Standards of Masculinity, The Last Duel, Matt Damon and Good Will Hunting

Women who are in a relationship with men and feel that their partner has a fragile masculinity are likely to change their behavior, a new study suggests. For instance, the more women perceive their partner’s sense of masculinity as fragile, the more likely they are to fake orgasms. Furthermore, the more women perceived their partner’s manhood as precarious, the more anxiety they felt and the more likely it is for couple communication to deteriorate. Lead author Jessica Jordan of the University of South Florida said: “One of my colleagues, a collaborator on this study, first raised the idea of studying if men who are insecure in their masculinity are less likely to solicit sexual feedback from their female partners. I immediately thought, “It doesn’t matter if they do, women are not going to give honest feedback if they think their partner’s masculinity is easily threatened.” “If a woman is concerned about inadvertently threatening her partner’s manhood, that could lead to a breakdown of communication,” Jordan explains. A following study on 196 women found that when women felt their partner had a fragile manhood, they were less likely to provide honest sexual communication. A third study on 157 women found that women who made more money than their partners were twice as likely to fake orgasms. However, Jordan says we shouldn’t point the blame on either men or women, and this type of behavior is understandable, though problematic. If men are not made aware that their behavior is creating a problem for their partners, it is hard to address the core issue. “When society creates an impossible standard of masculinity to maintain,” says Jordan, “nobody wins.” The study was published in the January issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. Source: neurosciencenews.com

The first chapter of The Last Duel centered on Jean follows a hero type who might’ve appeared in a classical text. He’s an idealistic warrior devoted to what is morally right and what “should be,” but it becomes evident in subsequent chapters that he’s neither a politician nor particularly adept socially. However, his face shows the scars of many victorious battles. It’s Matt Damon’s best performance in years, and one cannot help but see Jean as a kind of redneck stereotype by the third chapter. His devotion to duty and tradition reads as naively patriotic, particularly after his exploits earn him a knighthood. By Jacques’ chapter, we see that others deem Jean temperamental, a laughing stock, even. Jean sees Jacques as villainous and vindictive and Marguerite as devoted and proud of his accomplishments.  When she tells Jean what happened with Jacques, his reaction: “Can this man do nothing but evil to me?” Jean declares, viewing the incident as yet another personal slight against his manhood. Meanwhile, Marguerite’s sex life becomes a matter for the courts. An inquisitor drills her about whether she experiences the “little death” with her husband in bed, which, big surprise, Jean’s approach to lovemaking cannot produce. She lies and confirms that Jean brings her to orgasm, knowing that the era’s men believed that conception requires pleasure and rape cannot lead to pregnancy. “This is science,” affirms the inquisitor. Source: deepfocusreviews.com

Matt Damon, along with Don Cheadle, David Pressman, аnd Jerry Weintraub, іs one оf thе founders оf Not оn Our Watch Project, аn organization that focuses global attention аnd resources to stop аnd prevent mass atrocities such аs the Darfur war. Damon іs also а brand-ambassador оf ONEXONE: a philanthropic foundation which is working for supporting, preserving, аnd improving thе lives оf children at home іn Canada, thе United States, аnd around thе world. Damon is also one of the co-founders of nonprofits Water.org & Water Equity. 

In Good Will Hunting, both Sean and Chuckie are actual protectors of Will (Matt Damon). Sean is  completely obvious as he helps steer Will into and through his psychological miasma. Chuckie is the one member of Will’s clan who has enough depth of perception to spur Will on to a broader horizon, so when he shows up, knocks on Will’s door and Will isn’t there, Chuckie is happy. Due to past abuses when he was just a kid, Will has a rage inside born of his many foster home experiences including the man who beat him (we actually catch a fleeting image of this tyrant climbing the stairs literally in shadows to wail on young Will). So until Will can confront and embrace those dark memories and associations from his troubled past he will always be ruled by them and his rage. Nor will he feel worthy of love, which is what drives Skylar away in the first place. It’s only after she goes and he has his breakthrough with Sean, compounded by the offer of a job on behalf of the U.S. government, it all congeals into the choice Will makes: To drive off to California to be with Skylar. Source: goingtothestory.com 

American researchers Jean Twenge, Ryne Sherman and Brooke Wells published an article in the Archives of Sexual Behavior showing that Americans were having sex on average nine fewer times per year in the early 2010s compared to the late 1990s – a 15% drop from 62 times a year to just 53. The researchers argued the drops may be due to increasing levels of unhappiness. Western societies in particular have seen a mental health epidemic in the past few decades, primarily depression and anxiety disorders. There is a strong correlation between depressive symptoms and reduction in sexual activity and desire. Research connects these mental health epidemics with the increasingly insecure nature of modern life, particularly for younger generations. It is this generation that has shown the highest drops in sexual activity, with research from Jean Twenge showing millennials are reporting having fewer sexual encounters than either Generation X or the baby boomers did at the same age. A mixture of work, insecurity and technology is leading us all to feel slightly less aroused. Drops in sexual activity could be argued, therefore, to reflect the nature of modern life. This phenomenon is a mixture of insecurity and technology. Tackling the sexual decline will require dealing with the very causes of the mental health crisis facing Western worlds–a crisis that is underpinned by losses of communal and social spaces. Source: www.bbc.com