Men on the Moon

Why Women Can’t Be Magicians

Hitchcock — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:45:45 +0000

In her fascinating book Pythagoras’ Trousers, Margaret Wertheim makes the claim that most physicists are male to this day because physics, like organized religion, deals with a knowledge of the “magical” core of the universe. On a more mundane level, I got to wondering why men often proliferate as magicians (the entertaining sort). It turns out that 95% of magic club membership is male. Why?

Peter M. Nardi offers a collection of explanations for the trend in his article “Why Have Women Magicians Vanished?” He quotes a number of practicing male magicians, some of whom actually claim that women’s anatomy and clothing is what inhibits them from performing magical tricks (e.g., where do you hide the doves if you have to wear tight-fitting clothing, especially around your breasts?). Such technical problems may exist, but they don’t do much to give a deeper explanation of the dearth of women in the field. Nardi gets closer to the solution when he says,

Magic has always been presented as something of a fraternity, and for the longest time, magic clubs did not allow women to join (following the trend of most private clubs of the era). The traditional role of a male magician and his female “assistants” is not a social role that is easily transposed into female magician and her male “assistants.” This makes the road to being a successful female magician even harder since they have to create a whole new paradigm of what it is to be a magician in order to succeed.

While Nardi doesn’t elaborate, this insight is at the heart of the problem, in my opinion. A good male magician must not only appear to control the physical world through magic, he must also demonstrate that he can control the social world, a social world symbolized by his female assistant. Just as he waves his wand and controls the physical elements (fire, water, hankerchiefs, coffins), so he controls the fate of the young woman, his subject. Her cheerful demeanor glosses the fact that she assents, almost hypnotically, to the will of the magician. Through the female assistant the audience is encouraged to trust the magician, and thus social control is asserted.

That is to say, women can’t be magicians, at least of the traditional variety, because it is unacceptable for them to exert social control. They have no male assistant, no medium, by which to charm the crowd. They do not stand above the earthly elements, above actual men, above the social world. Women are not free to work the spectacle. They must remain the spectacle.

New Definition Acknowledges Males Raped

Hitchcock — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:56:28 +0000

One of the more inexplicable federal policies: the FBI has not acknowledged the possibility of a man being raped. Their definition has limited the rape category to a crime committed solely against women. The FBI would not, for instance, have considered the unspeakably horrifying act in that scene from the movie Deliverance to be rape. Assault? Yes. Forcible sodomy? Sure. But not rape.

Until today. The FBI finally revised its 80 year-old definition to include the forced sex upon either women or men. While this move won’t immediately lead to a whole host of new prosecutions, it will change the FBI’s statistics – and, I hope, encourage the public to begin speaking about such atrocities committed against men.

God and Man in Business, ca. 1930s

Hitchcock — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 22:47:27 +0000

Historical studies about American evangelicals in business can feel a little few and far between. Outside of biographies of tycoons like Andrew Carnegie, few important works arise. So I was happy to see that Church History published an article on R.G. LeTourneau, a New Deal era evangelical who tried to hold onto long-held ideals capitalistic Christianity during the expansion of the federal government. Here’s the punchline:

Just as it would be a mistake to ignore LeTourneau’s conventionality within right-wing Depression and World War II-era business and politics, it would be misguided to minimize his distinctiveness as an evangelical. He was God’s business man, not just any business man. His answer to the New Deal was not simply a shrinking state, but a revival that would put a fallen nation back on good terms with its creator. . . . In this light, revivalism was not apolitical. Revivalism was politics (Sarah R. Hammond, “‘God Is My Partner’: An Evangelical Business Man Confronts Depression and War, Church History 80:3 [Sept 2011]: 519).

Men Less Likely to Be Cremated

Hitchcock — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:04:39 +0000

An interesting shift seems to be afoot in funeral culture. Men led the numbers of cremations as the practice gained popularity in the twentieth century. Stephen R. Prothero notes that men made up the majority of cremations then, even 76% in one area. Not that men were the only ones interested in the practice. Lisa Kazmier found that The Cremation Society of Great Britain’s membership consisted of 60% women (“Her Final Performance,” Mortality 6:2 [2001]). Prothero also writes about women’s role in cremation activism, though he notes that these vocal exponents tended to be college-educated women, and thus very much in the minority. Anecdotal evidence from the time suggests that women were more likely to protest cremation. Primarily, men’s bodies were put to the pyre.

That statistic has changed. Women’s bodies made up 52% of all cremated in 1996-97, according to the Cremation Association of North America. A demographic study in Great Britain found that women showed the greater preference for cremation over decomposition in the ground (Davies and Shaw, 1995). Does this general trend have more to do with women’s changing conceptions about the body? Or does it have to do more with finances, with women’s higher levels of poverty?

Manly Man Gifts, Christmas 2012

Hitchcock — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 21:51:37 +0000

What? You’re tired of me pontificating on gender theory and obscure men’s movements? Fine. Here’s your ultra-practical, no-fail list of men’s gifts for Christmas 2012.

1. Manpacks. Manpacks delivers fresh socks, shirts and shaving supplies to that special guy on a monthly basis. No more last minute desperation runs to Target. Starting at $14 for 3 months. http://manpacks.com/

2. Robert Rothschild Farm Blackberry Chipotle Sauce. Slather this on pork tenderloin for something unbelievable. Pour it over cream cheese and serve with Triscuits. Berries have never been so masculine. $9. http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Rothschild-Farm-Blackberry-Chipotle/dp/B0045DOA7C/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322170094&sr=8-1-fkmr2

3. Beretta PB Copper Knife. If a man needs to pull out a knife for some high-skill application (like slicing off ribbon), he should have something to show off to everyone at the same time. This replica of the 1940′s Beretta knife has nice talking points, including a shell extractor. $40. http://www.berettausa.com/products/pb-copper-knife/

4. South Dakota Magazine. Forget another subscription to People. Go for something unique, like a magazine from a state he’s talked about visiting but never has. South Dakota Magazine is a well-run monthly publication with articles on great tourist spots, historical legends and local culture. $19/year. http://southdakotamagazine.com/

5. Antique Maps. Find an original antique map on eBay, then mount it. Replicas can be found all over the internet, such as this one of Geneva: http://www.oldmapgallery.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=60&products_id=3068.

Can the Stache Be Used for Good?

Hitchcock — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:18:56 +0000

I have a tenuous agreement going with my wife in which she allows me to shave a mustache for exactly one day a year. I say “tenuous” because she really hasn’t ever agreed to it. This day almost always falls on the pheasant hunting opening day in South Dakota. A buddy and I shave creepy little lip blankets, put on orange clothes and grab a couple of shotguns. Beef jerky and obnoxious music are involved. Personal hygiene that day is discouraged. My wife hates mustache day.

Would you believe that the moustache expressed a similar deviation from the norm a hundred years ago? According to Christopher Oldstone-Moore in the Journal of Social History, men in early twentieth century America expressed their allegiance to national and social agendas through clean-shaven faces. Showing skin expressed conformity to one’s peer group and good teamsmanship. Conversely, donning a mustache meant you were independent. That independence didn’t have to be expressed as roguishness, explains Oldstone-Moore. It could suggest one’s patriarchal status in the home or business as he worked to create society. But the mustache made a man a stand-out for those with the luxury of standing out.

Fast-forward a hundred years. We are seeing the growing popularity of Movember, in which men grow moustaches in November to bring attention to various causes (usually men’s health issues). The official Movember web page notes that participants have exceeded the million-stache mark. Mustaches for good? Mustaches for charitable sociality? I can’t decide whether the staches-for-social-good phenomenon is in keeping with older patterns or if this suggests a more radical domestication of the face caterpillar.

So long as that hairy streak crosses my face, my wife insists it will never be aligned with the forces of light.

Vietnamese Men Have to Get Their “Second Visa”

Hitchcock — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:26:25 +0000

A Newsweek survey earlier this year found that a mere 8% of men had cheated on their significant other on a business trip. That debunked a long-standing myth about men on the road. But when it comes to international travel, particularly travel to Vietnam, wives aren’t resting assured. Vietnamese men traveling back to their economically-depressed country of origen find a highly flirtatious group of women looking for romantic, wealthy boyfriends. The reputation is bad enough that Vietnamese businessmen speak of having to get a “second visa” – this one from their wives – in order to travel back to Vietnam. A California newspaper reports.

Rah! Rah! Rah! for Male Cheerleaders

Hitchcock — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:38:19 +0000

I just had to share this. The following comes from Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac.

- – -

It’s the birthday of cheerleading, which made its debut at the University of Minnesota on this date[2 November] in 1898. Pep clubs had been around for a couple of decades, especially at Princeton, where their all-male pep club led the crowd in unified chanting to motivate the football team. In 1884, Princeton alum Thomas Peebles moved to Minneapolis, and brought the pep club concept along to the University of Minnesota’s football games. Two of the university’s rugby players, John Adams and Win Sargent, came up with a “team yell” that same year to cheer on the rugby team: Ski-U-Mah, which neatly rhymes with “Rah, rah, rah!” But all of these chants and cheers were led from the stands.

In the fall of 1898, the U of M’s football team had suffered three consecutive losses, and fans were desperate for a way to raise team spirit for the season’s final game against Northwestern. The pep club brainstormed plans to further involve the spectators, and nominated a group of “yell leaders” to lead the crowd in the now-traditional chant, “Rah, Rah, Rah! Ski-U-Mah! Hoo-Rah! Hoo-Rah! Varsity! Varsity! Minn-e-so-ta!” One of the yell leaders, Johnny Campbell, took the radical step of running out to the playing field with a megaphone. He faced the crowd, whipped them to a frenzy, and got much of the credit for Minnesota’s victory.

Cheerleading was a male-only sport until 1923, when the first female cheerleaders took the field. This phenomenon didn’t really take off until the 1940s, when the male student body was depleted by World War II. The ’20s also saw the advent of acrobatics, human pyramids, and dance moves to accompany the fight songs and chants.

Jobs (1955-2011)

Hitchcock — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:07:04 +0000

Who was given up for adoption but whose new parents raised him so well that he could intern for Hewlett-Packard as a high schooler.

Who dropped out of college but was worth 100 million by age 25.

Who lived in a garage designing a computer that would someday be useful in every room of the house.

Who made geekiness cool. Who almost salvaged the mock turtleneck look.

Who upended the personal tech industry. And the music industry. And the movie industry. And the cell phone industry.

Whose ideas, to the end, multiplied faster than the cancer inside him.

Public Property: My Eyebrows

Hitchcock — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:21:16 +0000

Last week, again, a hair stylist took the liberty of trimming my eyebrows and ear hair without asking. Should I feel a little violated? What if I want me overambitious ear hair to demonstrate my maturity? What if I want my eyebrows to mimic Rowan Williams’?

I’m probably just depressed over middle age cosmetic issues, but the whole thing makes me wonder why my hair stylists – who so happen to be women – feel the freedom to trim hair other than that on my scalp. Were a stylist to do the same thing to a woman, a considerable tussle would ensue, maybe a law suit. Women do these things themselves, after all. Since appearance matters so much to others, women get used to making decisions about every part of their body. That is their burden and pride, so how dare someone else make that decision for them.

Since we men don’t own our own bodies so much as to care enough about cosmetic details, women take up a stewardship role. At least in the cosmetic sense, male bodies belong to women. Now, how is the opposite true in our society?