Two Different Headlines: Naked (White) Man Gets "Clocked"; Naked Woman is "Athena"
I wasn't going to write again for a while, but I find myself compelled to write about this news story in TMZ. The title is Naked Knockout: Dude Gets Clocked... for Blocking Traffic. Basically, some nude white "dude" was protesting and what TMZ calls a "Vin Diesel lookalike" hit him in the face for blocking traffic.
Now, it's striking that Matt Walsh on Ben Shapiro's Daily Wire just a few weeks ago reported on what the media, I believe the NYT, was calling a "Naked Athena." This "goddess" was a Portland protestor who was allowed to protest in the nude by Portland police. In fact, she danced around and struck poses. Now, I remember Matt Walsh saying a naked guy would not have been so well-treated or have received such glowing reviews. At the time, I was thinking that Matt Walsh had slightly overdone it by talking about this issue at all, but now it looks like he was right on point and really on to something.
Granted, this male protester was in the Ukraine so who knows if he would have been celebrated in Portland, but still, it seems like TMZ at least really enjoyed gloating over his demise. In fact, it seems like we are being told to laugh at the naked white guy in this article. Would TMZ have gloated over a woman getting "clocked"? Of course not. They shouldn't gloat over either case, and it would, of course, be different if a woman rather than a man were hit in the face especially by a man. However, the point is, the media so often uses a double-standard. We can laugh and ridicule a naked guy getting punched but we can't laugh at a naked woman or say it's disgraceful even though we are told again and again that men and women are basically the same.
I don't take TMZ very seriously but I think the contrast of this article and the Athena articles point to problems in general with the way women are allowed and often encouraged to view the sexualization of their bodies as a powerful weapon. I'm talking about that kind of thing where female pop stars go on stage dressed in practically nothing and are held up as powerful women. Case in point: a couple of years ago, I went to hear a female Indie star I liked, and, surprise, surprise, she was wearing a short skirt and showing a midriff. And that wasn't even the way she was really marketing herself.
A man going on stage in his underwear? Yes, it does happen, but does the straight community (for one) call this power? No. It might even get some raised eyebrows and a provocative picture of a male pop star on an album isn't the norm like it seems to be for females. In fact, most male stars these days including Justin Bieber seem pretty well-clothed in their videos at least for the most part. Now, I'm not saying guys should undress and be cheered or anything as ridiculous as that, but I do think this all shows Matt Walsh was right.
Now, it's striking that Matt Walsh on Ben Shapiro's Daily Wire just a few weeks ago reported on what the media, I believe the NYT, was calling a "Naked Athena." This "goddess" was a Portland protestor who was allowed to protest in the nude by Portland police. In fact, she danced around and struck poses. Now, I remember Matt Walsh saying a naked guy would not have been so well-treated or have received such glowing reviews. At the time, I was thinking that Matt Walsh had slightly overdone it by talking about this issue at all, but now it looks like he was right on point and really on to something.
Granted, this male protester was in the Ukraine so who knows if he would have been celebrated in Portland, but still, it seems like TMZ at least really enjoyed gloating over his demise. In fact, it seems like we are being told to laugh at the naked white guy in this article. Would TMZ have gloated over a woman getting "clocked"? Of course not. They shouldn't gloat over either case, and it would, of course, be different if a woman rather than a man were hit in the face especially by a man. However, the point is, the media so often uses a double-standard. We can laugh and ridicule a naked guy getting punched but we can't laugh at a naked woman or say it's disgraceful even though we are told again and again that men and women are basically the same.
I don't take TMZ very seriously but I think the contrast of this article and the Athena articles point to problems in general with the way women are allowed and often encouraged to view the sexualization of their bodies as a powerful weapon. I'm talking about that kind of thing where female pop stars go on stage dressed in practically nothing and are held up as powerful women. Case in point: a couple of years ago, I went to hear a female Indie star I liked, and, surprise, surprise, she was wearing a short skirt and showing a midriff. And that wasn't even the way she was really marketing herself.
A man going on stage in his underwear? Yes, it does happen, but does the straight community (for one) call this power? No. It might even get some raised eyebrows and a provocative picture of a male pop star on an album isn't the norm like it seems to be for females. In fact, most male stars these days including Justin Bieber seem pretty well-clothed in their videos at least for the most part. Now, I'm not saying guys should undress and be cheered or anything as ridiculous as that, but I do think this all shows Matt Walsh was right.
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