Charlie Sheen Is Loved Because (of), Not Despite,The Violence

[redqueen]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/25/charlie-sheen-is-loved-because-not-despite-the-violence/

Alyssa Rosenberg links an article from The Daily Beast asking why it is that Charlie Sheen—asshole and most importantly, convicted wife-beater—is perceived by corporate America as a bankable star. And not despite his affection for hurting women (including a shooting incident where he hit Kelly Preston with a gun, and then later tried to blame her for it, a classic abuser move). No, what this article makes clear is that Sheen is appealing because he hits women. His new show Anger Management is named after his sentence for his latest conviction, where he pled guilty in exchange for being sentenced to anger management classes.* For those who hero worship him, part of what makes him a “bad boy” icon is his willingness to put a bitch down with the fist if he feels like it.

As with the angry defenses from Daniel Tosh fans, there is a tendency to tip-toe around the fact that for a not-insubstantial percentage of young men, violence against women isn’t just not repulsive, but appealing. Part of it is the ridiculous narrative about the PC police, and cheering on rape and wife-beating allows young men an easy way to feel rebellious while not actually, you know, rebelling. (True rebels stand up against these things, because that’s actually hard work and the people who push back on you have real power to hurt.) But obviously, it’s the misogyny itself that’s appealing. From the cradle, society teaches boys that they’re better, smarter, and more powerful than the opposite sex. Then they grow up and find out that all their supposedly obvious superiority, some women reject them sexually. Some women refuse to submit. And even amongst those women who embrace submission, they clearly are doing so to get along, and not—as was promised—because they looooooove it. Sometimes even good girls who concede authority to men most of the time get irritable about sexist treatment and talk back. Even though these young men still objectively have a lot of privilege over women, they don’t have as much as they feel they deserve,** and so they get angry. Thus, fantasies of raping and hitting women have a lot more traction than society is generally willing to admit. As does the implicit social permission to act on these fantasies that comes from the lionization of men who celebrate violence against women.

What’s interesting about all this is that what makes Charlie Sheen appealing to his fans is they no doubt think of him as brave. That’s the idea of the “bad boy”, isn’t it? The guy who has the guts to do what other guys want to, but can’t? With the beating woman part of the whole thing, it’s easy to see how that gets contextualized as “brave” for the fans. After all, there’s a chance—sadly, way too low—that if you hit a woman, you could go to jail. One could easily see at least some fans swooning because Sheen gives the finger to laws against domestic violence and does what he wants anyway.

...

[zzaapp]

1. Speaking from a male perspective, Charlie Sheen is an asshole.

He may seem "cool" to the same people who watch Swamp People, but to the average man, he seems like a washed up
pathetic aging Lothario. In fact I had a talk with my young son about him. (he was on some magazine cover) and I told my son
that Mr. Sheen was everything that a man is NOT supposed to be.

[redqueen]

2. Is Swamp People a real show?

I'm glad to hear that to the average guy, he's pathetic.

I saw something about this new show sinking in ratings. I hope it is and that it continues to do so.

[zzaapp]

3. LOL....yes it's a real show.

You have to see it to really believe it. Terrible.
As to his new show..What new show? Never mind I don't want to know.

[Taverner]

4. Charlie Sheen's temper is only surpassed by his stupidity

[malthaussen]

5. But we idolize violence whoever the victim(s).

Just look at the Zimmerman and Holmes fan clubs. I find it hard to extricate violence against women from the pool of generalized violence. There is an odd double standard at work -- that a "real man" protects the weaker, and that a "real man" doesn't take shit from anybody, even if he supposedly loves her. And then there is the problem of the women who stay with abusers, or the even more odd problem of D/s relations where violent treatment is somehow a proof of love. Remember the song "He hit me and it felt like a kiss?"

And then there is the point that I've known a feminist or two who would get her back up at the notion that men are supposed to "protect" them (even if the woman has a black belt in karate), responding immediately that they can take care of themselves. Perhaps believing that a woman should be protected is sexist, but at least it is a step in the right direction. "Am I my brother's keeper?" Cain asked. If we believe he is, then are we not also the keepers of our sisters?

Obviously, we have something rather complex going on here.

-- Mal