First installment of "Guyology"

The only qualification I have that applies to the subject of this blog is that I'm a guy. It's true that I'm a boomer, I'm married and have two daughters and two sons, and generally feel that the human race continues to aspire to do great things, despite where the press attempts to focus our view. Since I'm a boomer, I've lived long enough to remember that TV advertisements used to portray men as the gender with common sense and judgment. The typical women in those advertisements wore a dress and heels and hung on every word the men said in order to become educated on whatever product was advertised.

Now men are typically portrayed as under-achieving, beer-guzzling losers without a shred of common sense. The woman always saves the over-zealous man from himself, giving the camera an all-knowing glance as the scene fades. I'm not saying that either portrayal of the genders is wrong, it just is. I believe that men are capable of much more than advertising would want us to believe.

There is a fundamental difference in the reaction of the genders to the portrayals: women took it upon themselves to change their position and status in society. It has taken decades, but women have succeeded in, at least, making their views known about how they are perceived and portrayed.

Men, on the other hand, are really not paying too much attention to the perception or portrayal of their gender. In fact, the advertisements actually are appealing to men: That's what I want to do--watch football, drink beer, not step up to my responsibilities.

So, there you have it, the first installment of "Guyology". The message for today: if you give men a pass, they won't think about equality with women, they won't stage rallies, they won't press for legislation, they'll take the pass and go on their way.

More to come...