10 Responses to The Phrase "Man Up"
1) Fuck you.
2) If you want to question my masculinity,
like a schoolyard circle of curses,
like a swordfight with light sabre erections,
save your breath,
because contrary to what you may believe
not every problem can be solved
by "growing a pair",
you cant armwrestle your way out of chemical depression,
the CEO of the company that just laid you off
does not care how much you bench,
and i promise
there is no light beer in the universe full bodied enough to make you love yourself.
3) Man up? Ohhhhh thats that new super hero right?
Mild mannered, supplement salesman,
Mark Manstrong says the magic words "man up!",
and then transforms into the Five O'Clock Shadow,
the Math_ Muscle,
the deep voiced, black leather,
__wearing super hero
who defends the worlds from...
i dont know,
feelings.
4) i dont drink a lot of beer
cuz im not a "real man",
but im pretty sure that of all the beers in the world,
Miller Light is not the most flavourful brew.
It kind of taste like whatever an insecure jackass wrote these "man up" commercials
got rejected by a beautiful no nonsense bartender,
drank a 6 pack of real beer, alone, in his apartment,
and then Miller bottled his tears.
You ever notice how nobody ever says "woman up"?
They just imply it,
because women, and the women's movement figured out a long time ago
that being directly ordered around
by commercials, magazines, and music is dehumanizing.
When will men figure that out?
6) "Man up" assaults our self esteem,
by suggesting that competence and perseverance are uniquely masculine traits.
That women, not to mention any man who doesnt eat steak,
drive a pick up truck,
have lots of sex with women,
and otherwise conform to gender norms absolutely,
are nothing more than background characters and props,
in a movie where the strong, stoic, real man is the hero,
but more than anything though,
it suggests that to be yourself
whether you wear skinny jeans
listen to lady gaga
rock a little eyeliner
drink some other brand of light beer
or write poetry,
will cost you.
7) How many boys have to kill themselves
before this country acknowledges the problem?
How many women have to be abused?
How many trans people have to get assaulted?
We teach our boys how to wear the skin of a man,
but we also teach them how to raise that skin like a flag,
draw blood for it.
8) Boy babies get blue socks,
girl babies get pink socks.
What about purple?
What about orange?
Yellow?
Chartreuse?
Cerulean?
Black
tie died
buffalo
plaid
rainbow
there are so many beautiful colours
and combinations of colours,
yet boy babies get blue socks,
and girl babies get pink socks.
9) I want to be free to express myself.
Man up.
i want to have meaningful,
emotional relationships with other men,
man up,
i want to be weak sometimes
man up
i want to be strong in a way that isnt
about physical dominance or power
man up
i want to cry if i feel like crying
man up
i want to ask for help
man up
i want to be who i am
man up
10)
No.