Show Why John Wayne must be rolling over in his grave Nathan Nelson Opinion Editor I know this may be hard to swallow swallow swallow low coming from a normal everyday male like myself but Ive I've had just about enough of Pamela Anderson Not that Ive I've ever been a big fan or anything but I 1 wouldn't mind at all if she would just go away The first I remember from her storied storied storied sto sto- ried career is when she made it big on the phenomenally successful TV show Which thanks to the miracle of modern medicine and anda a well-paid well plastic surgeon stretched her trademark red lifeguard swimsuit more than it normally would have Throw in a few nude pictures in a afew afew afew few magazines a stab at movie acting acting acting act act- ing and another television show and suddenly Pam and her augmented upper torso is the pinup girl of the late Which sets a grim tone for women everywhere Behind the rallying rallying rallying ral ral- ral- ral lying cry of Girl Power the up- up coming and-coming o of Generation 2000 are striving to take control of their theirY own lives But for someone someone Y deter determined determined determined deter deter- mined to follow in Andersons Anderson's footsteps footsteps footsteps foot foot- steps her track record is far from exemplary Stay with an abusive husband husband husband hus hus- band self-esteem self comes from plastic surgery and exploit your body to tomake tomake tomake make money Unfortunately women like Anderson are exaggerated examples of a dire problem Women today more than ever are judged by appearance For all our societal enlightenment to the contrary a woman must fit into a specific dress size with a specific bust size or she just isn't pretty If this were just a men Ioen are pigs issue then it might be easier to correct correct correct cor cor- but it Our cultural ideal of beauty is so ingrained that women believe it themselves probably more than men do In fact most women are taught to base their entire worth self-worth on that same cookie cutter of beauty W Which 1 ch is where plastic surgery comes into the picture Dont Don't get me wrong if a nip here and a tuck there helps you feel better about yourself then theres there's nothing fundamentally wrong with that But when it raises raises' issues of mental and physical health as breast augmentation surgery does then maybe its it's time to rethink our standards Of course her latest claim to fame is having her world-famous world breast implants removed I suppose I should be glad that Pamela Anderson is taking the initiative to right some wrongs but Im I'm afraid its it's too little too late Each news story I heard about Anderson mentioned pop star Britney Spears in the same breath because she was reportedly having her breasts enlarged Now Im I'm not a Britney Spears fan either and to be honest I could care careless careless careless less what she wants to do with her body but she's only seventeen years old Im I'm no expert on the female body but I believe a 17 year old girl probably isn't done developing yet What message does this send end to teenage girls What message does it send to teenage boys We spend a great deal of time sending these conflicting messages between the sexes Its It's a standing criticism that men spend more time looking at a womans woman's chest than her eyes so no sooner do we try correcting correcting correcting correct correct- ing the problem that breast augmentation augmentation augmentation tation becomes extremely popular Doesn't it stand to reason if you want to draw attention away from a body part and especially that body part the last thing you want to do is make it bigger Some of the confusion comes from shifting in gender roles The way our parents and grandparents were raised is nothing like how the newest generation is being raised We are taught to blend stereotypes into themselves and act like the resulting mix Men are now required to adopt a amore amore amore more sensitive and nurturing side Women are compelled to become strong and independent Weve We've decided that th the best way to reach mutual understanding and acceptance acceptance acceptance tance is to simply erase all gender roles and become a unisex society That's not to say that its it's necessarily necessarily necessarily bad Most men could use a little little little lit lit- lit lit- tle refinement and there are women out there that need a shot or two of aggressiveness But it can be confusing confusing confusing ing at times In our efforts to understand understand understand under under- stand and emulate one another we have a tendency to step on a lot of toes Take for example the manliest of all men John Wayne He played nearly the same character in all his shows a guy with a rough gruff exterior but inside had a heart of gold He wasn't afraid to stand up for what he believed was right and would happily bloody someone's s 's nose if they disagreed with him At some point in their lives most men have wanted to be just like John Wayne But nowadays his movies come across as being very sexist His characters characters characters char char- never treat women as equals and rarely as friends Women in his movies adhered religiously to their gender roles and were quickly corrected corrected corrected cor cor- if they strayed from those definitions definitions definitions def def- usually for comic effect Consequently John Wayne has become a archetype for the overly-aggressive overly male ts t's a dramatic example of how extremely our society has changed in inthe inthe inthe the last half of the century The emotional emotional emotional emo emo- caring man of the century is a vastly different creature from his forebears Imagine John Wayne watching an episode of Ally or participating in a La Maze class Well dont don't just lay there Pilgrim Breathe The flip side of the coin I is that its it's equally impossible to picture pic- pic picture pic plc- ture a leading lady of the having t o breast augmentation surgery I mean r. r I think even the word breast was off limits back then The fact of the matter is the gender gender gender gen gen- der roles our grandfathers and great great- grandfathers filled are anathema today Now Nov men are expected to bottle bottIe bottle bot bot- tle tIe up the testosterone and show a littie littie little lit lit- tie tle sensitivity I do it and like it All AH my friends do it and like it Even my dad who is so manly that he cant can't even say the word testosterone without getting choked chok d up admitted he enjoyed taking my mom to see Discover Cards Card's Stars on Ice N 1 Fortunately the process works both ways With men finally starting to become bastions of sensitivity women are starting to pe peek k on our our side of the fence and liking what they see My wife bless her heart sat with me through the entire 1998 1999 NFL season and ended up becoming a big fan She can name and identify all the teams She knows key players and strategy She hollers Hey that was interference during instant replays Maybe its it's just me but I would certainly call that a breakthrough Now my wife has always been t very active and enjoyed playing sports so for her to enjoy watching football is hardly surprising But even that's different from how girls l were raised during the first half ha of the century Anyone who has glanced gance ata ata at at- ato o oa a parenting bock written in the thelast last 20 years knows you dont don't automatically automatically automatically cally give little boys a toy gun and little girls a dolly anymore Its It's too stereotypical Especially if the kids are going to fit in with normal society someday Which raises another point society society society soci soci- ety doesn't exactly know what normal normal normal nor mal is yet Were We're all in kind of a state of transition and no one is really really really real real- ly sure what role they're supposed to u P play Dont Don't uon i get me wrong wrung I i in m i sure un when we finally get everything figured figured figured fig fig- out the end result will be great But the road to get there may be a littie lit lit- little little lit lit- tle tie bumpy The real trick will be knowing when to stop mingling gender traits Its It's easy to go too far trust me I know The other day we were watching watching watching watch watch- ing an awards show and one of our favorite actresses came on I turned to my wife and absolutely gushed her hair looks SO much cuter cut short like that I was mortified that I could say such a thing Im I'm just glad J 3 the Duke wasn't there to hear it He would have shot me right between the eyes But if we can refine the men while keeping them men and strengthen the women while keeping them women then we should be in pretty good shape I mean a c culture filled with amazon women and art critic men isn't exactly an improvement improve improve- ment over the status quo Besides and this is just my opinion opinion opinion ion but the more similar the sexes become the better we can understand one another Perhaps the day is not too far fir off when men can finally understand the workings of the female mind Hey we put a man on i ithe the moon didn't we Dare to dream i. i 0 0 |