Medved Needs an Emesis Basin – Stat!
By Mona
Hugh Hewit’s favorite film critic and Town Hall columnist Michael Medved, is terribly worried that teh gheys are interested in his package, and it, like, gags him with a spoon:
Many gay activists suggest that this near-universal straight male repulsion at the idea of sex with another man is merely the product of cultural conditioning: a learned prejudice that ought to be unlearned. This represents the core message of gay pride parades and even the drive for same-sex marriage: an effort to persuade all of society that gay sex is as beautiful as straight sex, and to “cure†men of their visceral disgust at the very thought of what two (or more) male homosexuals do with one another..According to the “enlightened†advocates of gay liberation, this disgust gets to the very essence of “homophobia†– an altogether unjustified fear and distaste for male-on-male physical intimacy. When Hardaway says “I hate gay people†what he suggests at the deepest level is that he feels revolted by the very notion of same-sex eroticism and that he’d prefer not to face the distraction of such thoughts in the locker room or on the court..In this sense, the reluctance to team (in athletics or the military) with announced homosexuals isn’t bigotry, it’s common sense.
So you str8 fellas, tell me, do y’all really spend angst-ridden hours contemplating — or desperately working to avoid contemplating — what those homo dudes “do with each other?” I’m kind of partial to those thoughts myself, cuz me, I’m one of those gay men trapped in a woman’s body. And as Medved would thus suspect, I therefore spend a lot of time disgusted at what I would do if only I were what I really am, or something.
.
Btw, shouldn’t it be a rule that people who are so revolted by homosexuality are by definition disqualified from being film critics?
Comment by Asteele —
February 21, 2007 @ 8:24 pm
Love the “no fatties” shout out in there.
Comment by Mona —
February 21, 2007 @ 8:40 pm
No c’mon Asteele, if you’re a guy, admit it — you have wiled away countless days considering the sheer horror of sharing a shower with a very large woman who would grok your studly self, and you’ve done so to precisely the same extent and degree you worry that a gay Adonis might take a peek at your parts. It’s all you think about, just like Medved and the amusingly named Hardaway do.
“No fags, and no fat chicks!” — a bumper sticker for today’s enlightened, manly men!
Comment by Rob —
February 21, 2007 @ 8:53 pm
You would think being able to understand filmatic themes would be required to be a film critic but Medved fails on that account as well.
And no I highly doubt most men worry about being checked out and admired secretly. The worry comes from two areas:
1) Liking the attention.
2)Rape. The reason why there are so many jokes about prison rape isn’t just because people believe prisoners deserve it. Its also do the fact that a group shower/prison is one area where men actually feel vulnerable to being raped.
And so Mona likes yaoi….
Comment by Rich Puchalsky —
February 21, 2007 @ 8:56 pm
It goes without saying that all severe homophobes are closet cases. But there, I said it.
The worst thing about being a straight guy at a gay pride march was seeing other straight guys wear those “straight but not narrow” buttons. I hate those. I mean, would it be so bad to have people for just a little while possibly assume that you might be gay?
Comment by poofla —
February 21, 2007 @ 8:59 pm
I would like to know how Medved chooses a doctor. Since sexual attraction overcomes a person’s professionalism, he obviously couldn’t have a female doctor, but he also couldn’t have a doctor who employed any female nurses or medical technicians. On the other hand, Medved also said that intimate male physical contact could overcome a person’s professionalism, so male doctors/nurses/medical technicians are also problematic. Do Medved and the medical staff all have to prove their heterosexuality to one another before every examination or procedure?
Comment by Aaron —
February 21, 2007 @ 9:01 pm
As a str8 fella, I will answer your first question above. No. Hope I’ve been of help.
Comment by Bruce Baugh —
February 21, 2007 @ 9:02 pm
A gay friend of mine once said that he was still waiting to hear worried ranting about how teh gayz are scoping him out from someone that my friend found in the slightest degree cute. “I do check out straight guys, and there’s about a million of them worth more of my attention than you within a square mile of here. Shove off.”
Comment by Robert the Red —
February 21, 2007 @ 9:11 pm
It is very common (universal?) to believe that what you feel deeply is “true” or “right” in some sense. Of course, depth of feelings really don’t translate to truth and rightness so well. On the other hand, we usually have to go by our feelings since reasoned information is lacking. But at least we should be able to step back and question the rightness of our feelings from time to time. Medved (and many others) seem to be completely incapable of this type of introspection.
I feel is is “right” to eat the flesh of formerly living animals. But will that be widely condemned as a primitive monstrosity in 100 years? Maybe. Perhaps this, or some other aspect of our society, will come to be seen as intrinsically evil, like slavery is now (but was not widely thought of as a moral evil 300 years ago).
Personally, I also don’t feel comfortable with the thought of homosexual activity for myself. But so what? I also don’t feel comfortable at heights looking straight down, but I don’t say that rock climbing should be banned. I don’t feel comfortable eating live baby octopuses or dead dog meat (both delicacies in Korea), but don’t think they should be criminalized.
Comment by Barry —
February 21, 2007 @ 9:17 pm
Speaking of that (things once thought to be natural and right, but no more), “There is no rational basis for discomfort at playing with athletes of another race since science and experience show that human racial differences remain insignificant.”
Shouldn’t MM be excommunicated? He’s violating two cardinal rules. He committed racial non-differencism, and respect for science.
Comment by Mona —
February 21, 2007 @ 9:24 pm
And you could justly add, “not that there’s anything wrong with that.” I have zero interest in doing another chick, and find the thought of messing with another woman’s pvt parts mildly unpleasant. So you know what? I don’t have sex with other women. Some gay guys I know only find women sexually uninteresting; others positively find our genitals gross. That’s all fine as a matter of personal disposition and when not projected outward on others to some illiberal end.
Comment by Doctor Memory —
February 21, 2007 @ 9:25 pm
I would like to call careful attention to that very revealing paranthetical:
…not that Mr. Medved has spent a lot of time thinking about the various possibilities, no no no…
Comment by Mona —
February 21, 2007 @ 9:29 pm
Barry: Further, the opposition to racially integrating the military did not stand only on whether there was, in fact, and objective and significant differences between blacks and whites. Military brass claimed regardless of whether that was true or not, white animus against blacks was so pervasive and deep that forcing the races to mix would destroy morale and hence the military.
Yeah, that happened.
Comment by mds —
February 21, 2007 @ 10:33 pm
So you str8 fellas, tell me, do y’all really spend angst-ridden hours contemplating — or desperately working to avoid contemplating — what those homo dudes “do with each other?â€
As someone who was
rearedraisedbrought upAs someone who grew up a fundamentalist Christian, I can assure you that no, I have never contemplated the possible actions of aroused, muscular gay men, their well-oiled bodies entwining…Anyway, nice mustache, Mr. Medved.
Comment by Cernig —
February 21, 2007 @ 10:40 pm
I suspect Medved became a conservative simply because if he were a lefty he would have to wear a blindfold in the shower…
…to avoid looking down on the unemployed!
Cha…boom.
Regards, C
Comment by Glaivester —
February 22, 2007 @ 12:17 am
It goes without saying that all severe homophobes are closet cases. But there, I said it.
It goes without saying that all people who like to make fun of “homophobes” are secretly repulsed by gay people.
There, I said it.
Comment by Leonard —
February 22, 2007 @ 12:25 am
The comparison of gays to women is interesting, but inapt. It is not the case that women and men are not mixed in sport for fear of sexual entanglements, or at least, this is far from the main reason.
Rather, sport is sexually segregated to foster competition, because men and women are different in ways that relate directly to sport.
The reason men are not allowed to compete in women’s sports is that men, if allowed, would dominate the women. (This would be true in any sport requiring muscle mass, which is to say, almost all sports.) Then the “women’s” sport would no longer be that; it would be a second men’s sport.
Note that the reverse — allowing women into “men’s” sports — does not alter the nature of the competition. Only truly extraordinary female athletes will be able to compete with men in most sports, but there’s no reason why they should not. This seems to be the way that society is evolving. I.e. everyone hopes that Michelle Wie can make the cut at some PGA tournament. 10 years ago there was a minor fizz in baseball about the hope that Ila Borders would be able to pitch in the bigs (she didn’t have the stuff, but did start for a men’s college team and a AA-level minor league pro team).
Gays can compete with other men just fine. Even if it is true that they are naturally disadvantaged against straight men (as women are), that’s no reason to exclude them from men’s sports; it is, at most, a reason for them to create their own segregated leagues (as women do).
Comment by Glaivester —
February 22, 2007 @ 12:28 am
Actually, I don’t see why what Medved says is so controversial. While one can argue that a man shouldn’t feel uncomfortable being in the same room with a gay man, I can see perfectly well why a straight man would be uncomfortable being naked in the same room with a gay man.
So you str8 fellas, tell me, do y’all really spend angst-ridden hours contemplating — or desperately working to avoid contemplating — what those homo dudes “do with each other?â€
No, but then again I don’t have to shower with them. Besides, the issue isn’t what they do with each other but the idea that one will want to do these things with you.
I think that “The Man Who is Thursday” has some good thoughts on this.
Comment by Glaivester —
February 22, 2007 @ 12:30 am
Leonard – the issue here isn’t the segregation in sports on the field/court, it’s the segregation of the locker rooms.
Comment by Leonard —
February 22, 2007 @ 12:44 am
Mona, to answer your question, I don’t think about gay sex at all.
But I do think you are being parochial here. The fear of homosexuality is generally a lower-class phenomenon, and there’s a reason for that: fear of second class citizenship. The deployment of physical force to get what you want is not something most middle class people think about much. But it is significant lower down the social ladder, where a man who cannot or will not fight (physically, that is; literally) will end up being beaten up, robbed, pushed around.
Within this mindset, to be a Man (a male who pushes others around; a top) ought to be the goal of all normal men. Anyone who isn’t (including, as a matter of definition homosexuals), just doesn’t count and may be mercilessly exploited. Within this culture, to associate or be identified too closely with women or gays is to unman oneself, with attendant loss of status.
In prisons, this plays out in its most extreme form. Any man who won’t fight is at risk of rape. Once a man has been raped, he has been “turned out”, symbolically made a woman, and is considered fair game for all Men to rape at will, unless some other Man protects him. Thus, in prison in particular, but also in the general lower-class population of men (many of whom have been in prisons), to call someone a faggot is the worst thing one can do. It is a rape threat: “fight me or I will rape you”.
Listen to rap music. This is the memeset they have; it’s why rap lyrics are so ugly to the middle classes.
Comment by Leonard —
February 22, 2007 @ 12:51 am
Glaivester, I was responding to this:
Medved doesn’t talk about locker rooms. He is suggesting that a man joining a WNBA team would be problematic because of the “overwhelming potency of human sexuality”, not because he can dunk while few women can, and would change the game radically.
Comment by Glaivester —
February 22, 2007 @ 2:59 am
If you read the previous paragraphs, it is obvious that he is thinking about it in terms of locker rooms. Granted, the particular statement he made that you are quoting was made poorly, but his concern was more that for consistency you would need to open the WNBA locker rooms to men than that men would have to be allowed to play on the field.
Medved wrote:
The much better analogy for discomfort at gay teammates involves the widespread (and generally accepted) idea that women and men shouldn’t share locker rooms. Making gay males unwelcome in the intimate circumstances of an NBA team makes just as much sense as making straight males unwelcome in the showers for a women’s team at the WNBA.
Comment by josephdietrich —
February 22, 2007 @ 5:45 am
IMHO, one factor for some mens’ homophobia comes down to a fear of rape. This explains the cliche that male gay sex is gross but female gay sex is not so bad and can be “teh hawt.” This also explains accounts that claim that, in prison, the “doer” is not gay but the “doee” is a faggy bitch.
Comment by Uncle Kvetch —
February 22, 2007 @ 8:27 am
Glaivester, I would bet dollars to donuts that you have showered in front of gay men on quite a few occasions in your life. If you work out at a gym, there’s a good chance that you undress and shower in front of gay men on a regular basis.
Are you uncomfortable with this idea? And if so, what do you think should be done? Would you go to the management of your health club to demand that they question all members on their sexuality, and ban all gay members?
For that matter, do you make a point of investigating the sexuality of your doctor before you get a physical? If not, how can you be sure they’re not…you know…?
Making gay males unwelcome in the intimate circumstances of an NBA team makes just as much sense as making straight males unwelcome in the showers for a women’s team at the WNBA.
See, here’s where Medved (and you, if I read you correctly) tips his hand. There are gay men in the NBA right now. There are gay men in every kind of sport right now. Short of instituting a level of policing of sexuality that no one would tolerate, this is simply the way things are and the way they will remain. What matters to Medved is that these men remain “unwelcome” as gay men…i.e., that they remain closeted and ashamed. A small price to pay, apparently, for your “comfort.”
Comment by Glaivester —
February 22, 2007 @ 9:19 am
Glaivester, I would bet dollars to donuts that you have showered in front of gay men on quite a few occasions in your life.
Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever had a group shower. (I have showered in the same bathroom as other people in my dorm, but in separated stalls) I am not particularly comfortable with showering in front of anyone, male or female, gay or straight.
Comment by steveintheknow —
February 22, 2007 @ 10:02 am
Lets get one thing straight…
Hating gay sex: not bigotry
Hating gay people: bigotry
What a moron.
Comment by MarcZ —
February 22, 2007 @ 10:51 am
Kind of off-topic, but what does it mean to be a “gay man trapped in a woman’s body” anyway? Kind of an insulting statement to make to gay people if you ask me. The fact that you get along real well with the three gay men you hang out with doesn’t mean you share in the experiences, thoughts or desires common to many male homosexuals. But that’s just my opinion.
Comment by Eric Martin —
February 22, 2007 @ 11:05 am
So you str8 fellas, tell me, do y’all really spend angst-ridden hours contemplating — or desperately working to avoid contemplating — what those homo dudes “do with each other?â€
Would sweaty, fevered angst ridden hours count? Just asking. Not me, it’s that a friend…
Kind of an insulting statement to make to gay people if you ask me. The fact that you get along real well with the three gay men you hang out with doesn’t mean you share in the experiences, thoughts or desires common to many male homosexuals.
Oh jeebus Marc, I don’t think Mona meant this literally. Just a little tongue in cheek toss off. Pardon, the, er metaphors.
Comment by just sayin —
February 22, 2007 @ 1:27 pm
No angst-ridden hours, I’m afraid. Just not interested.
I was actually propositioned for sex (it was quite specific) by a gay man on the street when I was in college. He first asked if I knew how to get to Dupont Circle and since I knew the general direction he figured (I suppose) it was worth a try. I told him no and we each went on our way. Beyond the rather oafish approach, I was amazed at how many people thought I should have slugged him. I guess I wasn’t insecure enough to be that kind of REAL man …
Comment by Dr. Klawww —
February 22, 2007 @ 2:27 pm
Wha-a-a? God, I barely know where to start with this guy.
1. Having participated in several gay pride parades, I can say, No, that is not the core message. There is no core message. People don’t throw parades to send a message. Email works better and is cheaper. We do it because it’s a Grand Old Party!
2. Speaking only for myself, I am not in favor of same-sex marriage because I want anyone to unlearn anything or because I want to “cure” anyone of anything; I’m in favor of it because, having met my life partner, who is not a U.S. citizen, I (and he) are going to have to go through ridiculous career sacrifices, extreme end-runs, and half-ass workarounds in our lives [including, yes, the strong possibility that we will eventually have to move to and live in Canada] just for the privilege of legally living on the same freaking LAND MASS (without the perpetual risk of being separated at any time because of visa reasons).
Does anyone else get the feeling that Mr. Medved is pulling an Ann Coulter here–intentionally saying the most offensive, bigoted things that she or he can think of, in order to get face time in the national media?
Geez, I sure am glad I never paid for the copy of The Golden Turkey Awards that I read back in the ’80s. Wouldn’t want to help fund the “lifestyle” of someone who thinks like that.
Did Medved form his opinions back in 1971? …… damn Hippies, with their long hair and bell-bottom pants… protesting American military intervention in a foreign land… ok. i’ll stop.
Comment by SFG —
February 23, 2007 @ 1:59 pm
Mona: would you feel uncomfortable showering with straight men? Of course.
The issue is one many people have touched on here: rape threat. Most men are powerful enough to rape most women. Similarly, for a lot of men, a sufficiently muscled gay man could overtake and rape them.
Why no lesbian rape? I’m sure it happens in jails, but by and large I don’t think most women, lesbian or otherwise, are interested.
Comment by Mona —
February 23, 2007 @ 2:53 pm
SFG, Rape is a crime. If gay NBA or NFL players start raping fellow players in the showers, or gay Marines were to do so, well, they will end up in the prison so many here are discussing vis-a-vis rape.
And do you really mean that Hardaway and Medved’s unbridled disgust is rooted in fear of rape?