Martha Rich

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Recent Illustrations

Dumb & Getting Dumber

Sideways, Spongebob, and the New Masculinity

Dumb & Getting Dumber

Article by Judith Halberstam, Illustrated by Martha Rich, appeared in issue Masculinity; published in 2005; filed under Social commentary; tagged bad movies, gender roles, gender stereotyping, heroes, manliness, masculinity, mid-life crisis, rites of passage, spongebob squarepants, stupidity.

In 2004, every corner of popular culture was populated by men in crisis, and I don’t just mean George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, and Dick Cheney. We had men in trouble, men in triumph, men in uniform, men on the cross, men in squarepants; men being men with other men, talking about masculinity—what it is, how to have it, keep it, get it, make it last. We might even call it the Year of the Man, but the response to such a title could reasonably be, So what’s new? Isn’t every year the year of the man?

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