Male Bashing

What Men Think
Jake Brennan, in his article ‘Has Male Bashing Gone Too Far’ refers to depicting men as incompetent, calling it “male bashing”. He outlines an argument that it has gone too far, and that television is promoting this idea by stereotyping males as such. He also argues the difference between women, men and guys, and finally that men are still predominately in charge of society. In the article Brennan refers to numerous TV shows in order to convey his message and to try to persuade his audience to agree with his opinion.
Brennan is a lifestyle commentator and writes in first person so he is speaking for himself. He expresses his opinions in an attempt to win sympathy from the reader for the plight of the male, whom he thinks is being treated unfairly. His intended audience would be males as he hopes they will join him in his objections and start to stand up for themselves. This article would not convince women to support males as they different values and have been subjected to being stereotyped as “weak, submissive and incompetent” (303), but have managed to empower themselves, as he points out. He doesn’t attempt to offer any alternative points of view on the topic. Brennan uses the examples of popular sitcoms where the male is expected to be a “blundering nitwit” or “an oafish grunting Neanderthal, as in Tim Allen’s famous caricature of the “typical” male” (303). He cites numerous examples of TV commercials and sitcoms in an effort to illustrate his point. He argues that this is occurring because men are easy targets and that they have their flaws. He argues that women are always testing males and that the difference between a man and a guy is that “a guy is a caricature composed of the unfemale male traits: stubbornness, inability to listen or plan ahead, a desire to show off, a fascination with basic human functions etc” (304) Brennan points out that despite these flaws, women still love men. Finally Brennan argues that despite the fact that males are now the brunt of many jokes and are being portrayed as “dolts” (303) men are still dominant in modern American society. “When you consider the weight of influence in the spheres of politics, business and the arts, yup, the scales still tip toward male”(305) He concludes that men will have to put up with the male bashing dished out by society.
Brennan uses the idea of stereotype being what is perceived by others be it right or wrong. The idea that males are incompetent has been taken too far by Brennan and he should just accept that society has changed and that males can be the brunt of jokes, along with women and blondes. Brennan uses examples from TV advertisements and sitcoms to force the audience to gain sympathy for the plight of the male.