"In the time I saved not reading emails from would-be comediennes about the sex-addicted, emotionally-vacant, mother-in-law-hating male of the species, I read that one in six Australian men suffer from depression at any given time, four times more young men than young women commit suicide, and the suicide rate for males aged 15 to 24 years has tripled in recent years."

Too true! I only just barely survived my brush with depression. People think that young women are subjected to intense pressure by the media but they have no idea about the overwhelming weight placed on young men by not only the popular media but also society in general. If you are told something often enough, you begin to believe it, tell someone there worthless enough times they will value themselves less. It is the law of continuos re-enforcement. May I suggest that the reason why men are the way they are is because (at least in some small way) of these emails and the expectations that someday-somehow a young man will turn out like this that is set up in peoples, not only women’s but mens also, minds.

This is one of the truest articles I have thus far read on OLO. Thanks.

I still remember, how many of my female colleagues thought is was funny to make jokes about Bobbit, who had his penis cut by his female partner.

I trust that we are not going to invoke the wrath of revenge feminists by our contributions. I had a feeling that media portrayals of men were becoming negatively skewed from my infrequent viewing of TV commercials. Being an Olympics enthusiast (along with my partner- no gender bias, I found myself rivetted to Channel 7 for two weeks, watching the Beijing Olympics in between commercials, so I decided to keep a tally of gender portrayal in the commercials.

My findings? Although I didn't count the total of all commercials, I identified no less than 28 different commercials which clearly portrayed males negatively. They were portrayed as dorks, nerds, uncaring, thoughtless, sexist, sloppy, clumsy or just plain stupid. Individually, some of these ads were funny- very funny. The Telstra Bigpond series have already become legends (Emperor Nasi Goring and the Great Wall of China to keep out the rabbits). But collectively, like the barrage of emails Lamprell refers to (which I receive from a well-meaning female friend), one could readily gain the impression that a conspiracy is afoot.

Am I paranoid? Well, I checked out the converse- ie women being portrayed negatively. Result? One ad that portayed both the young man and woman as slobs- spilling crumbs over themselves as they slouched and gulped Dominos Pizzas. I may have missed one or two, but I did look hard and tried to set the bar low. In fact, in many of the ads that portrayed men negatively also portrayed women as smart. Others, without men, also portrayed them as smart.

Further, I tried to identify ads that portrayed men positively. They were hard to find. Certainly a few that were "neutral'- just a man standing there saying that there were bargains at store X etc.

The "sponsors" of these male-negative ads ranged from multinationals to local, and included MacDonalds, VW, Telstra, Motorola,Woolworths, Lenovo, LG,Coles, Dominos, Toyota, GE Money, Bunnings, Carlton Mid Strength and the Western Australian Electoral Commission.

And our men are depressed, suicidal and underachieving at school. It's life imitating art, if one could call TV commercials an art.

Thank you Klay, a woman with the guts to tell the truth against the ‘sisters’ & for every hate mail ‘sister’ you will have a hundred ‘brothers’ who adore & respect you for it, maybe more women like you will see men start to wanting to 'be' with a women.

Men have had enough, funny how 40 years of male bashing is now returning to hurt women not only with ‘disposable relationships’, but I see huge numbers of men (and they are getting younger & younger) simply giving women a miss as not worth the trouble with women’s narcissism & double standards & enjoying life relationship free.

The two most common reasons I hear from guys after a break up is “I just got so sick of her constant put-downs” and “it’s impossible to have a meaningful relationship with someone when the only person in the relationship is her!

Don't be too hard on the ladies, they have a problem.

You see, they know they are the inferior gender.

Without this continuous bagging of men, they would have to admit it, to themselves. Their egos, boosted by years of this stuff, would not survive the truth. They even convince themselves that affirmative action is fair.

Notice that modern women have an emotional problem with making a cup of coffee, for a blobe, it's become demeaning for them these days. Come in, after hours slaving in the hot sun, [where's my violin], & you'll find them curled up with a book, & a coffee cup. You think you would love to have been offered one. Make one for yourself only, & you'll get a hard stare, or a comment like, "didn't notice I've got a mouth too, then", for your trouble.

What we all must remember, when we evaluate the relative merits of the male, & female mind, is the fact daytime television is made to appeal to the female version.

Enough said.

If you find your self saddled with one of these once nice ladies, turned into a Medusa, there is a cure. I can vouch for it, having used it a couple of times. LEARN TO SAIL. Learn to sail well.

Now take them for a long sail, just the 2 of you [on say a 40 footer], is important. Sydney to the Great Barrier reef, or to Lord Howe Is will sound attractive. Just one 4 hour watch, on deck, alone, on a dark windy night will have them accepting your superiority, & authority in all things.

On your return she will be putty in your hands, or leave you. Either way, you can't loose.

If she is not cowered into submission, you have found a gem. Just keep sailing, into the eternal happiness of equal opposites, but remember, it only works while you keep sailing, with one of these supreme models.

Yep gender bagging is all one sided.

Thats why blond jokes are only about blond men, why father in law jokes are so common but not mother in law jokes. Thats why we don't see add's on TV where women are portrayed as nagging, sarcastic or overly pedantic. That would be why I've never recieved an email which has a laugh at female stereotypes.

Heu wait - most of the blond jokes I've heard have been about blond women, most in law comments are about mothers in law not fathers in law. I do regularly see add's on TV where women are characterised in a manner which does appear to portray them as nagg's, sarcastic or overly pedantic. I have read emails which poke fun at female stereotypes.

I do agree that in some ways male bagging gets too serious, that real harm can be done when people forget to have a laugh at stereotypes and start thinking people can be summed up by those stereotypes. I don't think the gender bagging is as one sided as the article or some posters have made out.

Part of the issue may be in what we consider as a negative portrayal.

R0bert