[QUOTE=Gilliatt Gurgle;1113888]
Does your wife know about this ?Quote:
This makes me want to eat that steak St. Lukes posted and have one of those gals riding next me bare back with nothing on except a holstered Colt 45 Auto with Ivory hand grips.
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[QUOTE=Gilliatt Gurgle;1113888]
Does your wife know about this ?Quote:
This makes me want to eat that steak St. Lukes posted and have one of those gals riding next me bare back with nothing on except a holstered Colt 45 Auto with Ivory hand grips.
This erection made me feel quite masculine while I was putting it up.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k7...Picture035.jpg
Not at all what I expected.Quote:
Originally Posted by prendrelemick
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k7...Picture035.jpg
That's excellent!
As for me I realised I do all the things B4B expects, but none of them make me feel particularly masculine. Just being me does.
[EDIT: I'm off to build a stone wall castle!]
That would make me feel masculine, if I had the strength to do it.Quote:
Originally Posted by MystyrMystyry
I guess what makes me feel masculine are simpler things like fighting dragons and saving damsels in distress.
[QUOTE=Emil Miller;1114022]She does now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gilliatt Gurgle
She happened to pass by the computer as St. Lukes clevage shots were scrolling by, which eventually led to my fessing up about the latest fantasy.
On a serious note, that is a masterpiece in drystack. The batter angle is superb and the rowlock course at the top puts Hadrian's wall to shame.Quote:
Originally Posted by prendrelemick
Wow, where you live is beautiful. Jealous.Quote:
Originally Posted by prendrelemick
[QUOTE=Gilliatt Gurgle;1114152]Quote:
Originally Posted by Emil Miller
Excuse us while me and GG go all technical. (A masculine thing as well I think)
We call it "Drystone" and top it off with "Coping Stones", but "batter" is the same. I was pleased with it because it was circular - I couldn't use a line band or end templates . So did it completely by eye. It is also next to a wall my Grandad built when he was a teenager.
[QUOTE=Gilliatt Gurgle;1114152]
Most unfortunate. There's an unwritten law about keeping wives away from computers. Now you'll have to watch your back in case she turns up with a Colt 45 Auto with Ivory hand grips.Quote:
She does now.
She happened to pass by the computer as St. Lukes clevage shots were scrolling by, which eventually led to my fessing up about the latest fantasy.
I don't think I've ever in my life 'felt masculine'. I mean - what does that mean? Do guys really put up a shelf and get this enhanced sensation of being male? And how do you separate the sensation of being a man from all the other sensations of being yourself? And if there are things that make you feel more masculine (lighting a fire, trapping a mouse) there must be things that make you feel less masculine (slicing a tomato, putting the milk bottles at the door) - so do you go through life with this constant feeling that your own perception of the extent of your masculinity is soaring and diving with every task you undertake?
How wide did you have to make this so it won't fall down? It looked rather tall. It must be 4 feet or more at the base.Quote:
Originally Posted by prendrelemick
Agreed, I tried to communicate the same thing on the "what makes you feel feminine?" thread.Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkBastable
Two and a half feet, its all a balancing act really.Quote:
Originally Posted by YesNo
Mark and Juniper: Perhaps "Feeling Masculine" is hard to define. I got a good feeling building the wall that I don't get baking scones (which I enjoy.) Perhaps it is a case of nurture dominating nature, society proclaims certain things masculine, and I respond to that .
While I was building it Men would stop and talk about the process. Women would stop and admire it as an object and a task, and Sasha (Who lives in a cottage nearby) would bring tea and cake. Sometimes I let her fill in the middle bits.:p
There definitely is something about doing 'big' things that make a bloke feel big, and brave things, and strong things, but I usually do them when no-one's around to distract me (don't want to make mistakes in company ;) )
Not definitely, otherwise no one would disagree with you. And I do.Quote:
Originally Posted by MystyrMystyry
I really ought to pay more attention when society's proclaiming stuff, because I seem to have made it to my fifties without noticing that building walls is supposed to make people (or is it only men?) feel more masculine. So the question would have to be - if I did build a wall, would I feel more masculine just as a result of doing it, or is this enhanced masculinity thing only going to work if I'm predisposed to expect it when I pick up my first dry stone?Quote:
Originally Posted by prendrelemick
If it's the latter, we can actually construct a useful experiment. We start putting it about that amateur millinery is a masculine thing to do. If we can get that out there as an accepted view, will future generations of men feel more masculine when they fashion an Easter bonnet?
I think it probably is the latter. But knowing that doesn't mean I'm not susceptible.
As a man without any predisposition, you could always build a wall, (or crush an empty beer can or something "masculine") then make a hat and let us know.
Yea but thats because, you are a total dude. Maybe Mark is a total chick?Quote:
Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf
Versions of this debate crop up with my wife.
"You should go out the back and get a couple of logs for the fire."
"Er, I'm in the middle of making risotto here. Why don't you go?"
"Bringing firewood in - that's a guy thing."
"We need, like, two small logs - one in each hand. Why's that a guy thing? "
"Because it's what guys do."
"If I said that doing the laundry was a chick thing, you'd go nuts."
"Well - yeah. I mean, how sexist would that be?"
Ah that's annoying. It's like those sexist adverts that are all the rage - where women mock men and it's all a big laugh. They really get my goat.Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkBastable
Edit: Here's a debate upon this pressing topic from the horrendous programme Loose Women (which itself is sexist too to my mind). Be warned this is daytime TV at its worse - I lasted 3 minutes before I had to turn off and that's a record.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEzcOit5LZQ
Mark and Neely- My husband and I still on occasion have these sorts of conversations and they are rather annoying. We are all for equality of the sexiest, just most of the time. Haha! But one thing that you'll find in our house is we know whose role is whose. I do do most of the cooking, shopping and laundry and he keeps the fire going, does the garbage and brings in the groceries. May be rather traditional, but it works. It doesn't make anyone feel more or less masculine or feminine.
I'd suggest it's the clarity of responsibility by task that works, rather than the assignment of task by gender.Quote:
Originally Posted by Buh4Bee
I mean, would it not work just as well if he did most of the cooking, shopping and laundry, and you kept the fire going, did the garbage and brought in the groceries?
I lasted up to 1.29, but obviously the programme is aimed primarily at women and therefore need not be bothered with by men. Let the hens cluck in the farmyard it keeps them out of mischief.Quote:
Originally Posted by Neely
As for the adverts where women laugh at men, just put it down to another unsubtle piece of the social engineering that has now infected the world of advertising and can be similarly dismissed. It's worth remembering that using words like sexist, racist, and other self-righteous expressions only encourages the politically correct.
:lol:Quote:
I lasted up to 1.29, but obviously the programme is aimed primarily at women and therefore need not be bothered with by men. Let the hens cluck in the farmyard it keeps them out of mischief.
Noted. It is annoying though, especially in light of the recent complaints regarding the Today programme and the lack of female representation! Pah.Quote:
As for the adverts where women laugh at men, just put it down to another unsubtle piece of the social engineering that has now infected the world of advertising and can be similarly dismissed. It's worth remembering that using words like sexist, racist, and other self-righteous expressions only encourages the politically correct.
That's it Mark. It's not about gender that determines the chore, but about understanding who does what. It would work if my husband wanted to do those things, but he prefers the other jobs. At times, I do keep the fire going.Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkBastable
Well I gave up on the Today programme long ago, so I wasn't aware of any dispute. So I googled the subject and found some hilarious statements regarding the situation on the Daily Telegraph comments page. Then, briefly sidestepping to have a good laugh at an article called 'Britain - Tomorrows Next European Superpower', I returned to the Today subject and came across this comment that sums it up perfectly:Quote:
Originally Posted by Neely
It would be far better to worry about the Political bias of the TODAY program and the damage it has caused to the UK than worry about the so called Gender bias. The presenters are certainly full of their own prejudices and able to talk all day . Some might say they are all women already.
I agree with most of what has been said above. There are still a few jobs left that require physical strengh - perhaps those are the kind that "men do" and feel masculine. (not to say women can't do them.)
The bringing in of logs harks back to this manly sentiment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL7n5mEmXJo
[QUOTE=prendrelemick;1114775]
I once worked in an office where a very beautiful girl came to work. She was half Scottish and half Brazilian, her father having worked on some engineering project in S.America. Unfortunately, it was at the time when all this equality nonsense had convinced her that she could do a traditional man's job and she decided to prove it by training to be a plumber. I asked her why she had not taken up plumbing and she said that her hands were not strong enough to undo the fittings that are often very tight on piping.Quote:
I agree with most of what has been said above. There are still a few jobs left that require physical strengh - perhaps those are the kind that "men do" and feel masculine. (not to say women can't do them.)
On the other hand, Field Marshal Zhukov's mother was a Russian peasant woman who could carry a hundredweight of grain on her back quite easily. But, then again, if she were built like her illustrious son, that wouldn't be wholly surprising.
Perhaps I should have defined big, brave, and strong.Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkBastable
One needs to bare scale a cliff, climb mountains, build a trap for wild boar, hunt with only a crossbow and knife, ride horses bareback, race off-road motorbikes - all country stuff.
I've tried to find parallels, but city stuff doesn't actually equate.
A few weeks ago a pair of doodles thought they were going to mug me, and I used the 'That's not a knife - this is a knife' line. Two lead pellets to their heads from my slingshot quickly restored order ;)
I know one young woman who is a welder and another who is a fire-fighter. Bahh, "equality nonsense!"Quote:
Originally Posted by Emil Miller
Well they may be the eternal exception that underlines every rule. I worked for a para-military force that had a women's contingent, but it was no more than 8%of the total. During WW11, Hannah Reitsch, who had been a test pilot for the Luftwaffe, flew her Storch aircraft out of Berlin under Russian gunfire to take Hitler's letter handing over power to Admiral Doenitz in the north of Germany.Quote:
Originally Posted by Darcy88
Fantastic woman but hardly representative of the whole.
Can only men do that then? And if so, can only some men do it? And if so, does that mean that the men who can't do it aren't as masculine as the men that can do it? And if any women can do it, does that make them masculine women?Quote:
Originally Posted by MystyrMystyry
I expect it would have restored order as effectively if a girl had hit them with pellets from a slingshot.Quote:
Originally Posted by MystyrMystyry
I'm not saying any of this stuff isn't worth doing, or that it isn't laudable (I mean, how the hell would I know) - I'm just saying that I don't understand why it makes anyone 'feel masculine'.
800,000 Russian women served in their nation's military in World War 2. I believe there are differences between the sexes, but I also believe women are capable of doing pretty much anything a man can do. They've proven that over the last several decades.Quote:
Originally Posted by Emil Miller
Women of all the combatant countries were militarily involved. but it made no real difference to the final outcome. It's not a question of doing 'pretty much anything a man can do', but rather whether they want to do it at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by Darcy88
If they do want to copy men, well, 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery' as the old saying goes.
800,000 women, often fighting on the front lines, made "no real difference to the final outcome?"Quote:
Originally Posted by Emil Miller
I think we're actually in agreement though. There seems to be a cultural attitude against women who decide to stay home and raise kids. The powers that be would prefer they be workers and consumers rather than wives and mothers.
I'd like to think that if I'd been born female I'd still be the same person - but I'd still want the same life I've had/am having. As I said earlier male/female doesn't mean all that much to me. Masculine/feminine in this thread's context is just the established cultural symbology of day/night, hot/cold etc - which both have their strengths in different ways.
I've been in predicaments where the only pellets I've used were their own against themselves. Is that male stupidity for not protecting their pills? Acting tough but not covering their Achilles Heel means they must have been hoping I'd do it. So I obliged.
A slingshot's just handy in case you're outnumbered (you can pick them off from a distance before they close in)
As I think about it, there isn't a lot either my wife or I have to do around the house.
I take out the garbage, but how hard is that? The collection service does the real work of getting rid of it. She cooks, but at most one evening meal and I make pizza once a week. I do the dishes, but all that really means is filling a dishwasher. We both do laundry, but there is a washing machine and dryer. A service cleans the townhouse every two weeks and since it is a townhouse I'm not allowed to do any yard work. That means no rock wall building which I certainly would contemplate if we had any rocks laying around to build something with. There is central air conditioning and heating which means there is no firewood to cut, split, store in a woodshed or carry in to the wood stove. We also have electricity, so the lights go on with a flick of the finger.
One of the chores I don't like doing is removing an occasional spider or two from our daughters' rooms. I think they should get used to a bit of nature, but then I figure they will soon be off to college, so I might as well be gracious. Although they want me to "Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!", I just take the spider outside. How manly is that? They think I'm a spider lover. As I think about it, that is as close as I get to slaying dragons and saving damsels in distress, but the spider bit does seem to be a "man's job" for some reason. They're not poisonous, nor very big.
I don't kill spiders anymore either. Seems silly to kill something that poses no threat and isn't something you would eat.Quote:
Originally Posted by YesNo
I agree. I did try to argue that cleaning up the mess it would make on the wall was more trouble that just setting it outside. I don't think the argument cleared me of spider loving.
Spiders eat those pesky flies.
Another good reason to keep them.
After removing the spider, I sometimes said, "Well, the spider is gone, but the babies are still in there somewhere."