Hear Me Roar

Two Male Grizzles Playing - © Copyright 2010 David Chudnov, FreeLargePhotos.com.

"If you are going to be a bear, be a grizzly."   - unknown

If you are male, be a man.    - Karl - 091210 (but probably said a million times before)

Through out history the role of man in terms of gender, identity, roles, entitlements, crime, power, survival, sexuality, and many other areas continues to evolve and change to meet the standards and culture of the day.  Overall, I am a much different man than my great grandfather due to cultural changes and personal choices.  Even though I am my own modern man and am not completely the same as men in the past, I believe there are core rules, beliefs, and wired-in truths for men.

What is a real man?  I can be full of bullshit, but it is impossible to answer that question in one post.   That is the purpose of this new blog, Hear Me Roar.  It is my exploration of masculinity, musculism, the male role in gender, male sexuality and male stereotypes and generalizations.  This blog will be a sounding board and experimental forum for my future work during my MFA program.

Hey Karl, is this going to be a gay bashing, misogynistic hate blog?
I doubt it.  While I consider sexuality part of masculinity, I don't doubt the masculinity of gays, straights, bisexuals or transgendered men.  I find all of those aspects an interesting part of the whole group of masculine studies.  As for women, feminism, etc.  I support feminism and equality of gender.  I may get annoyed by certain aspects of the movement, but that may be because I either find it challenging issues that I am personally incorrect in my thoughts and beliefs on or it is something I find incorrect on their part and insults, harms, disparages, and damages men.

Ok, is this some wimpy apologetic white-liberal guilt blog kissing up to all those wronged by THE MAN?
Two words - Fuck no!  I will write lengthy posts about my beliefs on those issues.  For the moment I will simply state, I am accountable for my personal transgressions and will apologize for them.  As for my forefathers and all white men in general, no.  As stated above, I will write more about this and my goal of a post-apologetic world.

Here are some topics I am going to cover.

• Masculism - the study of males.  It is also the masculine movement, similar in ways to feminism.  I will explore the two major branches of masculism and masculists.
• Are men evil? - Is money evil?  What about porn and drugs?
• Where and when is it right to be a man and to exhibit gender traits and work in masculine roles?
• Male sexuality - that one will take many posts.
• In defense of manly things.
• Male stereotypes - What are the stereotypes of men, especially white middle-aged men?
• Male/Masculine Memes
• How can masculists and feminists support each other?  Where are they at odds and in agreement?
• The male gaze
• Do men still have the right to express sexuality through art, literature, etc.?
• What content can we produce?  What are the rights of the individual male compared to the corporate male?
• Criticism and critique with a masculist voice.
• Thoughts on masculist imagery in culture, movies, photography, art, music, tv, and other media.
• Can something be masculine and not be misogynistic?
• Is there ever a time when misogyny and misandry is justified? 

Along the way, I will also share guilty manly pleasures.  I truly hope I offend at times and show masculinity has multiple edges that can cut in different types of good and bad.  I will put links to videos and music that are tough to watch or worse.  I will have rough images as well.   These things wont necessarily reflect my tastes, values, etc., but will be used to make a point.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I am not a perfect man and I plan to explore that here.  I encourage you to challenge me on them.  By exploring why I have these things, I may change my belief on them or reinforce it even more.  I highly recommend you read through this blog a bit before becoming a member.  You may regret hasty decisions later.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

As you may know, I have another blog, the Photo Fermata.  It is not going away or changing much.  It's purpose remains to explore art and my photography.  One big difference is this blog will feature very little of my own photography, unless it directly applies to my point.