61 – The Dress (Part 2)
Well, that’s the most cleavage I think we’ll ever show in this comic. So, soak it in, guys! All of that wonderful cleavage in that picture of Iggy Pop.
Honestly, it feels wrong to me to be using that actual photograph in the comic; that’s not really my style. I don’t like pasting celebrity photos into my drawn artwork. But… This image is a little different, because the image she is showing is a real picture you can find online, with that same quote apparently actually said by Iggy Pop.
And I had to use that actual picture, because it is what inspired the whole page here. When I first saw it a long while back, I was floored. I never thought of it that way, at least, not such a poignant response toward a man doing something “like a woman.” I mean, I’ve been annoyed by the whole “like a girl” insults since childhood; “throw like a girl” was stupid because I knew so many girls who threw very well. The insult didn’t work; it insulted the accuser more because they didn’t know what women are capable of.
But I never thought of the reasoning given in that quote. Even if (trait X) is different for women, does that mean you are saying it is shameful or wrong to be a woman? Ouch, that cuts deep.
Of course, the whole reason it is insulting for a man to be compared to a woman is because it is insulting for a man to not be a man. It’s one of the mental attributes of men; we feel it is important to be men, and we feel it is important to do manly things. If there is a quality we think “a real man” would or wouldn’t do, we emulate that, because as men we want to be men.
But, since it is insulting toward women to treat womanly qualities as an insult, (and real men wouldn’t demean all of womanhood like that,) as a society we need to move away from that. Instead, let’s just insult men by calling them “not a man.”
For example, “you throw like you’re not a real man!” Try it sometime. Calling a man “not a real man” will cut him far deeper than comparing him to a woman, and usually, prompt him to improve instead of just taking it as an insult.
Man is a title, it must be earned and proven.