Sexual harassment

Every man on the planet who has reached puberty understands the evolutionary urge and its powerful chemistry. Maybe not in those terms, but at least in their pants. Some men--by discipline, personal commitment, religious belief, fear or other means--can keep it in their pants. Other men--by power, privilege, wealth, brutishness, weak character, coercion or other means--can’t.

Men can understand the actions of sexual predators and may sometimes have sexual fantasies of that kind. Keeping them as fantasies separates the man from the predator. 

Hitting on women at the office, trying seduction, using power to coerce sex and rape are all levels of moral weakness, sexual immaturity and cowardice. To say such men are dickheads let’s them off too easy.

What they think is their love wand is really just a personal pleasure stick. Maybe every office building needs to have a set of masturbation pods where men can jerk off and get it out of their systems and leave women alone.

Still, make an assessment for yourself of the content of the media produced by the Hollywood moguls and actors. How much lives out their own fantasies? How much meets the desires of our own fantasies? How much of it affirms the very behavior of their own sexual lives.

Many women and a few men are courageously are bringing this systemic behavior out into the daylight. It remains to be seen as to whether the structure will crumble or in the end just shake a little.

Dyscreenotopia

Beware. They are everywhere. Movies, TV, video games, cell phones, gas station pumps, highways. classrooms, lobbies, kids toys and more. I’m talking about screens.

We live in a world of dyscreenotopia. While they inform us and entertain us, they also intend to manipulate us and seduce us and make us believe that what we only want is what really need.

The screens are full of action, color, sound, beautiful people, cute cartoon characters, all grabbing for our attention. And that would not necessarily be all bad. But how do we assess this visual flood; how do we take it on with a critical eye.

The truth is, we usually don’t. In a world that is increasingly visual, we get no training in the visual language. We don’t know how to interpret these images for ourselves. We don’t learn how to deconstruct them for the intent beneath the message. We don’t get how we are being manipulated. We can’t discern. 

And in most cases, that’s just fine with the makers.

What is art?

What is art?

A vessel for meaning
A passion if not an obsession
Thoughts turned into images
A conversation with the world
A conversation about the world
An image to make ideas endure
A language
A road with many forks
A process with big and small risks
A journey of self-discovery
Sometimes bleeding
A cultural necessity
A product of culture that transforms culture
Digesting the world and giving it back
A solitary practice
A gift
A personal vision
A cultural barometer
A voice from the edge

And that’s just a start

Weapons

From the smallest band of rebels to the largest global forces.
From the streets of North America to the parade grounds of North Korea.
From child soldiers to professional mercenaries.
From the jungles of Africa to the deserts of Afghanistan.
From the Gaza Strip to the Las Vegas Strip.
From brutal insurgents to defenders of freedom.
From religious zealots to heathen monsters.
From the guy on your block to the soldier who killed your son.

Any one of these can have easy access to military grade weapons in any quantity they want. How is this possible? Who profits from the global trade in weapons?
How can peace be so easily and so regularly be held at gunpoint?

The global weapons trade is never discussed in the context of conflict. Why? The profiteers are never named. Why?

Initiation rites

In many indigenous cultures an initiation rite for its male youth introduces them to adulthood and its responsibilities, sexual and communal. It is clear then that they are men, and they understand their responsibilities as men in their society.

Contemporary society is much more complicated than such tribal societies. If we look across the globe at instances of sexual predation such as in ISIS, Boko Haram, sex slavery, on college campuses, arranged marriages, sexual misconduct by religious, and countless examples of sexual attacks on young women, an argument could be made that some form of predatory sexual behavior is become the initiation into manhood in contemporary society.

Ask yourself. When, by default, we put “initiation rites” into the hands of media, entertainment and corporate marketing, what do we get?

Turns into love

In life, If you're lucky and work at it, love will turn into love will turn into love will turn into love will turn into love.

Sex and men

A solution for male sexual transgressions. Make all male sexual predators wear a tight fitting penis bracelet which sets off a warning signal at the start of an erection.
Of course, I’m not serious about this because, even if it worked, it would only solve the problem after the fact.

We live in a male dominated society. That may be culture or nurture or evolution or power, but it is a fact. Women, even as their impact on society worldwide increases, still make steps forward only haltingly and unevenly. They can address issues of glamorization, dress, media images and stereotypes, work and motherhood, but it’s men who must make the real changes.

And I mean moguls, CEOs, thugs. adolescents, farmers, cheaters, gentlemen, academics, Hollywood power players, pornographers, fathers, uncles, artists, mechanics, athletes—all of us men. We can’t easily stop the marketers, TV and film producers, media giants, sex salesmen and entertainers who swamp us in sex messages.

We can resist though. We can become men who respect women and, in turn, respect ourselves.