The Crisis Continues: or, 'Where the Fuck is My SUV?!?'

Look. Actually, I'm not even going to write about this one. We here at the AntiCentenarian have carried several discussions looking at what we've called [we are not at all the first...] "The Crisis of American Masculinity," whereby we can examine particular ideologies, cultural trends, and political decisions of the super-empowered American elite through a lens of their masculinity being threatened.

And now, Cornell University provides something that resembles "evidence" to our inane arguments:

Men whose masculinity is challenged become more inclined to support war or buy an SUV, a new study finds.

Their attitudes against gays change, too.

Cornell University researcher Robb Willer used a survey to sample undergraduates. Participants were randomly assigned feedback that indicated their responses were either masculine of feminine.

The women had no discernable reaction to either type of feedback in a follow-up survey.

But the guys' reactions were "strongly affected," Willer said today.

"I found that if you made men more insecure about their masculinity, they displayed more homophobic attitudes, tended to support the Iraq war more and would be more willing to purchase an SUV over another type of vehicle," said Willer said. "There were no increases [in desire] for other types of cars."

Those who had their masculinity threatened also said they felt more ashamed, guilty, upset and hostile than those whose masculinity was confirmed, he said.

Some will quickly put this into the category of "No Shit." But we at the AntiC wish to point out that even "No Shit" categorizing does not justify. The question we seek to answer is: how does the Crisis affect all of our lives? What are the challenges to the "modern" man; how does a contemporary male expect to assert their identity without resorting to these trends? Who crafts/creates/promotes these concepts? What is the benefit of them, and to whom? Is this a method whereby we feel inclined to produce more capable American Men; or is it instead a pursuit of defense, designed to keep the Empowered in power?

Interesting stuff, that Crisis.