James Marriott, in his London Times column, has various things to say about his summer reading. Interesting to see the London approach to the toxic masculinity problem.
July 25, 2023
"A new series of adverts on the London Underground instructs men to say 'maaate' to friends making inappropriate remarks about women."
"Proust was gay and one of the incidentally entertaining things about In Search of Lost Time is its unconvincing portrait of heterosexual lust. Albertine’s cheeks 'glowed with a uniform pink, violet tinted, creamy, like certain roses . . . I felt a passionate longing for them as one feels sometimes for a particular flower . . . what might be the perfume, the taste of them?' Is this toxic masculinity? In the present climate you never know. Whenever Proust starts going on like this I mutter 'Maaate' under my breath, just in case."
James Marriott, in his London Times column, has various things to say about his summer reading. Interesting to see the London approach to the toxic masculinity problem.
James Marriott, in his London Times column, has various things to say about his summer reading. Interesting to see the London approach to the toxic masculinity problem.
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19 comments:
Male aggression/assertiveness/dominance will be considered 'toxic' only until the next cycle of women admit they are attracted to 'bad boys who don't play by the rules,' and voice their desires. Humans are animals first and foremost and behave very much like other apes. Biology first. Culture and manners are a thin coat of paint over animal realities.
Fabio, where are you? How about an Interview with the Vampire sequel? How about a 50 Shades of Grey sequel?
What'll be the next bodice-ripper novel turned into a movie?
"Interesting to see the London approach to the toxic masculinity problem."
Seeing a problem where there is no problem.
There is no need to highlight the feminization of western culture. It speaks for itself. Right, maaate?(vocal fry)
In London they use "cunt" about everybody.
In the alley behind the apartment building where I grew up I found a paperback with a pretty convincing portrait of heterosexual lust--or at least that's what it incited in 13-year-old me: "creamy twin mounds with rose-hardened tips." Fifty-eight years later, the words are emblazoned in memory.
Take that, Marcel!
What's the USA equivalent of "maaate"?
What's the USA equivalent of "maaate"?
"duuuude" *looks down, shakes head*
Check the stats on how young man are doing in the UK these days.
Or, everyone in the UK these days. No wonder Harry inflicted himself on us.
Wow, there's weird mind at work. Sexual harrassment of women in the "Tube" brings to mind homosexual advances in Proust. I liked Proust, but I never have gotten through the first half of first novel. Proust spending 3 pages on his pillow, no matter how good the prose, makes my mind wonder to other things.
And here's my suggestion for the women who are being sexually harrassed: Fight back. Slap them in the face, and its verbal tell them to shut up and go away. Of course, this will take a small amount of courage, but its the most effective response.
BTW, my suggestion to "fight back" does NOT apply to white women being harrassed by a black or brown person. You're just opening up yourself to legal trouble.
I gave up on Gravity's Rainbow and Joyce's Ulysses. Never attempted In Search of Lost Time. The quoted passage doesn't whet the appetite. I wonder which novel holds the record for attempted, not finished. I think In Search of Lost Time is more like Finnegan's Wake. It's a novel people never even attempt to read....Some books one used to read just for the sake of being able to say you read them. That's all in the past. Novels, Sunday supplements to the newspaper, slasher movies with naked women. Gone, all gone and we inhabit the gloaming emptiness illumined only with the fading glow of Albertine's pink cheek.
Are there any appropriate remarks to women? Or just STFU in general.
' The toxic masculinity problem '
Can you break it down by race and religious background, please?
Please define "inappropriate remarks about women" in such a manner that I can use the definition at least for the next week or two before it is changed again. Oh, and define "women" while you're at it.
In these parts "Maaate" is usually rendered as "Maaane."
As in, "Maaane, get a load of the knockers on that guy!"
Notice that they ignore the nationality and religion of the toxic males. Importing toxic males from Arab countries must not be admitted.
"Interesting to see the London approach to the toxic masculinity problem."
Well, right. Just say "maaate" to your friend. Except, what if it's not your friend? What if it's some near-hominid imported from the wrong side of the world, who thinks British women are his by right of conquest? Best get off at the next stop and let him rape her in peace. She can lie back and think of Pockistahn.
Guy on bus to friend: See that chick? Damn! Is she hot! What do you think I should do about her?
Guy on bus's Friend: Maaate?
Nothing like insulting a large percentage of your ridership. Right out of the Bud Light playbook.
Sod off, Maaaate.
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