July 30, 2013

Tina Brown's war on men: "End the Damn Dickmanship!"

She's not just railing against sexting, but against "testosterone," generally, as a driver of bad behavior.
The no-secrets era of social media makes one consider the built-in risk factor of nominating high-testosterone men to positions of power at all.... Perhaps we need some kind of sexual DUI test developed to tell us what is likely to happen when middle-aged libido meets a whiff of power.

And politics is not the only arena to require this test. 
She goes on to talk about some boat and train accidents, caused by cock, in her view. By contrast, there are women:
Think about some of our prominent women in Washington right now. Can you ever even imagine—forgive me, Secretary—Katherine Sebelius uploading a crotch shot of herself on Instagram? Or Janet Yellen ordering up male hookers during downtime at the Federal Reserve? It’s preposterous.
Can we imagine females causing sexual wreckage? A year ago, we were imagining Janet Napolitano "turning the department [of Homeland Security] into a female-run ‘frat house’ where male staffers were banished to the bathrooms and routinely humiliated." I would have forgotten that had Tina Brown's screed not reminded me.

Brown's pushing the old female superiority theory, which is the sexism that was once used to keep women out of politics and business. We're too delicate and too prissy to do what needs to be done. And what if it were a substance like testosterone — a liquid squirting through ducts — that could be extracted and measured and reported to voters and employers? Tina Brown says she wants that information, so we can discriminate. Imagine the world she suggests but doesn't really want us to imagine. Everyone gets a masculinity score, and we judge his/her fitness for power accordingly.

Ironically, Tina would probably score very high. How much testosterone fueled the headline "End the Damn Dickmanship!?

32 comments:

Bob Boyd said...

When you're a hammer, everything is a nail.

SGT Ted said...

Hey, those types of men are being supported and run for election by the Democrat Party power structure. When Republicans get caught with their wiener out, they usually have the good taste to resign in disgrace, and take it like a man.

I think there is an additional component of the expectation that the press will cover for any sexual scandals should a Democrat get caught in one and that women will "take one for the team".

The Clintons showed The Way, in order to maintain power.

Anonymous said...

I read an account of a man going through the pre surgery sex change routine. He reported a change in libido with the ingestion of female hormones. After his testes had been removed he went on to report an even greater decrease in libido. He said it was a great relief to him to not be affected by testosterone so profoundly anymore.

Who knows, perhaps testosterone levels should be kept in check for people in power. Or they should pop a BC pill now and again. Or they should point that great hulking libido toward their wives.

Ann Althouse said...

"Who knows, perhaps testosterone levels should be kept in check for people in power."

So... Pat Schroeder for Commander-in-Chief? But then, who's the next Commander-in-Chief? Putin?

Matt Sablan said...

The thing I don't get is -- why use Weiner as an example of, uh, "Dickmanship." The women he was involved with were not victims, per se. They were willingly flirting with a man they knew to be married. Heck, Spitzer hired prostitutes who were able to consent [theoretically, at least.] Speaking of Spitzer -- how did Brown miss that his opponent is the madam who hired out his prostitutes? It's like, a giant blind spot right there.

Filner, now, Filner had victims. I find odd that we're focusing on Weiner (he gets a big picture in the article), where women were bad actors as much as men, as opposed to a more prominent situation where the man -actually abused women.-

Then again, Tina Brown isn't exactly an intellectual heavy weight.

Oso Negro said...

It is interesting to reflect on the shifting boundaries our culture poses on the great continuum of human sexuality. While I can't say I approve of his politics, why on earth should Anthony Weiner be forced to confess and apologize for his apparentl compulsion to flirt with young women online? It seems a mild form of polyamory. Our society is actively mainstreaming far more unhealthy sexual practices. What if monogamy proves to be an institution which represses male (and some female) sexuality? Why can't we find a tolerant space for it?

Bob Boyd said...

IMO Weiner's testosterone level is neither here nor there. I know guys whose testoterone is off the charts, but they treat themselves and others, especially women, with respect at all times.
What probably happened is Anthony's mother spent too much time cooing over how cute his little wee-wee was when she was changing his diapers.

Bob Ellison said...

The world would be better with fewer young men in it. Better off, just fewer humans. Also, cats.

traditionalguy said...

When is aggressiveness and the testosterone that fuels aggressiveness become taboo?

The time is when the masculin Obama has become a lame duck and the feminine Hillary Clinton has become his anointed successor to the job of leader from behind.

Hillary can tell the usual Marxist lies while arranging a downsized military force that quits aggressive winning and does NASA type outreach helping Muslim jihadists to feel self esteem.

Ann Althouse said...

It shouldn't be the amount of testosterone that matters, but the way a person has channeled his masculine energy. Tina posits that we should want a constricted amount of testosterone in men, rather that that we should want men who have character and self-control and have been motivated into positive accomplishments.

chickelit said...

It's probably impossible to gauge the amount of damage that hormone-fuled PMS has wrought on the world behind the scenes. It's almost a verboten topic.

raf said...

The problem isn't testosterone levels, it is standards of behavior and expectations of being held to those standards. republican politicians are not likely inherently more virtuous than Democrats, but early on they will learn that they will be held to account if they cross certain lines, while Democrats learn that they will have a lot of help in avoiding repercussions. There is no feedback mechanism for moderating Democrat behavior.

David said...

Somewhere Helen of Troy is smiling.

Russell said...

Question: she's probably (hopefully) only half serious here. But lets imagine the outrage if Rush said anything remotely as focused on gender biology as it applies to behavior. I think we all know how that would turn out.

Russell said...

Question: she's probably (hopefully) only half serious here. But lets imagine the outrage if Rush said anything remotely as focused on gender biology as it applies to behavior. I think we all know how that would turn out.

Kirk Parker said...

Brown's examples are pathetic. Take Sebelius--totally corrupting her office without at least giving us the sideshow of sexual peccadilloes? Where's the upside in that?

bleh said...

AA believes (correctly) that testosterone's potential as a force of both creation and destruction is tremendous. It is therefore important for men to be influenced by their religion, their schooling, the moral teachings of their wives and mothers, etc. In other words, to be students of civil society who act responsibly and in the best interests of others.

AA also wants men to be more manly and intrepid: COME ON, WUSSY BOY, BE A MAN AND JUMP ONTO THE SUBWAY TRACKS AND SAVE THAT HOMELESS PERSON WHO FELL!

I think AA misses something of the old-fashioned masculinity. Manly but gentlemanly. Now it's okay for men to be overgrown teenagers who play video games and shirk responsibility.

High testosterone is a good thing, if we can control it.

Kevin said...

I am surprised they are blaming testosterone when it may in fact be estrogen that is driving this crisis.

If the rumors about Hillary and Huma are true, or really just Huma and anyone, then Weiner is her beard, and the marriage is an arrangement that "you can do x on the side as long as you don't get caught and threaten the money/power," similar to Jon and Kate Gosslin's loveless bargain. But Jon and Weiner blew their end of the deal by getting caught.

But at any rate, the actual cause isn't the male lust, but the female thwarting thereof. Or at least, it is such a distinct possibility that that is the the cause, that it is unwise to go out on the limb of blaming men only.

cubanbob said...

All of this testosterone talk is just a deflection, an avoidance of personal responsibility. In Corporate America these guys would have been kicked out the door in a heartbeat. What is interesting is that the three of them are natively pretty smart. Spritzer for sure must have scored really well on his SAT. Just goes to show that IQ and wisdom don't always go together. Tina Brown? Maybe she can run a piece comparing bitchiness versus testosterone.

AaronS said...

I wanted to comment on this post but never comment without at least reading the source material. So thanks for making me read Tina Brown.

Her essay is rather uninteresting, perhaps it could use some testosterone.

It's ridiculous to think or pretend that women do not engage in risky behavior. If Tine Brown thinks that is true it tells me she is unacquainted with a vast swathe of the female population.

chickelit said...

Spritzer for sure must have scored really well on his SAT.

"Spritzer" LOL!

How well do you know German, Bob?

Matt Sablan said...

"Now it's okay for men to be overgrown teenagers who play video games and shirk responsibility."

-- No, it isn't. Which is why men who do so are made fun of.

effinayright said...

Testosterone poisoning?

What about estrogen poisoning, as evinced by Hillary, Anna Wintour and Tina Brown herself?

IOW it's just more male-bashing from the femi-nazis.

Yawn.

William said...

Women make fools of themselves in somewhat different ways than men, but that doesn't mean that they are not fools....Perhaps Neville Chamberlain had too much estrogen and would have benefited from monkey gland injections......Maybe Huma's sticking by Weiner is just a function or her love and commitment and not a symptom of some kind of baroque sexuality on her part. It's possible. I've seen women stick with men far more disturbed than Weiner.

Michael said...

This makes for an interesting comparison with Victor Davis Hanson's piece this morning that sometimes we need larger than life men, and the inability to produce a Patton, a Churchill, a Lincoln is a serious flaw in a society.

cold pizza said...

Young men going through puberty learn to deal with the side effects of testosterone: risk taking, inexplicable rage, impulsive actions. They learn to control themselves and harness this power, channelling it into work. They also learn to keep their mouths shut and not to jump at the first hit of emotion. Testosterone teaches teenage boys to NOT jump at that emotional response. This then carries over into the "keep silent and carry on" mentality of adult males.

Those who learn to harness the horsepower become productive workers, good husbands and fathers. Those who let their hormones rule them end up like Weiner et al. -CP

cubanbob said...

Pollo enough to know he's a wienerspritzer. But seriously the guy really is very smart academically. Just not in real world matters.

Craig said...

Journalists need to be tested for performance enhancing drugs. If they hype they're banned for life.

Gahrie said...

We men really are bastards aren't we?

Forbes said...

Um, Weiner is 39, his resignation occurred when he was 37--and he acts not as a middle aged man, but as a teenager. Spitzer acted as someone above the law--the laws are for little people--when he first ran for public office, so no surprise there. Tina Brown's analysis is to lump these two jerks with all men. Note to Tina: if all men acted this way, you wouldn't have been "surprised" by Weiner-spitzer's behavior and gall.

damikesc said...

Tina posits that we should want a constricted amount of testosterone in men, rather that that we should want men who have character and self-control and have been motivated into positive accomplishments.

But a society that dumps on men routinely isn't going to get a heck of a lot of that kind of thing. Basic manners can get men yelled at ("I can open my own door, thank you very much!") and it's not really worth the headache for most men to try and avoid the landmines that some highly unstable women lay in front of them.

Now it's okay for men to be overgrown teenagers who play video games and shirk responsibility.

Hey, I do the former and not the latter. My older boy and I bond playing games.

In Corporate America these guys would have been kicked out the door in a heartbeat.

Maybe. It's not like Corporate America is any better than government at this point. They just have more people who can punish them.

Bob Ellison said...

Weiner is apparently 6'5". That's six feet and five inches. Pretty long. He doesn't look that long on TV. I have avoided the pics.