Food for men

Thank goodness for Hardee's.\nWithout its consistent production of unnecessarily large meat creations and individual food items that provide all the calories the average human needs in a day, "some guys would starve." So they claim in their commercials, anyway.\nIn my favorite advertisement, an unassuming, middle-aged white male struggles at cracking and whipping up eggs in a bowl, as in preparation for his breakfast. He does so begrudgingly and unsuccessfully, grunting his way through this very fundamental task.\nHardee's is unabashedly targeting a single demographic in its ads: the heterosexual, rugged man. \nThe men they want to eat at Hardee's don't go tanning or fix their hair with gel, and it's unlikely they're into theater or reading Foucault. Hardee's wants men who like beer, sitting and boobies.\nHardee's men are portrayed as virtually incompetent -- at least when it comes to such traditionally 'feminine' work as cooking -- while women are given little or no reason to eat Hardee's greasy delicacies at all.\nNow, it's unfair to pick on one particular advertisement. The culture of advertising is all about perpetuating stereotypes and planting fears and desires in consumers -- that's just how it goes and how it always will be. How else would marketers get people to buy things, after all?\nStill, the implications of this commercial are particularly unfortunate for both men and women, as it illustrates larger cultural constructions of masculinity and femininity that are degrading. It's because of this that such popular culture texts are important to study.\nThe idea that nonmentally underdeveloped or physically handicapped men cannot adequately crack open and prepare an egg is not only bogus, but also sexist, suggesting that only women -- the perceived masters of the kitchen and home -- can do such things sufficiently. And Hardee's is being condescending to the women and the kitchen, suggesting that "real men" haven't time for "chick" things like cooking and bathing -- they have better things to do, like consume already-prepared cholesterol bits and play football on motorcycles.\nAnything like this Hardee's ad, that contributes to the persistent and limiting dichotomy of gender so deeply developed in our culture, is unfortunate. \nHow free are men in less educated and/or more conservative parts of the country to enjoy cooking, love fashion and makeup or wear a pink shirt? And how free are women to shave their heads, wear giant, baggy shorts or have sex every weekend with a different partner? \nThe law permits the above actions but our society does not without ridicule and chastisement.\nWoody Allen once said, "Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television."\nAnd it seems that, until marketers and mass-media producers are willing to step out of the Happy Meal box, society will take behavioral cues from the media and perpetuate constraining ideas about gender.\nSo, I could really go for 20 pounds of beef on a bun about now. I'll probably wear a jock strap on my way down to Hardee's in a Hummer with 17 20-inch wheels.