Why Do Men Feel Like They Have To Act Like This?

Today I was listening to the Portland classic rock radio station and I heard a disgusting display of male behavior. The DJs had invited callers into a discussion about what bugged them about their wives or girlfriends. I guess this wasn't as bad a premise as it could've been - everyone in a relationship is bothered by something insignificant - but the callers had some very insensitive things to say about their partners. One complained that his wife would use the bathroom with the door open and talk to him about her day. Another whined that his wife didn't shave or wax enough of her pubic hair. Each time the DJs ridiculed the women, making it sound inconceivable that a person would want to pee with the door open so as to have a conversation or that a woman, like just about all men, wouldn't want to be totally hairless. The exercise marveled at "disgusting" female behavior while displaying a much more disgusting insensitivity. It's not that the men were bothered by these little things (everyone's allowed their preference), but I was most perturbed by the way the DJs ganged up on the women's habits that didn't conform to sexist social norms, especially in ways that aren't expected of men. It was typical objectification, ganging up on women outside the standard male concept of femininity as if there were some indisputable truth about what women should be.

I kept waiting for the lesbian to call in lamenting her partner's obsessive football watching every Sunday or some other typical male behavior. I even felt like calling in myself and saying sarcastically, "Sometimes my wife feels like she can talk in a conversation. I can't stand it when she expresses herself or has an opinion! And sometimes she works so hard that she doesn't even want to cook me dinner." And so on. Just to see how the DJs would react.

Now, I thought about having all my women readers (you outnumber the men by quite a lot) and men readers in relationships with men to write in and complain about your male partners, but I decided against it. That would be no better than their show, and as feminists we're better than that. For now, I can only send out a message to my male readers to NOT ACT LIKE THOSE DJs, especially around young boys who might grow to imitate that behavior.

Seriously, men. We should be way better than this.