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| Taken from: www.colourbox.com |
A goy, or a man's man, is the highlight of the article "Turning Goys into Girls" by Michelle Cottle. Through this work, the author ascertains that men who keep up their appearance, stay physically fit, and dress well are "girls." Though some aspects of this, such as make-up and cosmetic surgery are typically feminine, it is a mistake for Cottle to assume that men who behave in a more civilized, health-conscious way are now woman. By examining Colette's reasoning in a critical and logical way, one can find that "Turning Goys into Girls" is a just an exaggerated article.
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| Taken from: www.avrillavignetalkshow.webs.com |
To begin with, it is sexist to pair "attractive" and "physically fit" with a particular gender as there are always exceptions in each member of each sex. One can easily find woman who would not fall into Colette's definition of the female gender, which she defines as a group that is "insane, insecure, and irrational about physical appearance as any Cosmo girl" [Argument! 260] or that obsesses over expensive clothes and accessories. Take myself, for example; I barely ever read these popular magazines, and I only wear and do things that please me, and not the popular society. Thus, her claim, or over-generalizations, proves to be false, and it decreases the credibility of this author, Michelle Cottle, which tempts me to not heed anything else that she says.
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| Taken from: www.fitmanoncampus.com |
Another assumption that Michelle Cottle makes involves the popular media, or the increase in sales of popular magazines such as Men's Health and Men's Journal. Cottle assumes that when men are exposed to such media, that they will want to imitate it. Her conclusion of the article reads, "my consolation will have to be the image of thousands of once-proud men, having long scorned women's insecurities, lining up for their laser peels and truing to squeeze their middle-ages asses into a snug set of Super Shaper Briefs--with the optional fly front endowment pad, naturally" [Argument! 263]. However, these are rational, human beings, and Colette just uses a stereotypical "dumb dad" approach to the subject. Again, she oversimplifies the issue , and just as some women chose not to be as superficial as the media projects them to be, some men (or most of the men) will chose differently as well.
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| Taken from: www.celebrityheightslist.com |
All in all, by oversimplification and some sexist reasoning, the article "Turning Goys into Girls" is not a correct prediction of the Western man-kind at all. Though the facts mentioned by Michelle Colette may be true (i.e. increase in men's magazines, more men paying attention to their health and appearance, and so on), her conclusions are not. This article is thus a good example of how simplifying an argument or relying on stereotypes only ruins one's position by weakening the work. For not all of man's man will be "vulnerable to the lure of high-priced underwear, cologne, running shoes ... boots, energy bars and sex aids" [Argument! 263], and it is hard to imagine Chuck Norris in line for a liposuction.
Works Cited:
Colette, Michelle. "Turning Goys into Girls." Argument! 10th ed. N.p.: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 260-63. Print.
I agree that Colette puts too much reliance on stereotypes. When I read this article I wonder how much more likely these stereotypes are evident in larger urban areas as opposed to more rural parts of the U.S.
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