superbad

Psychologist Joseph Pleck found that these are the characteristics of masculinity in our society: displaying high status in one’s social group; exhibiting toughness and self reliance; aggression, violence, and daring; and avoiding anything associated with femininity.
Sociolinguist Deborah Tannen described male speech as “report talk,” where men try to establish and maintain their status through communicating. Each male wants to put themselves in center stage during the conversation, so male communication is a verbal battle of king of the hill; each male is trying to usurp the others to get to the top.

Fogell: Yo guys! Sup?
Seth: Fogell, where have you been, man? You almost gave me a goddamn heart attack. Let me see it. Did you pussy out or what?
Fogell: No noooo, man. I got it; it is flawless. Check it!
Evan: [examining the fake ID] Hawaii. All right, that's good. That's hard to trace, I guess. Wait... you changed your name to... McLovin?
Fogell: Yeah.
Evan: McLovin? What kind of a stupid name is that, Fogell? What, are you trying to be an Irish R&B singer?
Fogell: Naw, they let you pick any name you want when you get down there.
Seth: And you landed on McLovin...
Fogell: Yeah. It was between that or Muhammed.
Seth: Why the FUCK would it be between THAT or Muhammed? Why don't you just pick a common name like a normal person?
Fogell: Muhammed is the most commonly used name on Earth. Read a fucking book for once.
Evan: Fogell, have you actually ever met anyone named Muhammed?
Fogell: Have YOU actually ever met anyone named McLovin?
Seth: No, that's why you picked a dumb fucking name!
Fogell: Fuck you.
Seth: Gimme that. All right, you look like a future pedophile in this picture, number 1. Number 2: it doesn't even have a first name, it just says "McLovin"!
Evan: What? One name? ONE NAME? Who are you? Seal?
Seth: Fogell, this ID says that you're 25 years old. Why wouldn't you just put 21, man?
Fogell: Seth, Seth, Seth. Listen up, ass-face: every day, hundreds of kids go into the liquor store with fake IDs, and every single one says they're 21. Pssh, how many 21 year olds do you think there are in this town? It's called fucking strategy, all right?
Evan: Stay calm, okay? Let's not lose our heads. It's... it's a fine ID; it'll... it's gonna work. It's passable, okay? This isn't terrible. I mean, it's up to you, Fogell. This guy is either gonna think 'Here's another kid with a fake ID' or 'Here's McLovin, a 25 year-old Hawaiian organ donor'. Okay? So what's it gonna be?
Fogell: [grinning] ... I am McLovin!
Seth: No you're not. No one's McLovin. McLovin's never existed because that's a made up dumb FUCKING FAIRY TALE NAME, YOU FUCK!

In this scene, Fogell, Seth, and Evan are constantly trying to one-up each other. Evan asks Fogell “did you pussy out or what?” What he means by this is, did you chicken out? He phrases it that way to make sure that Fogell knows that chickening out is only worthy of the worst of insults. The word pussy ties it to something feminine, aka, something humiliating. When he assures them that he did not chicken out, Seth and Evan start to make fun of the name that Fogell has chosen, “McLovin.”

Fogell tries to explain his plan to the guys, trying to prove that he is smarter than them, while they shoot him down. They tell him that he chose an uncommon name; Fogell counters with the fact that he almost chose Mohammed—the most common name on earth. Seth and Evan tell him that he will not pass for a 25 year-old, he says that everyone’s fake i.d. says that they’re 21, so his will look more authentic. At the end of the conversation Evan is trying to convince himself that everything is still going to work out, but Seth ends the scene by yelling that there is no McLovin because it is a dumb fairy tale name, another feminine reference to insult Fogell.

In this conversation there is a lot of name calling that would result in tears among many girls, but with these boys the conversation keeps going, as if to say that name calling is not that out of the ordinary. As they continue talking, the conversation gets more heated and they talk louder and louder, each trying to establish their place at the top of their social group and prove that they are correct above the others. They exhibit toughness by cussing each other out and trying to make themselves feel stronger than the other two.

“For My Love” by Bethany Dillon

Masculinity is defined as being independent, aggressive, self-control, and achievement.
Femininity is defined as nurturing, relational and caring for others.
After the fall, the curser that was placed on humankind was that the women would desire her husband and he would have power over her.
Early gender roles had the man as the hunter and the woman as the gatherer who stayed home with the children while the man was out hunting.
As children grow up, they begin to learn the appropriate behavior for their gender and act in such manners.

BETHANY DILLON
"For My Love"
Walk towards me
I want to hear
The heavens singing over you
When you breathe
And look at me
I want to be captured by you
Gaze into my eyes
And let me know you’d fight
Thousands, for my love
Slip your hand in mine
Ask me to dance with you tonight
Just ask me for my love
I want to hide
What’s deep in my eyes
I’m scared to be known by you
But when I turn my head
And see you there
I want to be pursued
Gaze into my eyes
And let me know you’d fight
Thousands, for my love
Slip your hand in mine
Ask me to dance with you tonight
Just ask me for my love
A dream I won’t wake from
A story that will never end
The ground your feet walk on
Let me be there, let me be there
Gaze into my eyes
Let me know you’d fight
Thousands, for my love
Slip your hand in mine
Ask me to dance with you tonight
Just ask me for my love


This Bethany Dillon song refers to the way girls desire for boys to ask them for their love. She refers to an old gender role of the hunter when she says that she wants to be “captured” by the boy. She also refers to this when she says she wants to be pursued. Both of these phrases equate masculinity with something that is aggressive and attempting to accomplish a goal. As a girl herself, Bethany is desiring a relationship with the boy. This shows the feminine need for connection and relationships, and the curse that women will desire their husbands. She also desires the boy to fight for her love, another reference to the old hunter role or men and their aggressiveness.

Bethany also says “just ask me for my love,” meaning that the girl desires the boy, but she must follow the gender role of a girl and wait for the boy to ask her to dance or to ask her to be in love. The girl is supposed to wait for the boy to initiate things or she is being too forward. This role is one that most children learn from birth. It may be starting to fade, but it is still prevalent, especially in some places, like much of the church community.

In the United States, little girls are taught from an early age that they have to wait for their prince to come rescue them. Disney movies enhance this myth so that every little girl knows that one day her very own prince will come to take her away to the castle. This song is a girl waiting for her prince to come ask her to dance and fight all the other princes for her love. This myth can be encouraging to the not-so-pretty little girls in junior high when they wonder why they are not loved as much as the other girls, but what happens when they realize that their prince might never come?

why hello there

so i needed a place where i could vent and keep track of my thoughts from my gender and comm class to track my mental progress and to just see what the heck is going on in my head. this blog could amount to nothing, but i'm a writer and this is what i do...

hopefully i can come up with some good thoughts to put up here so i don't waste my time and look silly... :)