Blog #6 Bordo

Peter Markano
Responding to Bordo


When reading Bordo's essay I had a variety of reactions to her material. At fist I thought it was pretty vulgar and weird to be discussing penises and whatnot, but as I continued to read it turn out to be quite informing on the way men are perceived and perceive themselves. I didn’t mind Bordo's tone too much because I admired her honesty about her personal desires and experiences. I think Bordo was straightforward and had a lot of good points to back up her theories about male identity. I think she was correct about how males are always being portrayed as "nonchalantly looking good", because it does always appear that in ads men are always working or not trying to look attractive at all. Somehow in these ads when the men are "working" women seem to find them very attractive. It may just be the simple fact that women enjoy to view men as being hardworking and masculine and able to handle whatever gets thrown at them, including women. I also enjoyed the timeline of fashion that Bordo put together how men's fashion went from very flashy in the old times to progressively more and more bland. I would like to inquire more information as to why that is the case, what could be the catalyst that made men become more and more plain in their attire?
When it comes to the media, I believe that pretty much all the youth are influenced by the biased impressions. I think that the "leaners" and "rocks" that the media creates out of models is just a way to emphasize sexuality. I believe and have believed for a long time that we are a very sexual based society with shows like, Sex In the City, and Desperate Housewives it seems like all the programs are about is who is sleeping with who, and I truly think people enjoy this and the media knows it. In my life, the media is hardly a factor; I tend to stray away from magazines full of perfume ads and all those bogus MTV shows. I like talking about sex with my friends and how smoking a girl is, but it’s a little weird when people put their bodies on display in front of people that could be perverts or stalkers.
The clips from Saturday Night Fever I thought were hilarious. The line Bordo uses about his hair made me laugh really hard. I definitely get her point when she talks about how Travolta, like other men, seem to care about nothing but how they look and how sexy they are. I honestly favor natural beauty over everything else I hate it when people cake on makeup and perfume. I think its up to you to decide how you look, but to make a point, babies don’t wear perfume and makeup, but people still think they are cute! Its just one of my beliefs and natural beauty is true beauty in my opinion.