Where have all the good men gone?

Some very interesting stuff in there Jeff. Particularly liked the stream of conscious writing, and the historical take on the subject. Voyeurism vs action- agreed. Though I think this is beginning to change a little. Notice how so very few of our TV 'star' men are not beefy muscled types now. (mind you how much of that is still men wanting to see 'real' men? A discussion for later) I think the fact that more men (and parents) can see real actors of all shapes and sizes making money (not just Stallone or Swarzenegger types- who essentially are sports people on film) is a good encouragement for increased male action. Speaking from my own experience there is still an expectation often that men will be a breadwinner in some way (even if only from ourselves). I don't think we've entirely demolished that cultural throwback. There is definitely a high-demand for men in theatre, and as such I often see a distinct difference in quality between men/women in some shows. Often the lead guys are still fantastic, but there isn't the depth. I see in musicals and especially in opera that many of the 'only chorus' girls are much more talented and experienced than all but the top couple of guys in the cast, regularly including most of the male roles. As a guy I say hooray- more work and opportunities for me. :-) Perhaps, also digging into history, a reason for so much of the repertoire to appear male-dominated, or at least to send a far greater amount of interesting characters the way of men is simply because of our western history. It is sometimes difficult to remember in 2006 minerals-boom perth, that in the western world women have only had the vote for less than a hundred years (far less in some places), let alone anything resembling equal rights or status. The vast bulk of our history is deaply imbedded in this patriarchy. Even our more deeply imbedded stories (e.g. the bible- man heroes and villains and important- women only mentioned as a seductress/servant/the root of all the man's woes and troubles) continue to deeply permeate our cultural conscience. I'm left with two thoughts from this One- this is why we should be encouraging contemporary and local script-writing. To develop our own voice, stories, and to take apart these anachronisms. Two- Regarding the wholesale panic and fear-mongering around the muslim faith (and anyone different). Perhaps we should remember that it isn't so long in our own past that we treated women, homosexuals, thieves, and anyone with the misfortune to be different at all in, at the very least, similar ways. In fact, in parts of the west we still do (spend some time in a remote indigenous community here in Australia sometime). This doesn't remove our moral responsibilities towards inequities where they exist, but it does perhaps leave us tackling the issue more honestly. I return to many of my previous rants on the subject of theatre and other artists' responsibility to alter the way our world thinks and behaves. Actually, even if we get the people in our world thinking that would be a start! wow- wasn't heading there... :-) going to take my valium now. Cricket should be on soon. More diatribe people! Nev It's the simple things stupid...