9. ‘Growing a Pair’
In August, Sarah Palin famously said that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer “has the cojones that our president does not have,” apparently unaware that women are born without this dingly-dangly courage center. In 2010, Republican candidates engaged in a string of post-feminist, post-logical attacks, telling everyone to “man up.” Thankfully their attempts to change millions of years of evolution have been unsuccessful, and you still don’t need balls to be brave.
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A “vajayjay” is cute and furry? Isn’t that Haironormative? Why the shave-shaming?
I’ll show myself out.
Oh, when you say “women” you mean American women with a bit of disposable income. I kept thinking “women” meant, like, all women. Silly me.
If it’s about women globally, I’d say the clitorectomy is a pretty frickin’ bad thing to happen to women. That whole female genital mutilation thing sounds top-ten worthy to me. You’re goddam lucky if your big cultural problem with vulva is that there are annoyingly cute words for it….
I think “grow a pair” has been directed towards men a helluva lot more. In fact, I’ve often heard it directed towards male victims of domestic abuse.
I love that although I’m a woman, I agree wholeheartedly with the list of the 10 worst things to happen to women, yet I largely disagree with the list of the worst things to happen to men.
Good job Good Men.
Those boots are so comfortable though…why do men dislike them?
Because they’re UGG-ly. I’m a woman and I can’t wait for them to go the way of the Crocs.
By “go the way of the Crocs” do you mean having a crotch-shot surface of a female professional athlete wearing them?
I’m fine with them.
I’ve changed my mind. The number 1 thing hurting women – as well as men, teens, children, and even babies – this millennium is unregulated crony capitalism. We have thousands of Baby Boomers who are one missed light bill away from being tossed on the streets, people committing suicide left and right since they lost their jobs, college grads drowning in debt and unable to find work even at McDonald’s, and millions unemployed and in misery. If you can afford to buy Axe Body Spray (or even care about it), you are one of the privileged.
I like you max
Max, but when you say crony capitalism, you’re talking about an abstract “thing”. What is the thing that is making “crony capitalism” possible? Who are the people that are making this thing possible?
The answer is government. Because when you say crony….of WHAT is any bad actor in this thing a crony of? And the answer is the State….every time.
So don’t dance around it; the worst thing to happen to anyone this millennium is the State.
“This Millennium” means from Jan. 1, 2001 to the present. It doesn’t mean going back to 1000 AD.
I don’t mind seeing Uggs on young women. Where I live the boots are often worn with tight black leggings that are quite flattering.
It’s so illogical that we still can’t even say the word “vagina,” and so many women still cannot stand to look at their own vaginas, and yet they’re now expected to decorate it with rhinestones. We demand that it look perfectly fabulous but we still won’t look at it. Say what?
Except for shaving, I’ve always preferred the natural look when it comes to vaginas, no piercings, no jewelry. I’m not a fan of FGC, but if an adult woman wants a designer vagina, it should be her right.
What’s illogical is that there isnt a word that encompasses the whole female genitalia that isnt childish or obscene. It’s not just a vagina down there, but that’s what we end up saying, though what we really mean is something far greater, more complex, and with more parts.
There isn’t really a word for the entirety of the male genitalia either, which is a bit ridiculous too.
Wait, we do have a word: genitals.
Or were you looking for a gendered word?
Speaking of which, Slate’s Lexicon Valley podcast recently did a number of episodes on gender and language.
That is bang on about weddings. I once told my sister that, if I do get married, I will probably elope or something, but I’m certainly not doing the big-white-dress-and-cake-and-flowers bit.
She called ME selfish for not wanting to share my wedding day with my family and friends…
Really accurate, dont want pity just human…Thanks.. 🙂
Sounds a LOT like a bunch of mansplainin’ about things that (some) women chose/choose that men don’t find interesting or takes women’s attention away from them. As the first TV show I have ever seen for, by and about women and women’s sexuality, SATC has been a GREAT revelation. I think it’s one of the BEST things that’s happened to women– regardless of its feminist/progressive credentials. And I can think of many 1000s, maybe MILLIONS of things worse that have happened to women than ANYTHING on this list: Use of rape as a war tactic; increase in domestic homocide. Infanticide.… Read more »
I couldn’t bring myself to even watch a part of this show when I heard about it. It’s just terrible. But my big question is, did any of the husbands not like the new brides? I mean, you fall in love with someone warts and all and if you haven’t seen them for that long and suddenly there’s a new person in front of you, does that affect the marriage/relationship at all?
I rather like SATC (the show.) The movies are godawful though. The show is closer to the “street” (although of course, distorted) than most forms of entertainment. Agree with most of your other things, but acknowledge that there are worse problems, as commentators say.
So, let me get this straight – the 10 worst things to happen to women this millennium are pop culture, pop culture, and pop culture? The worst thing I’ve experienced is clothing I don’t wear or shows I don’t watch or activities I don’t do, and not something like the MRM, or the current political war against my uterus, or maybe the fact that high-profile rape cases only highlight the fact that not only is sexual violence everywhere, but we are, in fact, LIVING PROOF of rape culture? I think the entire point was missed, here. At least have the… Read more »
love this and you, GoodMenProject! but one glaring omission = the onslaught of legislative attacks on Planned Parenthood and women’s health. Bad for women AND men!
Wow…um I can’t believe this. Really? Nothing about forced female circumcision, the GOP taking away funding from planned parenthood, the inability to vote, the rape of thousands of women under the assertion of women being property to men for centuries…Nope, reality TV. Maybe a more accurate title would be, “The 10 Worst Things to Happen to Oblivious White American Men After 2010 Through the Lens of Television”?
Jen
Get your money back on that politicized education. Men and women got universal suffrage the vote at around the same time. Women as property is a feminist manipulation .. women have for recorded history enjoyed a relativity privileged and protected position by comparison to the men of their own class. Women have never been death objects for example.
Have you actually studied history or even read novels written during the time periods where women didn’t have rights? Have you ever studied how men talked about women in those eras? Even a Victorian Literature class will tell you what men thought. Read The Moonstone, written in the early 1800s. Main character Betteridge is constantly positing how weak and enfeebled women are and how they’re the inferior sex. I’m going to assume no since apparently you believe women have always enjoyed privilege.
“Nothing about forced female circumcision,”
I live in a country of about twenty million. To date, this year alone, over thirty thousand boys have been forcibly circumcised. In the US alone more than a million boys are forcibly circumcised each year.
Love, love, love. Axe Body Spray at number is especially vindicating. Thanks, GMPM!
As a young feminist, I thought this list was hilarious and spot on. The top 7 at least are definitely the worst things to happen to women so far – and the millennium has just started! Thanks for sharing.
Our generation is doomed it teaches our kids to be ediots and that school are for nerds that doing drugs
And sleeping with everyone is the way to go..thanks to the ediots running mtv. (jersey shore) praying that it gets cancelled bunch ediots on tv. Reality shows suckkk
Is this website for men or women? It seems like every article I see here is either written by a feminist or panders to their worldview. Is this article anything to do with men at all?
From the front lines of modern manhood? Leave it out sisters.
If you are a non-feminist man (ie normal, freethinking and proud; as opposed to self-apologising and shamed) then think about if the issues raised here are for your benefit at all.
There are plenty of men’s sites that write for and about men… leave this feminist place to the wimmin.
Right on brother, right on. Wow.
I just love how you generalise feminism and potray it as a problem. And apparently a man who is in agreement to womens rights is not normal or freethinking? I think you should change your view from feminazi to feminist. Not all feminists hate men and women dont control what men do or think. I consider myself a feminist but I am also a mens rights activist too. This article is (im assuming) meant to be funny, but everyone is viewing it as something true “wimmin all do these things they r so naieve” I think we all need to… Read more »
So…what are men and women who agree with this list doing to get the millions of people who like this stuff to ditch it for something like the GMP?
I’m sorry if I was inaccurate about the site mission. I truly thought it was about men learning to be “good” men and about setting that example for boys. As for the rest, sorry ladies…I’ not buying it. You simply can not spend decades asserting your equality, independence, etc., and then claim your incapable of not purchasing something because the media and men (your favorite scapegoats, along with your mothers) put it in front of you. Do you suppose anti-porn feminists would buy that if I told them , “The pop-up ads and SPAM e-mails put it in front of… Read more »
Our culture indoctrinates everyone. The fact that women are successfully sold a lame bill of goods about needing to vajazzle themselves and spend 50k on a wedding doesn’t mean they aren’t deserving of equality and independence. It means they’re human beings with a long learning period and heavy reliance on enculturation…just like everyone else. We should combat the culture that creates this together, not throw blame on women. No one decides to vajazzle in a vacuum.
The media and everything that goes with it (fashion, taste) don’t only reflect us, but it shapes us.
And on the porn, anti-porn feminists tend to FIRST blame a larger culture that we collectively create and THEN the men that watch porn to a lesser degree.
However, as someone who advocates rather publicly for GOOD (safe, visibly consensual, marginally realistic porn made by people who seem to like each other) porn, I disagree with most of the conclusions they come to.
@SecondBeach I like the idea of what you’re advocating, but what of ADVERTISING it? Any money in that?
I get what you’re trying to do here, and it is funny, but I have a hard time believing that Vajazzling has been worse for women than, say, forced female circumcision or being denied the right to vote. (hey, you were the ones who made it about the whole millennium)
Axe body spray, though, I agree with. For men who want to smell like they just had sex with a burnt tire.
I get that this list is supposed to be tongue in cheek, but it might as well be called “10 things that make dudes think women are stupid”. There has got to be a way to do a light pop culture commentary that takes into account ubiquitous sexism and misogyny perpetuated by both women and men–Howard Stern, the Man Show, Eminem, Charlie Sheen, I could go on but you get it. I agree that bridalplasty is absurd, but would it exist in a world where Howard Stern and others of his ilk didn’t inspect half-naked women’s bodies in person like… Read more »
The points are taken about the fact that women buy into this. Women are devoted sheeple. Many will go where lead. The problem is the media and economics are putting this in front of women as if it will help them gain status and financial security. They buy into the imaging put out there by MEN. This goes away if men make it go away, too. I think the writer is making a case that is all unnecessary, wrong and down-right immoral from a male point-of-view and should be from a woman’s point of view.. And I think he’s great… Read more »
“Happened to” applies to systemic enforcement. This fits in with GMP because what affects women will affect men (because women are your family or lover and you have to deal with it.)
Props on mentioning AXE. If you’re over 15, you shouldn’t own it.
Err…not sure how this fits into the mission of GMP but, whatever.
Just for the record, none of these things “happened” to women; diseases and natural phenomena “happen” to people. These things became popular because women watched them, bought them, purchased tickets to them, etc.
We’re talking about women, right? Which means adult …not “girl”.
Totally great point. We are not coerced into this crap, as adults, we are fully functioning, autonomous participants in this industry of garbage. Nobody forces you to get vajazzled (except in Guatanamot… take that 8th amendment). The only counterpoint, I think, is that girls are indoctrinated into this crap before we reach rational adulthood (see: Bratz, Disney princesses, Barbies, etc.), and so by the time we grow up, we think it’s normal. I’m not saying we can’t opt out; we can (and lots of smart, self-aware women do), only that it’s hard to toss out the values you were taught… Read more »
Emily,
I completely get what your saying about indoctrination. Have you seen the ads for the coverage of the upcoming Royal wedding in the U.K.? Their selling it to girls like it’s a real-life fairy tale come true. Don’t we only have to look to Lady Diana to dispel that nonsense? These are real people making a lifelong commitment and that’s no fairy tale, no matter what your address is
Yeah, none of these things ‘happened’ to me…
Mainly because I don’t give a shyt about any of them and outright loathe most of these things.
Associating them with my gender is an insult, and I will take it as such.
*But damn… I was a Ugg hater until I tried on a pair… they are freakin comfy. No sneaker can compare to their warmth and foot cushioning goodness.