Discussion Leader #7: Malory

Why is it that interviewers at the "Red Bull" jobs treated men and women differently, and what was the significance of it?

It is because the interviews are assessing you for what you are, and not who you are. Even when Diane at Borg thought she treated the sexes equal, she didn't noted Vincent. Vincent shows examples of how you can tell by their mannerisms and that they would try to be a friend of buddy of a person with the same sex and flirt with a person of the opposite sex. The significance of this is that it tells you what you are and how you are to behave, which puts you into a gender role no matter what. Vincent called it "gender-coded" behavior.


Why was everything at "Red Bull" exaggerated; what was the purpose of it?

It is all a psychological game to keep these people going out there day to day in the hot sun and working long hours for nothing. They exaggerate the hope of a promotion and tell everyone that you need to bust your butt to get to the top when a lot of there expectations are not even realistic to meet. A lot of the guys who did get ahead or appeared to have gotten so were buying there own products or working for a ridiculous number of hours. The purpose was to play into the hype of males expectations, at least at the male dominated office. The males were just playing into the gender role of being manly men.


What was the point of the men's therapy group?

It is part of the men's movement. It is supposed to be a place where women aren't allowed and where men can face their problems, talk about them openly, and examine their masculinity- the way they and the culture defined it. Men always have the image of not being emotional and holding everything together, but this is a place where they could drop the act and talk about what they are really going through. This is where Norah decides to end her journey as Ned.


When Vincent quotes that the men were going to this group to examine "their masculinity, both as they and the culture defined it," what is she cuing to us?

I think Vincent is trying to lead us to the discussion she has later in the chapter where the way men define their masculinity and the way the culture defines it are two different things. The culture makes men seem as though they have to play a certain role of being strong, protective, never breaking down, yet being sensitive to a woman's needs and such. Men claim that this is to much for them, they feel as though someone is always examining their manhood, and that is why they would attend those meetings so that they could talk about who they really are and what they really feel like.