The Reign of the Doltish Dad

Men in commercials can’t do anything right. Will that ever change?

The Buddy System

Most interesting is what Niobe Way shares about the connections between her book and male relationships. Although she acknowledges that boys/men are capable of, in fact do possess emotions and expression, she fails to unpack the system(s) (patriarchy) that have put them inside of the "man box". She points out that in high school, they fear being called girls or gay- but does not explore why this is problematic. In my opinion, this is a fine example of how professionals in the psychology field could use Womens Studies course or two.

Mantyhose: Is Brosiery The Final Step Toward 'The End Of Men'?

Robin Hood wore them. Prince Charming probably had a pair or two. But what would you do if you saw a man walking down the street in tights today? In herNew York Times op-ed column on Sunday, Maureen Dowd mused on an email from a male friend calling into question the manliness of "mantyhose": "Crying Putin, manscara and now mantyhose. We are over."

At first, I was unsure about lumping together a teary-eyed world leader, male makeup and the manufacture of "mantyhose" (also known as "brosiery" or "guylons," according to Dowd) -- I certainly don't think this triad symbolizes "the end of men." But upon further consideration, I did begin to see a pattern (and no, I'm not just talking about this star-spangled bit of brosiery). The public display of emotion from a politician, the manscara and the mantyhose each mark another step toward a more mainstream acceptance of men adopting products and attitudes that were once seen as the sole purview of women -- a shift that's been happening quietly for years. 

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Huggies Pulls Ads After Insulting Dads

Huggies is sorry. Very very very sorry.

So sorry, that it rushed representatives down to Austin this weekend to apologize, repeatedly, to 200-plus Dad bloggers gathered at their first ever convention, called Dad 2.0.

The company thought it had a winner of an ad campaign -- a series of spots all filmed during five days spent in a house with real dads and their babies. "To prove that Huggies diapers and wipes can handle anything," the female voice-over explains, "we put them to the toughest test imaginable -- Dads."

The marketers at Kimberly-Clark, which owns Huggies, figured it was a combination that couldn't miss. It showed fathers parenting! It included adorable babies! It was light-hearted and fun, what with those poor hapless dads responsible for their own children for five whole days!

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