I was rather intrigued by Yvonne Tasker's discussion of 'gendered genres.' It has always seemed to me that there were women's genres, romance novels, chick lit, etc, but no real 'men's genres' aside from porn, and maybe the show 'cops' which was a genre unto itself until fairly recently.
I sort of figured that men didn't need genres because in a patriarchal society everything except that which is specifically for women, is for men.
Then, I discovered Tucker Max and 'fratire.' Fratire is a genre developed in the 21st century characterized by political incorrectness and overt masculinity. It tends to focus on alcohol and sexuality, and has been characterized by Melissa Lafsky of the New York Times as "misogyny for sale."
The genre is considered by some to be a backlash against the popularization of the beta-male and the "feminization of masculinity."
"http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/fashion/sundaystyles/16CADS.html?scp=4&sq=tucker max&st=cse"
This is an interview with Tucker Max, one of the founding writers of fratire. His blog can be found at "http://tuckermax.com/">
Are we in an era where men need a genre to assert their masculinity, much like women may need autobiography to assert their agency and represent their experiences?
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I think some men feel that we are in that era. Secretly I listen to christian radio (long story), and James Dobson of Focus on the Family has done numerous clips about boys being allowed to grow into their masculinity. They need to be loved and nurtured but it is very different than how that works for girls.
I think that as society has arguably become ungendered in some ways, perhaps girls liking sports, drinking beer, and doing other once completely masculine things, men have felt a need to over compensate and reexert their masculinity.
A really awful example of this recently took place in Colorado where a trans woman was murdered when the person she was possibly dating found out she was really a biological he. He killed her out of fear, out of fear that he was somehow less masculine because he had let a biological male give him oral sex.
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