I recently found this brilliant piece by Guante, a hip-hop artist and two-time National Poetry Slam champion, and felt like sharing it with everyone.
Transcript from his website below the cut.
1. Fuck you.
2. If you want to question my masculinity, like a schoolyard circle of curses, like a swordfight with lightsaber erections, save your breath. Because contrary to what you may believe, not every problem can be solved by “growing a pair.” You can’t arm-wrestle your way out of chemical depression. The CEO of the company that just laid you off does not care how much you bench. And I promise, there is no lite beer in the universe full-bodied enough to make you love yourself.
3. Man up? Oh that’s that new superhero, right? Mild-mannered supplement salesman Mark Manstrong says the magic words “MAN UP,” and then transforms into THE FIVE O’CLOCK SHADOW, the massively-muscled, deep-voiced, black-leather-duster-wearing superhero who defends the world from, I don’t know, feelings.
4. See I don’t drink a lot of beer… you know, because I’m not a “real man,” but I’m pretty sure that, of all the beers in the world, Miller Lite… is not the most flavorful brew. It kind of tastes like… whatever insecure jackass wrote these “man up” commercials got rejected by a beautiful, no-nonsense bartender, drank a six pack of REAL beer alone in his apartment, and then Miller bottled his tears.
5. You ever notice how nobody ever says “woman up?” They just imply it. Because women and the women’s movement figured out a long time ago that being directly ordered around by commercials, magazines and music is dehumanizing. When will men figure that out?
6. “Man Up” assaults our self esteem by suggesting that competence and perseverance are uniquely masculine traits. That women—not to mention any man who doesn’t eat steak, drive a pickup truck, have lots of sex with women and otherwise conform to gender norms absolutely—are nothing more than, background characters and props in a movie where the strong, stoic, REAL man is the hero. More than anything, though, it suggests that to be yourself—whether you, wear skinny jeans, listen to Lady Gaga, rock a little eyeliner, drink some other brand of light beer, or write poetry—will cost you.
Don’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad free7. How many boys have to kill themselves before this country acknowledges the problem? How many women have to be abused? How many trans people have to get assaulted? We teach boys how to wear the skin of a man, but we also teach them how to raise that skin like a flag and draw blood for it.
8. Boy babies get blue socks. Girl babies get pink socks. What about purple? What about orange, yellow, chartreuse, cerulean, black, tie-dyed, buffalo plaid, rainbow… there are so many beautiful colors and combinations of colors. Yet boy babies get blue socks. And girl babies get pink socks.
9. I want to be free, to express myself. Man up. I want to have meaningful, emotional relationships with other men. Man up. I want to be weak sometimes. Man up. I want to be strong in a way that isn’t about physical power or dominance. Man up. I want to cry if I feel like crying. Man up. I want to ask for help. Man up. I want to be who I am. Man up.
10. No.
As someone with a group of friends who use this phrase pretty regularly I appreciate some of the poet’s sentiment, it isn’t always appropriate. I do think it is appropriate though for those who wallow in self pity and get totally caught up in themselves. It’s worked for me sometimes when I’m feeling low and egocentric and got me back in the game. I’m widely regarded as one of the most sensitive blokes my friends know so sometimes I think I need to be told to ‘man up’ not to be macho but to recognise that I am indulging myself… Read more »
Not Me– it was posted at Feministing a few months ago, along with the video, but that was its first appearance on the web, aside from my own site. And it’s definitely my piece, haha.
Dancin (and other people who hate slam poetry)– as a professional slam poet, I kind of hate it too. Most of it is terrible. But the good stuff is REALLY good and worth checking out. Extended thoughts: http://www.guante.info/2012/03/michael-lees-pass-on-and-why-spoken.html
Thanks for re-posting, too.
That’s strange, I’ve never heard of this “Guante”, yet I swear that I’ve read this, word for word, somewhere else, and I don’t think it was all that recently either. Did someone else steal his bit without crediting him, or did he steal someone else’s?
I appreciate his points, but really, really hate slam poetry. Well, I dislike poetry generally, but slam poetry in particular is about the most pretentious thing in the universe.
Thank you for posting this.
Love number 10. Simple and affective
Brilliant. He’s got a new fan today! Bought all the stuff I could of his.
Yeah, I’ve seen that one before. I really love the way he responded to that whole insipid phrase.
Reblogged this on The Reluctant Monogamist.
Well, that’s….. impressive. Both the words and his delivery.