so. In my life, no men have ever hurt me the way some women have.

Also, I dislike what I see as a victimization of feminism. Where on the one hand women claim to want to fight their own battles and take on men on their own terms. Yet too many of 'em can't wait to run to daddy when the going gets tough.

Please note I am not speaking of "all" or even "most," simply, "too many."

I am a straight, single man, with all (or at least much) that that implies. For instance, I can't see that a woman posing for Playboy, for example, is an inherently oppresive (or do I mean oppresed?) act. I'm not saying I think it's a freeing act either, as some might argue. I think a nude woman is a nude woman, and any political context is in the eye of the beholder.

I think Holly Hunter is one of the best actresses around, and one of the smartest in her choice of roles. I also think she's a babe, and have enjoyed her nude scenes on that basis. Must these be opposing views?

Anyway, to make a long story short (too late): What all this is in aid of is that Echidine has a good entry in her blog on masculinity and femininity, and how we define them. I think you should go read it.

Now I'll leave you with this song by Joe Jackson...