Posture

Originally Posted Thursday, November 7, 2013

I read an article this morning that made me think about "success" and what it means in contemporary culture.  It made me think about many other things as well.  Why, for instance, are all the traits that were so piggish, boorish, and ugly in men lauded when adopted by a woman?  In the past, I used to watch men and women while dining out.  You could tell when the couple was new and just beginning. The man would talkandtalkandtalk in the most "manly" of ways while the woman would smile demurely and nod.  Which of the two types was most attractive?  I thought that I  could tell that when the woman spoke, the man was looking for something, an opening of some kind.  A "strategery."  We associated strength with these "manly" qualities and weakness with the feminine. 

With longterm couples, there was very little talking, but women did more of it, the men usually looking submissive and bored. 

I learned much from these observations that have given me whatever modicum of success I have had in life.  I became a listener.  And I think that everything I've learned of any use has come from listening to women.  Men (and I am one) are exaggerators and liars.  Testosterone is the cause, I am certain.  If you were going to take one hormone to make you feel better, to make you feel invincible, that would be the one.  Adrenaline is powerful, sure, but it is too quick and the letdown is awful.  Testosterone will make you want to get into trouble just for the fun of it.  It is what makes men exaggerate themselves when they drink beer out of cans in a bar, the way they hold their elbows out aggressively, broaden their shoulder and back muscles in a challenge to anyone in the room.  It is why no one is happy when they encounter three fellows leaning against a car. 

None of it is attractive unless you are a female in estrous, I guess.  And like Robert Crumb, I've never figured out why women like these dopes and eschew the soft artistic types.  But they do. 

So. . . this article (link) explains to women that there are body postures that will spoil their success.  Four of the five postures mentioned are ones I adore, especially the one where women stand with their feet crossed one behind the other.  That knocks me out.  Jesus on the Cross, that is a successful stance. It controls me.  I shall make photographs of women doing just that from now on.  What does this author mean by "success"? 

Oh, you know--that Lee Iacocca/Donald Trump/Newt Gingrich kind of success. 

I'll bet, though, that Steve Jobs stood with his feet crossed sometimes. 

But I get it.  Success comes from aggressiveness.  At least that is the subtext of the article.  "Lean In."  It is the new Master Narrative.  It is, of course, much better than the old one.  You can look it up.  It is written on the tablets. 

I don't think this is what I intended to write about today, though.  I wanted to write about Nixon and the NSA and Watergate and the changing tolerance for snooping.  But that will have to be another day.  I've gotten myself into enough trouble here thinking out loud when I should have been listening.