Rolling Maleness and Masculinity Discussion Thread

What an interesting website for the Dollar Shave Club. I just learned that the FDA only recently approved an anal sex condom. I live for tidbits like that.

the FFNGGHH ptesumably also involved

I think I just need to stop using the Internet for a year or two

today i learned about something called "scalp micropigmentation" (here is a GIS result https://www.google.com/search?q=scalp+micropigmentation&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiR7JvFjMHiAhVHnKwKHYnzDNwQ_AUIDigB&biw=2211&bih=1113) in which you can literally get millions of tiny dots tattooed on your bald head and apparently it is meant for people who want the look of a non-bald person who shaved their head rather than a balding person who shaved their head. you are still bald with this look, mind you - it is stubble tattoos not fake hear. you still have a bald head, but like, it's not a bald head it's a shaved head man. jesus fucking christ

*fake hair

men, always with the cosmetic trickery

This Mel website is informative.

tbf i was fairly judgemental upthread. i can try and place myself more outside the experiences of others if it helps.

contrapoints obliquely addressed this whole phenomenon in her latest video

"It must needs be remarked that the skull of the Chad ..."

"The one who showed up at the loft door with a box of diskettes from the Finn was a soft-voiced boy called Angelo. His face was a simple graft grown on collagen and shark-cartilage polysaccharides, smooth and hideous. It was one of the nastiest pieces of elective surgery Case had ever seen. When Angelo smiled, revealing the razor-sharp canines of some large animal, Case was actually relieved. Toothbud transplants. He'd seen that before.

`You can't let the little pricks generation-gap you,' Molly said."

hahaha, I thought of that too!

This Mel website is informative.

The fact that their current banner/logo says "MEL Beta" is probably doing them more harm than good, though.

I thought it was a joke.

Ugh, yeah I forced myself to ignore the beta in that context since the guys who sincerely try to use it to categorize their whateverness are trash anyway.

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/jul/28/looking-for-mr-t-the-politicisation-of-testosterone-and-toxic-masuclinity

I pity the fool, indeed.

yesterday marks the 4th time I saw a male friend/family member drinking a White Claw who immediately got kinda defensive about it

thought White Claw was pretty firmly positioned as the cool dude alcopop

only a matter of time before bros start icing bros with White Claw.

Seems like a lot of dudes operate under the misapprehension that if they're spotted using a product that doesn't reek of motor oil or have an X-TREME font splayed across its packaging that they'll spontaneously turn into an actual woman.

Man if it were that easy

white claw tastes fucking disgusting though

It says 'hard seltzer' on the can, your balls are golden.

true, nominal hardness in a product is a get-out-of-jail-free card

I never thought it was particularly marketed to men

at least not in the way MIKES HARD LEMONADE was

don't think it has much to do with the packaging (I think most of these people would be embarrassed to drink anything with a skull on it) but rather the perception that if you're drinking something alcoholic in a can it's gotta be beer

it's definitely marketed to men, they just seeded the Internet with memes instead of making obnoxious ads

did they really though

i'd totally buy that they paid the ain't no laws when you're drinkin claws guy, singlehandedly giving millions of dudebros permission to semi ironically drink a Claw

wait i thought white claw was clearly marketed to women?
nothing says "ladies" like unsweetened fruity selzer with booze
i have even seen stupid memes about it being for "hot girls only"
i have ingested exactly 1 white claw and it was ok, unremarkable

Is it 'soft' seltzer, though? I think not!

(Grasping at straws, obv.)

This is reminding me of when all the noize board kept talking about Sparks (the drink).

no because soft drinks = nonalcoholic, hard = alcoholic

white claw has succeeded in making everyone talk about it, and that makes me want to ingest it less

they're making like a half a billion dollars a year on the stuff, the idea that part of their marketing budget is paying people to generate memes is not a huge stretch

they're okay. I think they work better than all the hard-lemonade stuff (like Smirnoff or whatever) b/c that shit has tons of sugar in it so by the time you're on your 3rd one your stomach feels like it wants to fall out. White Claws don't really taste *good* but they're actually a bit better than putting vodka in a La Croix which I used to do a lot

It's 104 degrees here during happy hour, so whatever I am drinking, I'm drinking a Topo Chico along with it.

White Claw is good and it's a huge improvement over the previous Mike's Hard generation of malt beverages that had as much sugar as a mountain dew

like if you are outside and don't feel like a beer it's p tasty

I just assume that any sweet/fruity alcoholic beverage automatically codes as 'for the ladies' with dudes because I have gotten an endless stream of flak for the 'girl drinks' in which I've shamelessly indulged throughout my drinking career.

hard seltzer is for everyone. it's the "I'm vaguely healthy or whatever but I'm having a drink" drink. Or what you have when you're definitely unable to have another heavy craft brewed ipa.

When you're definitely being healthy but want to get messed up? Well, we have a new contender: https://www.eater.com/2019/8/14/20805323/four-loko-hard-seltzer-sour-white-claw-14-abv

Unsweetened soda with vodka or gin drinks have been huge here for a couple of years and are not gendered (in the circles I travel in and in terms of advertising or packaging aesthetics)

It's like the lacroix of alcohol

pretty much!

I've noticed it taking over some of the space of cheap/light beer. So if you're a craft brew person and want to drink a canned non-beer beverage but beer snobbery is keeping you from grabbing a Bud Light, you grab a hard seltzer.

beer snobbery is keeping you from grabbing a Bud Light

Is that the only possible reason.

my little brother thinks he might have a gluten sensitivity, he got drunk on White Claws and said it was the first hangover he ever had that didn't come with a massive stomachache

xp no

some bartending friends who worked an outdoor festival a couple years back that had a white claw sponsorship started pouring a shot of vodka in with a can of white claw over ice. it makes me think that, branding aside, the four loko people may have a market

I just assume that any sweet/fruity alcoholic beverage automatically codes as 'for the ladies' with dudes because I have gotten an endless stream of flak for the 'girl drinks' in which I've shamelessly indulged throughout my drinking career.

― Amply Drizzled with Pure Luxury (Old Lunch), Friday, 16 August 2019 15:26 (twenty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

cider

bring back Zima

iirc Zima did come back a few years ago

it basically got laughed off in the late 90s then immediately was eclipsed by Smirnoff Ice and others which were basically the same sort of product

in short, Zima has never left us

Zima is very popular in Japan.

zima was so gross
i like white claw if i am looking to have a drink but not feel full or specifically drink a beer
we have them at band practice so they must be cool and also for women ;)

I hate hard seltzer a lot

In the universe of drinks like hard seltzer, I either want a regular non-alcoholic seltzer or a giant frilly drink wearing a blouse, preferably blue or green in color that looks like it was made by Guinan

White Claw deez nutz, is basically how I break it down to an extent

I don't think my antipathy is gendered but who knows