"It is very hard to imagine any concept of manliness that does not belittle women, and it begins very early. At an age when I wanted to meet girls - let's say the treacherous years of thirteen to sixteen - i was told to take up a sport, get more fresh air, join the Boy Scouts, and I was urged not to read so much. It was the 1950s and if you asked too many questions about sex you were sent to camp - boy's camp, of course: the nightmare. Nothing is more unnatural or prisonlike than a boy's camp, but if you were not for them we would have no Elks' Lodges, no pool rooms, no boxing matches, no Marines." Theroux talks about the stereotypes that go along with being a man. The big one seems to be how men portray women. He makes the point that women only want the athletes or the good guys so in order to date anyone you must fit one of those categories. That is not true for all women but it seems to be the big trend and it isn't a new one at that. Not all the athletes are gentlemen but disgusting pigs and not all the good guys are truly good. Men put on a big act to get the girl and then the act starts to fade. "Speak with bird and get up at dawn. And when your flesh is restored to you, and when you've put the back into the flesh which was entrapped in bedrooms, then, good man, pretend I'm white, pretend I'm snowy, pretend I'm chaste." Storni is a South American poet who talks about how women would be better off as white. All non-white women are portrayed differently than white women and they seem to be overlooked because of their skin tone. She talks about how if men pretended they were actually white things would be better off. Society makes me sick. "Nowadays, powerful girls are everywhere on television and in the movies, even in genres previously populated only be men, especially action, science-fiction, and fantasy. Buffy Summers, the protagonist of television's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was one of the first in a long time of champions of this new breed of girl power." Rutkowski talks about Buffy as being the first female superhero, which is true. When Buffy first started she was in high school and she was the 'chosen' one to fight the vampires. Women need to not be looked at as just the mothering type but also as strong independent women who can do anything. Buffy was feminine and if one would see her, they wouldn't portray her as a hero of any sort but she was the tough, strong, independent female hiding. As the show continued, she became a role model for young girls and everyone wanted to be just like her. Nowadays there are more female superheroes and the job is not all about men anymore. That's extremely good since women are starting to find their place in society and men don't control it as much anymore.