Good Husband or Emasculated Wuss?

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If anyone can tell that the thing that guy is holding is a diamond-encrusted ANYTHING, they must have Superman telescopic vision (or, to be more precise, "CSI fake-ass 'zoom in on an undefined blur and get somebody's license plate number' vision"). It looks like something vaguely camera-like, that's all I can glean from it.

As for the purse: so his wife asked him to hold it for a minute? Big deal. If he puts it on the ground, somebody could run off with it.

 

[thestrangequark]

The bag and phone are nothing. It's the ridicule of the person holding them that are absurd! The defense of ridiculing of the person in the picture is also ridiculous!

Mr Awe

Yes, that is, indeed, the point I was making.

Sorry, I am slow today.

Mr Awe

I still love you. And I think you're totally manly.

 

[Mary Ann]

This thread is pure entertainment. And Kestra's still awesome.

 

[Mr Awe]

Yes, that is, indeed, the point I was making.

Sorry, I am slow today.

Mr Awe

I still love you. And I think you're totally manly.

Ah thanks! Even though I've been known to wear pink shirts? Love you too!

 

[thestrangequark]

Especially because you wear pink shirts.

 

[Mr Awe]

^^ I'm going to start wearing them more often!

 

[TheSeeker]

Pink shirts for guys in the 80s were pretty cool. I had one.

 

[Captain Ice]

My husband will hold my purse while I try on clothes, look through the racks of bras to find one he'd like for me in my size, heck, he even has a pink shirt! I like that he's secure enough in his masculinity that other people's opinions don't matter.

This....

Flux, all your other posts just added to that initial impression of you and your opinion. It would be much more constructive to pause the back-and-forth and tell us your own feelings about all of this instead of being purely in defensive mode. If people have gotten the wrong impression of you, please correct it!

and this.

Why the hell should anyone who is confident in himself and his masculinity give a damn about what anyone else thinks? So, he is holding his wife's purse. Why is this a big deal? If that phone was black and the bag was a briefcase, no one would have looked twice.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

And just consider this...Eddie Izzard, a noted cross-dresser, is straight. Talk about being secure.

 

[Amaris]

Thanks, Mr. Awe. You're sweet.

Especially because you wear pink shirts.

Hey, I wear pink underwear! Granted, they started off red, but you get the idea!

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Why the hell should anyone who is confident in himself and his masculinity give a damn about what anyone else thinks?

What IS masculinity anyway?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Thanks, Mr. Awe. You're sweet.

Shouldn't you call him Mr. Awwwwwwww then?

Perhaps his first initial is D.

 

[stj]

I knew a man who carried his wife's purse a lot. Over the shoulder too, because it was more convenient. (I thought that was why so many purses had shoulder straps, honestly.)

Although I know for a fact that she was diabled and had enough trouble walking, much less carrying her purse (yes, it was overloaded, I saw him empty it out looking for a cell phone,) it never occurred to me anyone could be so insanely committed to sexual stereotypes as to get so petty. I'm afraid that the women who agreed are small-mindedness and actively complicit in the contempt for women this attitude displays.

The lady has since died. I imagine the widower would be horribly tempted to deem these people both repulsive and contemptible.

 

[wissaboo]

haters gonna hate.

 

[Grey]

And it may not be to you but to many men, pink is strictly a feminine color. I would never put a pink case on my phone, nor would I buy one with jewels or diamonds on it. I'm a straight guy and I like my things to be masculine. You can't be saying that a pink bedazzled phone case seems in any way masculine...right?

I can't stand pink or jewels. I surround myself with dark colors and neutral, minimum designs. My phone has no elaborate decoration. I don't carry a purse. Aesthetically, I prefer what you've described as "masculine."

I am not a straight man.

My aesthetic tastes are not defined by my genitals. And, as we've established in this thread, nor is one's worth as a mate or a person.

It's also kind of odd, if I may say so, that the women seem to be insulting the man by comparing him to, well, women. In a sort of "Ha! Look at this guy! He looks as weak and pathetic as we do!" kind of way.

This. The fact that the women who were there/saw the picture were degrading him on the basis of their own supposed gender attributes is...um...

Concerning.

Do they think it somehow devalues a person to carry a pink phone with sparklies glued to it? Or big purses? Because maybe they should stop doing it if so.

My husband's boss has long hair, wears a kilt on a regular basis and paints his nails. He could also kick your ass in a fight and has a large collection of weapons---at least one of which was used to fight off and subdue a home invader who tried to assault his wife. Would you call him a wuss? My husband has pink polo shirt that he likes to wear; does that make him feminine, even though he was an MP and a sharpshooter?

Although I get the spirit behind what you are saying, you are also engaging in the same normative behavior the OP alluded to. Why does it matter if a man can kick someone's ass in a fight, or hold a gun? Does this imply a man who can't is "less of a man"? The way you phrased it, it almost sounds like a man who wears pink or paints his nails is obligated to compensate for it in other ways to prove his manliness--which, I think, is the kind of attitude the OP was promoting, and which I find detestable.

I love this so much. It's a good point and I am so happy to see people are giving this subject the deep thought it deserves.



I have just one final point. For all the "uhhhh this guy's whipped lol" people looking at this picture? Well, at least he's getting laid!

(Since when we evaluate the concept of being "masculine" enough to be worthy, this is really what we're talking about, right?)

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

A man would have to be an idiot to let himself get wrapped around the axle about being considerate of his partner. Jeez Louise, if this is what "masculinity" consists of for someone they've got real emotional maturity problems.

I own a couple of pink shirts, BTW. They look fine with a black leather jacket.

 

[Kirby]

I've carried my wife's purse many times, who cares? When our kids were babies, I'd carry the diaper bag too, which is really nothing more than a big purse. This guy is just being a good husband. Good for him.

 

[JoeZhang]

Where does it come on the manly scale if you carry your wife's strap-on?

 

[Thestral]

^

 

[Amaris]

Where does it come on the manly scale if you carry your wife's strap-on?

Is it diamond encrusted?