Cracks Spreading in Patriarchy’s Great Wall
Thursday 02 July, 2009 : Editor's BlogThe King of Pop, Michael Jackson, and the Supreme Ruler of Iran, Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei—two men who, as symbols of manhood, couldn’t be further apart. And while no pair of males could represent the full spectrum of masculinity, the Thriller and the Chiller are strong contenders. Jackson’s death June 25, encroached on the headlines Khamenei was making, warning he’d had enough of the massive protests democracy-hungry Iranians were staging in Tehran.
Jackson, whose difficult gendered life seemed to be an attempt to be male, female and all points in between, inadvertently invited us to stretch our thinking about manhood. Not so for the Ayatollah, whose adherence to an extreme and rigid patriarchal masculinity precluded any such yoga of the mind. more »
