[by way of Mere Comments] Last week, a classical music DJ told a story about opening the car door for a date at the outset of their first date. She slammed the door and told him she could get the door herself. He said that was fine, hopped in the driver’s seat, and drove home without her. His point was that he wanted to treat his dates politely, as a gentleman would. If she refused a simple courtesy as opening the car door, she wouldn’t have wanted to spend an evening with him. I thought if he had been more polite, he would have made his point more strongly, but I sympathize with him. He was an old-school Yankee trying to charm a modern feminist (modern being two or three decades ago when this event took place). The Frozen North is filled with impolite people. Rudeness is everywhere, not like here in the South where only the tourists wonder why you’re being nice to them without a profit motive. My! This broad-brush is getting heavy. Let me return to my point.
So what happens with societal pressures produce men who are less than manly? What do you do when you find yourself discussing which of your girlfriends has the girliest boyfriend? That’s what happened to author Adrienne Brodeur who has written a humorous novel on the inadequacies of metrosexuals and the manliness of dairy farmers. Sort of. Man Camp was released by Random House this week. Be sure to watch the trailer on the book’s site for more on the motive for writing it.
