April 23, 2022

"I was raised on Proverbs and pushups... I subscribe to Judeo-Christian beliefs... I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ."

"I think if you think about my political ideology, where it really stems from, you know, my ethics and my morals and what I think is right and wrong, you look to ancient Jerusalem, you got ancient Judeo-Christian values. So right and wrong... I also cling to a lot of traditional values and a lot of traditional ideas, because they’ve worked in the past."

"I think that we have bred a generation of soft men and that generation has created a lot of problems in our society and our culture... designed to reclaim and restore masculinity in a society that is ever more dismissive of what it means to be a man."

Those are quotes from Madison Cawthorn, from 2020 and 2021, presented by Politico in an effort to shame him over 2 photographs that show him in what looks like a party setting and wearing women's lingerie, in "Exclusive: Madison Cawthorn photos reveal him wearing women’s lingerie in public setting/The embattled congressman has outraged Republican colleagues with accusations of orgies and drug use." 

Cawthorn is running for reelection and has a lot of rivals. After Politico published this exposé, Cawthorn responded the photos are from some game show on a cruise ship: "I guess the left thinks goofy vacation photos during a game on a cruise (taken waaay before I ran for Congress) is going to somehow hurt me? They’re running out of things to throw at me... Share your most embarrassing vacay pics in the replies."

Cawthorn asks to be treated the same as any other politician with an embarrassing old photograph. But if he's made the masculinity of men a core political value, a photo of him in women's clothes is a different problem for him than it would be for a politician who eagerly embraces an ideology of gender fluidity. 

But I would say that within the tradition of distinct gender roles, there has long been playful cross-dressing. It's perceived as comical precisely because you believe in the immutability of the 2 sexes. That's what's going on in the great movie comedy "Some Like It Hot" — with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis trying to pass as female in the presence of Marilyn Monroe. Old-time television with Milton Berle and Flip Wilson in drag isn't  hilarious because they were displaying any inner femininity but because people saw them as obvious men wearing women's clothes.

24 comments:

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Media refuse to showcase Hunter Biden sex and drug photos, of which there are many.

Hunter Biden - Millionaire living large off corrupt international tax payer funded laundered money / father's VP big guy family grift.

wendybar said...

I thought Progressives were COOL when people expressed themselves?? Funny, how they think this will tarnish him, anymore than Hunter Bidens fooling around with underaged girls on his laptop!! Where is THAT story Politico?? Or are they STILL covering up for the Corrupt Biden family, so they have to throw some meat out to their base??

Wince said...

Althouse nails it, however...

Althouse said...
Old-time television with Milton Berle...

Shouldn't that be "old timey"?

TRISTRAM said...

I like the subtle reference to Gov Northampton.

baghdadbob said...

Rudy Guiliani, and former NY Yankees Derek Jeter & David Wells on SNL, back when it was marginally funny.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

The three women in those pictures plus Madison makes a foursome, but he would need need at least a fifth person for it to officially count as an orgy.

Sebastian said...

"It's perceived as comical precisely because you believe in the immutability of the 2 sexes"

Right. Hence the prog problem: if you are denying the science about 2 sexes, you also can't perceive humorous quasi-subversion, which like most real humor affirms the existing order, as comical. Progs are dead serious about the subversion. They can't afford to laugh, least of all at themselves. Progressivism is the celebration of grim.

Michael said...

The "hairy leg revue" was a mainstay of Ivy League nonsense (way) back in the day. I suspect but don't know that the Seven Sisters did something similar in reverse. And what about the Ballet Trocadero de Monte Carlo? (Are they still around?) Nobody thought Olga Chicaboomskaya was actually a woman.

farmgirl said...

I do much miss the days when funnin’ was exactly that!! When it was obvious, hilarious and harmless.
The inability to walk in high heels- that was the icing on the cake.

In a metrosexual world, Cawthorne fits right in. Privacy matters if it’s harmless.




Bender said...

To say that Jesus is your savior is to admit that you need a Savior because you are imperfect and do and think things you shouldn't, and don't do and think things you should.

Healthy people don't need a doctor.

Meanwhile, guys in the 20s are going to do what guys in their 20s do.

Meanwhile, if people didn't obsess about folks like Cawthorn and others that people get a kick out of mocking and laughing at, this would not be a thing. It is them who are more of the problem.

Rollo said...

Stop electing fratboys.

Also, constitutional amendment requiring representatives to be older and presidents to be younger.

Rocketeer said...

Where I’m from, it was quite common in rural communities to have farcical “womanless weddings” as comedic community fundraisers. As you say, the humor derived from the immutability of the sexes, and highlighted the absurd caricatures often found at the heart of the way men and women perceive each other.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

The non-gendered Martians will have fun trying to figure this out one day. Hollywood had ways of dealing with "any sex other than pretty standard missionary." Young people not yet married could be expected to get frisky, but it was pretty much supposed to be first or second base only. For the crooners it was acceptable to be hound dogs, especially Sinatra and Dean Martin. Groucho, interestingly enough. Blacks and women probably didn't get this kind of "open" permission--except Mae West in pre-Code movies. Dressing in drag was fine as long as it wasn't "coming out" in any way--just a strategy. People who celebrate drag in various aspects today apparently look back to Bugs Bunny as a pioneer.

As we see in Some Like it Hot, one possibility is a man in drag slavering over an attractive young woman. How about Jonathan Winters in drag --as an "old lady"--along with Dean Martin. "She" apparently has sexual urges; "if I told you what I want, we'd be off the air." Dean has rules: "I don't do old ladies." Lots of talk about bodies rubbing and touching; Dean doesn't want to touch Winters; because as a female, he's old? Because he's a man? They both drool over a beautiful woman in a bikini.

Sinatra, to his credit, when responding to being "roasted" (he only agreed to do this to raise money for Dean's charity), said "I love this man, and I don't care what Anita Bryant thinks."

Joe Smith said...

'Those are quotes from Madison Cawthorn, from 2020 and 2021, presented by Politico in an effort to shame him over 2 photographs that show him in what looks like a party setting and wearing women's lingerie'

Go trans! Go gay! Go bi and queer!!!

Unless you're in the wrong political party.

Then we will use anything we can to shame and destroy you.

So much fucking compassion...

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

Maybe Cawthorn could comment on this, from "To Wong Foo ...."

Noxeema Jackson: When a straight man puts on a dress and gets his sexual kicks, he is a transvestite. When a man is a woman trapped in a man's body and has a little operation he is a Transsexual.

Miss Chi-Chi Rodriguez: I know that.

Noxeema Jackson: When a gay man has way too much fashion sense for one gender he is a drag queen.

Vida Boheme: Thank you.

Noxeema Jackson: And when a tired little Latin boy puts on a dress, he is simply a boy in a dress!

The writers don't include what the actors are doing: dressing up for entertainment.

Readering said...

Don't forget Rudy. Never hurt him.

Jason said...

Maybe he was trying to get on the cruise in order to salvage his relationship with his girlfriend or fiancee? And maybe he needed to buy a last minute ticket to get on the cruise, but the cruise was completely booked. So maybe he begged them to see if there was a cancellation, but the ticket agent told him there was only one billet left but he couldn't sell it to him because it was a shared cabin and there was already a woman in it so he could only sell it to a woman.

And maybe his character was played by John Ritter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nalhE1EJQKE

mikee said...

Regarding "soft men" as used by the candidate:

“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” M. Hopf

Or as JFK put it, "Do not pray for easier lives, pray to be stronger men."

The Kennedy quote describes how one can live successfully. The Hopf quote is a dystopian, cyclical view of civilizations. We get to choose which to use ourselves.

farmgirl said...

Readering- do you think it could be true that older people had more fun w/that kind of gag? B/c- I do.
Now, it’s all about identity, appropriation and tribal warfare.

farmgirl said...

Left Bank- hah! That’s kinda funny!

Howard said...

Deplorables love them some hilarious normal everyday cross dressing. Who Knew?

You do you, J. Edgar

wendybar said...

Howard said...
Deplorables love them some hilarious normal everyday cross dressing. Who Knew?

You do you, J. Edgar

4/23/22, 9:30 PM

Growing up in the New York area Howard, cross dressers are old school. I have cousins that cross dress. I have no problem with it. They can do whatever they want if they are adults. I actually worked with a woman who was married with 2 kids, and her husband was in the midst of a sex change operation...and this was in 1981. It is the CHILDREN that the left is pushing into transgenderism that I have a problem with. No child should have puberty blockers, or get their body parts removed until they are adults, and can make the decision themselves...and PAY FOR IT THEMSELVES. Americans shouldn't have to pay for this.

Anthony said...

I feel about men dressing as women the same as I do about clowns: Dumb and not at all funny.

Scot said...

Slightly racy cross dressing skit: Trump + Giuliani in drag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spn0MJZr-QQ