OK so I am back in civilization and have steady access to a computer. For now I am going to do a rain check on the conversation on vegetarianism (I still want to interview people, thanks for emailing!). I would not interrupt such an interesting topic for just anything, though! In the next 30 days, I will be blogging DAILY (prescheduled posting on Saturdays or maybe it will be posted late Saturday night), as I undertake a 30 day challenge designed to make me a better man, according to the blog The Art of Manliness. As to not fatigue my readers, I’ll keep my daily updates brief. As I type, I’ve just recruited my dear bro “Cranky,” who will also be following this month-long process. If any of you would like to do it, the more the merrier!
The 30 days consist of the following tasks:
Day 1: Define Your Core Values
Day 4: Increase Your Testosterone
Day 5: Cultivate Your Gratitude
Day 7: Reconnect with an Old Friend
Day 11: Give Yourself a Testicular Exam
Day 12: Create Your Bucket List
Day 14: Write a Letter to Your Father
Day 19: Schedule a Physical Exam
Day 25: Start a Debt Reduction Plan
Day 26: Take the Marine Corps Fitness Test
Day 30: Get a Straight Razor Shave
The reason I’m taking up so much space on a blog on feminism to do this, is because when I first stumbled upon this site last year, I was fascinated and felt awfully jealous that becoming a better man meant doing all of (well, most of) these things. I’d like to explore how and if and which of these things associated with becoming a better “man” are ways to simply become a better person, and what obstacles someone who is not in the “man” class faces in doing these same things (my lack of testicles is going to force me to be a little creative with Day 11). I want to find the boundaries of masculinity and general self-improvement to maybe climb them or get shocked by an electric fence like in Jurassic Park or whatever. Here is my bias: I think these are all wonderful things, but that women and other non-cis-men may not have access to these things, either through practical, institutional barriers, or goddamnit through our own damn contriving. I imagine a Jezebel 30 days list would look something like the following:
30 Days to Become a Better Woman
1. Splurge on chocolate!
2. Have a craigslist anonymous encounter (rahr, empowerment!)
3. Update your iTunes Playlists
4. Have a girls night out at a gay barrrrrrr!
5. Get a Twitter.
6. Buy a diva cup.
7. Full day at the spaaaaaaa!
etc…
Anyhow, tomorrow I will be a better man than I am today, and that is 1000x better than being a better reader of Jezebel.
(PS anyone interested in launching a men’s website called Haman?)
Are We Feminists? 
Totally doing this as well.
In the interest of manly competition, shouldn’t we ask a good reader of Jezebel to propose 30 days to becoming a better woman?
-Cranky
Hmmm… yes. Sounds good.
I LOVE YOU.
As a heteronormative woman, these are the values/behaviors I want to see in the the men I would view as romantic partners. And I also think that most of these values can and should apply to heteronormative women as well.
Please, please contact Jezebel. Not only will it give them a chance to man up and become relevant again, perhaps it will direct some new readers to our site. 😉
Also, those who possess breasts should probably substitute a self-administered breast exam for #11. And those lacking either can, uh, do a holistic body examination?
I think you’re the only person I have ever witnessed calling herself heteronormative both proudly and from a queer-friendly perspective. This is awesome and cannot be emphasized enough.
Thank you. I work hard at both things. 🙂
She really does. Speaking of which, this might be a far longer conversation, but LadyG, do you think self-identifying as heteronormative is related inherently to your non-egalitariansim?
Oh man, Christina, this is not the place for this conversation. And by that I mean, the relationship between heteronormativity and egalitarianism is either a separate post, or a 5-hour discussion.
Or, you know, both!