Supple Cow

This TFP fellow is right in suspecting I wasn't being 100% serious in that post because I was deliberately using the language like "blame" and "culprit" to see what kind of response I would receive. I don't actually think that anything is as simple as being able to say, 'I blame the penis for making men afraid to appreciate beauty in other forms than what the media presents.' That said, I am 100% serious about having more discussion in this thread about the deeper issue I addressed: the culture of being male. Just like any culture (and this can be true whether or not you are "born into it"), you can choose to participate or not. Evidence of one member on this board (and many, many more I'm sure) who does not buy into this culture does not mean that the culture does not exist. So, thank you (whoever you are) for chiming in with this - especially because I have an interest in the rest of what you have written - but please don't think that I have been attacking men as a class of people. If anything, I have more of a beef with the culture of maleness than I do with any men who may or may not participate in the culture I describe.

On a meta note, I'm glad that there are men on this board who are reading this and contributing through the women. I hope there is more of it because I see what might be a very constructive discussion about something I have long wanted to address both on the TFP and in my life. In fact, I had hoped to start a discussion like this in the Coming Together forum, but this format (where the male members' participation is anonymous and added to the discussion through a female member) may prove to be more productive in reaching new levels of understanding.

__________________
"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
(Michael Jordan)