Friday, October 1, 2010

Raunch, sans the Y-chromosome

I'm a big Judd Apatow fan. I'm not entirely sure I'm his target demographic, but I find his characters really relatable. I don't know if I should see so much of myself in thirty-something straight men with juvenile tendencies, but I find comfort in the universe he has created in which geeks reign supreme.

During class we watched a scene from the movie where Steve Carrell's character, Andy, and all of his hetero male co-workers were playing poker and talking about their sex lives. It's supposed to be pretty raunchy and graphic and a glimpse of how men really talk behind closed doors. I couldn't gauge the reaction of the other females in class, but at one point I asked, "don't women do this too?" I didn't get much of a hetero female response, but I know that they do it as well.

I think that The 40-Year-Old Virgin sheds light on the double-standard that we still have about the difference between men and women's preservation of virginity. Luckily we've come a long way from the Biblical executions of non-virgin brides, but I would argue that the hegemonic power structure still longs to keep women virginal.

A few videos on virginity by Seattle-based sex columnist, Dan Savage (they're all great, I couldn't pick just one):




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