[2Wycked]

NOTE: I won’t be discussing Carolyn Burham from American Beauty too much here, as I think she deserves her own article. Check out my American Beauty post here. If you desire, check out my narcissistic sexual hierarchy post and my thread about the codependency of the beta male.

Boys Don’t Cry



"Boys Don’t Cry" was a critically acclaimed movie from 1999 that was the depiction of real life transman Brandon Teena. Teena was raped & murdered by some ex-cons with long rap sheets. She was dating a female friend of theirs and the girlfriend, in real life, strongly disputed that she continued the relationship in real life once she found out Teena was really a woman – she sued and had a settlement out of court. The settlement’s terms haven’t been released, leaving me to suspect they paid her off to not talk about how she rejected Teena once she knew she had a vagina.

This situation dovetailed the Matthew Sheppard murder in 1998. Recall Matthew Shepard was killed in Wyoming by, once again, criminals. Their intent was to rob him, get his address and then rob his home. The situation escalated out of control, and as you know, any fight can get bloody & potentially fatal. Both of these situations caused hate-crime laws to be passed in the US. Also, note that Shepard was raped a couple years before his murder – you never hear about that. That is because he is male.



In the film, Brandon Teena (portrayed by the then unknown Hilary Swank) falls in love with a woman named Lana Tisdel (portrayed by Chloe Sevigny). The movie shows how unstable Teena is – multiple run-ins with the law, forging checks & fighting with men. Two ex-cons suspect something isn’t right with Teena after seeing her jailed in the female section of the jail and the newspaper identifying Teena as female. They force her to remove her pants, exposing a vagina. They violently beat & rape her. They don’t kill her then, but do later on in the week, shooting her in the throat and stabbing her to death.

The movie itself is typical social constructionist fare; let’s talk about approaches to the film. They ignored the reality of the situation – that Tisdel in real life ended the relationship after she discovered Teena was a woman. They generally praised the romantic aspects of the film, the brutal honesty of the Teena character in challenging ideas of gender and sexuality. They were very much in favor of Teena’s overturning gender roles. Feminist critiques generally centered around the movie not being radical enough and suggesting that both women were really lesbians.

Comparing & Contrasting Lester & Teena



Both characters, in both "American Beauty" & "Boys Don’t Cry" have serious issues around their identity. Lester is a stereotypical beta male struggling with his lack of confidence & masculinity. Teena, in my opinion, is a lesbian who is highly uncomfortable with her androgyny.

The problem here is the fact that masculinity isn’t simply a social script handed to people, it has clear roots in biology is critical in understanding human sexuality. Understand the reversing of the scripts here – Teena was portrayed as shedding gendered expectations of women, i.e. she was revealing her true self (suggesting biological determinism). However, Lester is portrayed as a man who isn’t just coming to terms with female financial independence, but a man who is finding himself in the new world of female sexual independence.

I have never understood liberal/feminist approaches to homosexuality or transsexuality. Do we accept gay people because they are simply biologically different or do we accept them on a pure autonomy theory basis – people can chose whatever role they want & we need to accept it? The usual garbled response is what we see in "Boys Don’t Cry" – a story ostensibly about freedom & self-acceptance. But what exactly does Teena need to accept or society need to accept? The most likely response is my dichotomy is irrelevant as social acceptance of sexual diversity is a priori part of a liberal society.

As for Lester, he is a man completely unmoored from his masculinity & autonomy. For all the blather about male privilege one consistent theme since the Sexual Revolution has been that men feel put-upon by feminism & they need new scripts handed to them that accept female empowerment. Part of that is female narcissism and the need to feel superior to men – i.e. men are scared of us! We threaten their out-dated self-conceptualizations!

The supreme issue here is the identity of the beta male – Lester. His identity isn’t predicated on personal autonomy or self-confidence. It is predicated on narcissistic devaluation in his relationships with women. He needs to not just bring physical value into a female’s life fiscally, but he needs to suborn himself to her emotions, moods and whims. He needs to tell her she is beautiful when she is not, tell her she is awesome at her job when she is merely mediocre and tell her she is awesome when she isn’t anything of the sort.

When women gain financial independence and the ability to curb stomp men in divorce, the ball isn’t just further moved into the women’s court – it is firmly within their control of the fate of their significant other. This is reflection of the evolution of the alpha in the wake of the Sexual Revolution – even more unattainable than ever for women, yet the idea of true love (keeping an alpha) is pushed hard than ever before. In response to this, women shit even harder over beta males in order stabilize the narcissistic sexual hierarchy. This rank injustice is blown absolutely wide-open by fat acceptance movements and movements to prove beauty is socially constructed.

We see many beta men just checking out – like herbivores in Japan – and MGTOW in the West. Even codependents have a breaking point – it is heightened by porn, video games & drugs. In years past, women didn’t have to worry about pornography, video games/ESPN or drugs. Women feign interest in these issues as hurting men as they are primarily worried about men of all stripes not paying them attention. If a woman can’t even get a beta to settle for – what does that say about her? Sure, she can blame society at large for the supposed inequities visited upon her (women) but, deep down, unless she completely moors her self-identity to said feminist critiques she will need more fuel.

This is where Carolyn Burham (Lester’s wife) comes in. She knows she married a beta and takes comfort she is in control of the relationship. Lester makes money, cares for their daughter so the relationship is stable. As for outward appearances, she does a masterful job of maintaining them in the wake of her fellow female watchful eyes. Do note this fuels much of feminist consternation of performance of life – women will never be able to be true to other females. However, with Lester’s “breakdown” (really an awakening) she is confronted with a situation she cannot deal with. While many of his puerile acts reflect a teenagehood & young adulthood not fully lived, she is most worried about his destruction of the appearances of the Burham’s.

When she ends a potential sexual encounter by complaining about the spilling of beer onto a $4000 dollar couch, we see her true self - a complete, self-absorbed narcissist who would throw away sexual bliss for the trappings of social approval. We see Lester’s existential crisis, as he emphatically throws a pillow on the couch. His despair & internal anguish suggest a man potentially flirting with suicide as a way of not dealing with his life of mediocrity & lack of self-actualization.

In the end, it is ambiguous as to his death. His wife, daughter, his neighbor or himself could have pulled the trigger. The multiplicity of potential assailants is telling of the plight of the modern male – most especially the beta.

The Twilight Of Masculine Identity



Both movies highlight the serious issues of masculinity in America.

Before I chop up some game on this issue, let’s talk about sex privilege in America. There is no such thing as male privilege at all. There is alpha privilege, but beta/omega disprivilege. The firewall is women – who in their dogged quest for equality, they aren’t targeting betas or omega, but targeting alphas.

The psychologically splitting behavior is fascinating to me. There are three types of people in the sexual hierarchy – sexy men, women and unsexy men. The interplay between unsexy men & women is what causes female anxiety; the interplay between sexy men & women is what fuels female bliss & narcissism.

This reinforces the idea that women are in control of society. We see this constantly in the media & society. Women posture as victims in order to influence society in their favor. Warren Farrell once said, “A man’s weakness is his façade of strength, a woman’s strength is her façade of weakness.” Farrell addresses poor male self-esteem in the first part, but addresses female privilege in the last part. Farrell knows women rely on their womanhood & victimhood in order to shape & form society into one they feel would benefit them.

Of course, what usually fuels the fires of female empowerment is either in furthering their ability to get alphas or keeping betas in their place as settling material.

The primary cause of issues of masculinity is female inability to cede the reins of society to men in order to effectuate the raising of boys into masculine men. When you see men like the two felons in “Boys Don’t Cry” you see what the establishment sees as hyper-masculine behavior – no, it is anti-social behavior. That doesn’t matter. They need a number of violent men who supposedly represent masculine values taken to an extreme and then argue masculinity itself is deficient.

We see this constantly with feminist approaches to sexual assault & masculinity. The use of the words “creepy” & “rapey” reflect the idea that they find men and masculinity inherently dangerous. That is completely wrong, as studies have shown that testosterone makes one more fair, equitable and generous. The study also showed negative perceptions about testosterone – that it makes you more aggressive, selfish and cruel.

When I talk about the twilight of masculinity I am not just talking about beta males ground down through a female privileged society, a completely feminized educational system & a completely female-biased court system – I am talking about completely negative social expectations of masculinity. I am talking about a society that sees men as inherently suspect & in need of serious resocialization via female worship.

The problem with this approach is it is inherently narcissistic. It revolves around men conforming to female promulgated standards by which men need to conform – in a way that maximizes female autonomy with respects to alpha chasing & beta settling. The approaches seek to edify females they think men need to worship. You don’t worship this female? – you must be a misogynist. Oh, you don’t want to be seen as a narcissist? Worship this female - pen an article exhorting the supreme importance of female Senators.

Masculinity is about the control of the self. Many gay guys have issues with this, as they want to explode their emotions & get sympathy from receptive parties. That isn’t healthy behavior on a going-forward basis.
When a society doesn’t encourage a man to find an identity we get this sort of beta – exemplified by the all-too-honest Lester. Most of the time, they toil away in social obscurity playing second-fiddle to a Carolyn. Sometimes, they crack and try to change. Sometimes, they succeed. Sometimes, they fail and become victims of their own emerging self-awareness.

Take Lester. Who killed him? He could have stayed in the blue-pill closet, but he started to get out. Many forces don’t want men to do that – but what killed him? It could have been his own hand, which has been my take. Unable to reconcile his emerging self-awareness with the life he has lived, the splitting resulted in suicide.

Conclusion



In the end, it is the twilight of masculinity in the West. Unable to admit that serious issues relate to female control of men (usually referred to as limiting male privilege) they just flit & navel-gaze around the issue of masculinity.

Which is supremely sad. Unable to come to terms with their denial of reality, women just double-down on pissing all over beta males. Recall my post about David Reimer. Even his own biographer tried to explain away his suicide as something not related to his biology, but as explained away as everything else. The man who tasked himself to detail Reimer's life couldn't even blame the only reason - he was denied his male birthright.

As we see with Teena, the pendulum swings the other way. We have to be completely supportive of a lesbian who flirts with the idea of being a male. She gets her ass kicked at a bar - it is transphobia & proves that physical strength isn't part of biological manhood as females can identify as males.

It portends the ignominious end for American men. Unable to help beta men gain real self-confidence, they just claim men need to be more generous, compassionate & selfless towards women. Of course, they are targeting alphas, but betas take the bait & do what is told. Women can't swear them off, as they have to keep up social expectations & need them as back-up beaus in case their targeted alpha doesn't commit.

The Sexual Revolution promised sexual autonomy for all but betas quickly realized it was not in their favor. Their belated reaction isn't just disconcerting to women, but of supreme importance. Notice how quickly feminists nail MGTOW guy's to the misogynist board. They can't have men opting out of this narcissistic sexual hierarchy - if they are no men to settle for after riding the carousel what was the ultimate point?

They have to be shunted through the sexual meat grinder with vague promises of female love & sexual access. It is a system completely designed to serve female interests.

That is, when there are providers to settle for. If the potential pool of men to be settled for is disrupted, serious issues develop. It is a game of musical chairs, where the most desired chairs are few, but there are many chairs that do exist. If you kick out the less desired chairs all you do is intensify competition for the desirable chairs.

When men like Lester desire to change, they threaten the hierarchy. Teena is little more than a potential beta male in the hierarchy - maybe that is why there are far more male to female transsexuals than the reverse.

Regardless, masculinity in America is not in a good place. It is marred by female privilege, false visions of gender & beta male frustration. Like I alluded to in my Beetlejuice thread, it may be for the best for this society to just swill out to sea. It might just be too late of an hour to change what is already in the cards. Sometimes, you just have to pour a drink, sit back & watch Rome burn.

Like I quoted in my Beetlejuice thread: "It's too late America, I'm sorry."

I pause for a second before finishing my drink. I am there for more than a few moments before realizing there is nothing left to see here.

[calidude]

Brilliant post as usual; this definitely encourages me to think more analytically when not just in school.

Quote:

Like I alluded to in my Beetlejuice thread, it may be for the best for this society to just swill out to sea. It might just be too late of an hour to change what is already in the cards. Sometimes, you just have to pour a drink, sit back & watch Rome burn.

Regarding this, I often feel the same yet I have conflicting thoughts that we still need to combat this plague of society and not idly sit by, but it does seem futile. This quote by Aldous Huxley comes to mind " Cynical realism is the intelligent man's best excuse for doing nothing in an intolerable situation."

I would love to see a post by you regarding woman going into combat to bolster their careers.

[Edmund Dantes]

Good shit Wycked