A is for Arnold

Arnold Schwarzenegger, California's infamous governor, has found himself in the spotlight several times, whether under surveillance for alleged sexual assault, his recent divorce with his wife or his biological involvement in the birth of children that didn't belong to his wife.

Though Schwarzenegger's personal life scandal is "juicy" and newsworthy, the media attention it is receiving is reminiscent of scandals such as Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky-an event that happened over a decade ago.


How women are depicted and treated during these scandals, however, hasn't changed much at all. Schwarzenegger's affairs are being glorified and Schwarzenegger who E! Entertainment is now declaring the "Sperminator" is being pushed to a pedestal of masculine greatness witnessed throughout patriarchal history.

The player and the ladies man is an image of masculinity we have seen in the media again and again.   Schwarzenegger's behavior is glorified because sleeping with a lot of women, whether they birth illegitimate children or not, is stereotyped as a masculine characteristic.


We begin to see spin-offs, feature stories and even an blog editorial like this one from the LA Times, who claimed that it wasn't Schwarzenegger's fault that was a "guy who had sex with the Guatemalan help" because men are supposed to sleep around, especially powerful men.

The article claims that we should be turning our attention to more important issues (which I agree) and not making fuss over the small issues because:

"In fact, men in general screw around. The nature of a male is to spread his seed. Certainly, that's not productive for men in a committed relationship, or those with children and families. But that's the absolute biological truth."

While I agree that the issue is being blown out of proportion, this kind of thinking is exactly the kind of thinking that glorifies Schwarzenegger's behavior and makes his treatment of women 'okay'.


Other Schwarzenegger News:
http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/05/19/arnold-schwarzenegger-maria-schriver/
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/05/19/stan-lee-the-governator-unaffected-by-schwarzenegger-sex-scandals/