I've written about my Kardashian love before.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2014/06/in-kourtney-kardashian-i-trust-once.html
This past weekend me and my right hand man Kev went to try to meet Khloe Kardashian at Bookcon.
As usual we didn't actually get to speak to her though she was very friendly and I'm hoping that my t-shirt in honor of Kourtney Kardashian might at least get some face time on the tv show. Fingers crossed but I'm not assuming anything.
However, lately, it's occured to me that the Kardashians as a cultural phenomenon could be read as the 'dream walking' of the anti-feminists of the 70s and 80s who had warned that feminism was out to destroy men, to make them obsolete.
Isn't in many ways the Kardashian clan just that? A clan of strong female harpies that don't need a man for anything? In this sense the dream of Kev and I that we can somhow penetrate the Kardashain clan can be read as a kind of quixotic dream-the quaint relic of a time when it was thought that men mattered. I mean what do these women really need from any man?
After all, the Kardashians are extremely, rich, beautiful, powerful, and famous, and they in no way owe anything to any man-perhaps somewhat to the late Robert Kardashian-as he helped Kris Jenner get part of the way here.
Other than this, the females have done it all on their own. With all these strong, dynamic females, there really are no men left in the Kardashian orbit. I mean their brother, Rob, is hardly a man-he's a an emotional and mental cripple, a man-boy who whines and lives off his sisters while blaming them for his failure of a life.
His sisters-particularly Khloe-have taken care of him his whole life.
Then there''s Scott Disick-Kourtney's everything but husband; they basically have lived as man and wife for years but she understandably has no interest in making it official. Scott is a self-centered,, self-involved drunk who lives off Kourtney's money.
These are hardly men. The only-seemingly-masculine presence was Bruce Jenner; his masculinity wasn't simply the fact that he was biologically born a male, it was that he was a super man-the world's greatest athlete after the Olympics. He was the world's view of the greatest athlete.
Even through his years in the Kardashian clan he was sort of like the ultimate annoying Dad-you know the one who won't let anyone sleep on family vacations-he'd force everyone out at the crack of dawn for bungee jumping, kayaking, etc. Kind of a Super Dad.
Now it turns out that this ultimate picture of masculinity reveals that all along he was faking it: 'I have always had the mind of a woman.'
So in many ways you can read the tale of the Kardashians as a sign of the age 'The impossibility of masculinity'-the very idea now seems as miraculous a fanciful a thing as the belief in a deity.
Bruce told his kids not to worry-he'll still be here. Yes, but it's not him it's her-Caitlyn. Does this mean they now have no father-2 mothers?
Look, you know me-I'm a liberal. I believe that people have a right to make choices, I'm a social libertarian. Still, while I'm not saying Bruce doesn't have the legal right to do what he''s doing, I will admit to being at a loss to know what it all means.
He says he's not gay-that he likes women, he always has. But if this is so, and he's a woman doesn't that make him a lesbian?
The ideology that the transgender community offers up is that gender is not a function of the genitals but of the brain. In a way that does seem to make some sense to me; they aren't saying that gender isn't real or that it's just a choice like what to eat for dinner; they're saying that gender resides in the brain.
I have always felt like intelligence is gendered-the psychoanalytic theory of Lacan and Zizek always understood this.
Still, to be honest, if I want a woman, I want someone who is both mentally but also anatomically a woman.
Caitlyn tells us that she's a much better person that Bruce was:
"Jenner, 65, reflected on her emotional evolution in the talked-about interview with VF contributing editor Buzz Bissinger. The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star said she is doing things as Caitlyn that she would have never done as Bruce."
Read more: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/caitlyn-jenner-says-she-is-a-much-better-person-than-bruce-jenner-was-201526#ixzz3bv5VXymB
Follow us: @usweekly on Twitter | usweekly on Facebook
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2014/06/in-kourtney-kardashian-i-trust-once.html
This past weekend me and my right hand man Kev went to try to meet Khloe Kardashian at Bookcon.
As usual we didn't actually get to speak to her though she was very friendly and I'm hoping that my t-shirt in honor of Kourtney Kardashian might at least get some face time on the tv show. Fingers crossed but I'm not assuming anything.
However, lately, it's occured to me that the Kardashians as a cultural phenomenon could be read as the 'dream walking' of the anti-feminists of the 70s and 80s who had warned that feminism was out to destroy men, to make them obsolete.
Isn't in many ways the Kardashian clan just that? A clan of strong female harpies that don't need a man for anything? In this sense the dream of Kev and I that we can somhow penetrate the Kardashain clan can be read as a kind of quixotic dream-the quaint relic of a time when it was thought that men mattered. I mean what do these women really need from any man?
After all, the Kardashians are extremely, rich, beautiful, powerful, and famous, and they in no way owe anything to any man-perhaps somewhat to the late Robert Kardashian-as he helped Kris Jenner get part of the way here.
Other than this, the females have done it all on their own. With all these strong, dynamic females, there really are no men left in the Kardashian orbit. I mean their brother, Rob, is hardly a man-he's a an emotional and mental cripple, a man-boy who whines and lives off his sisters while blaming them for his failure of a life.
His sisters-particularly Khloe-have taken care of him his whole life.
Then there''s Scott Disick-Kourtney's everything but husband; they basically have lived as man and wife for years but she understandably has no interest in making it official. Scott is a self-centered,, self-involved drunk who lives off Kourtney's money.
These are hardly men. The only-seemingly-masculine presence was Bruce Jenner; his masculinity wasn't simply the fact that he was biologically born a male, it was that he was a super man-the world's greatest athlete after the Olympics. He was the world's view of the greatest athlete.
Even through his years in the Kardashian clan he was sort of like the ultimate annoying Dad-you know the one who won't let anyone sleep on family vacations-he'd force everyone out at the crack of dawn for bungee jumping, kayaking, etc. Kind of a Super Dad.
Now it turns out that this ultimate picture of masculinity reveals that all along he was faking it: 'I have always had the mind of a woman.'
So in many ways you can read the tale of the Kardashians as a sign of the age 'The impossibility of masculinity'-the very idea now seems as miraculous a fanciful a thing as the belief in a deity.
Bruce told his kids not to worry-he'll still be here. Yes, but it's not him it's her-Caitlyn. Does this mean they now have no father-2 mothers?
Look, you know me-I'm a liberal. I believe that people have a right to make choices, I'm a social libertarian. Still, while I'm not saying Bruce doesn't have the legal right to do what he''s doing, I will admit to being at a loss to know what it all means.
He says he's not gay-that he likes women, he always has. But if this is so, and he's a woman doesn't that make him a lesbian?
The ideology that the transgender community offers up is that gender is not a function of the genitals but of the brain. In a way that does seem to make some sense to me; they aren't saying that gender isn't real or that it's just a choice like what to eat for dinner; they're saying that gender resides in the brain.
I have always felt like intelligence is gendered-the psychoanalytic theory of Lacan and Zizek always understood this.
Still, to be honest, if I want a woman, I want someone who is both mentally but also anatomically a woman.
Caitlyn tells us that she's a much better person that Bruce was:
"Jenner, 65, reflected on her emotional evolution in the talked-about interview with VF contributing editor Buzz Bissinger. The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star said she is doing things as Caitlyn that she would have never done as Bruce."
"Even my son, actually, Burt said that to me one time. He goes, 'To be honest with you, I think Caitlyn is a lot better person than Bruce,'" Caitlyn said, referencing her eldest son Burt Jenner, whom she shares with first wife Chrystie Crownover. "And I really have to -- I think he's right, because Bruce always had to tell a lie, he was always living that lie, every day, he always had a secret from morning till night. Caitlyn doesn't have any secrets."
Read more: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/caitlyn-jenner-says-she-is-a-much-better-person-than-bruce-jenner-was-201526#ixzz3bv5VXymB
Follow us: @usweekly on Twitter | usweekly on Facebook
Again, for me this begs lots more questions than it answers. However, I'm sure I'll check out 'her' show when it comes out and maybe it will make more sense as time goes on.
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