More generally, Peter West manages to ignore the double standard in judgements about who makes an appropriate newsreader or commentator: men can be older, grey, and stereotypically unattractive, while women must be young and attractive. And the many ads aimed at men that try to sell them alcohol, cologne, cars, or other products by portraying attractive women as the ‘prize’ they’ll win. And our still powerful cultural habit of giving male voices more authority and status than female voices.

And Peter West seems not to have noticed the aspects of popular culture which are deeply and bluntly hostile to women or which treat them in sexist and objectifying ways. Check out the popular range of ‘new lad’ magazines. Or for a real treat, go into an adult video store and enjoy the ways in which women are treated as a series of orifices.

Peter West is right on one important point. While the mainstream media’s content is often about men, it’s only rarely about men *as men*. In other words, the media only rarely addresses the ways in which men’s lives, just like women’s, are shaped by gender (by the social meanings and relations associated with being male or female). This kind of exploration *is* becoming more common, as more men reflect in public on their experiences as fathers or husbands, on love and sexuality, on health and illness, and so on. The biggest obstacle to this public exploration of men’s lives is not a women-centred or female-dominated media, but narrow stereotypes of masculinity itself. I’m thinking of the stereotypes that men must be stoic, emotionally inexpressive, powerful and in control, and so on. Perhaps the biggest constraint is the idea that men who do question dominant norms of manhood must be gay. The sooner we break down these rigid ideals, the sooner that we’ll see a gender-sensitive discussion of men’s lives and experiences.

In response to Michael Flood, see:

"An Open Letter to Dr. Phil About the Sexes" at http://battlinbog.blog-city.com/read/892125.htm

and "What a man might say when he hears, 'It's men in the news, men in government, men at the top -- where are the women?'" (Chapter 8 of "Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say")
http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/f/farrell/farrell_1.htm)

Male Matters
http://battlinbog.blog-city.com/
Gender News & Views Ignored By The Mainstream Media and Most Leading Feminists

Abos are a sub human species (Nazi party leader Cass Young)
== This caused a media uproar some years ago. From blacks and whites alike

BUT

"Men are a sub human species" (Cleo Cosmo, womens weekly. All of these mainstream newspapers have come out with that disgustingline at some stage or another.)

"Treat your man like you treat your dog" (Catronia Rowntree, On the program Sex Life now on the progams Getaway"

"Treat abos like you treat dogs"

No! This isn't funny Not anymore. Why hasn't Rowntree been sacked.