I was at a bar recently which had an arcade machine with a punching bag. It would display a score related to how hard it was hit. Over the course of a couple hours I watched different groups of people using it, three in particular. What I found of interest was how they performed masculinity with regard to their perceptions of themselves and their perceptions of others perceptions of themselves. In essence, they were acting in accordance with patriarchal biopolitics. What came to be of most interest was the second group, or more specifically an individual who parlayed with the machine on his ow…

Over the last week there has been a mainstream uproar after alternate press and women’s groups responded to a radio interview where a young women was pushed into admitting she was raped (unbeknownst to the interviewers). Specific attention has been given to one the radio show’s hosts’ immediate response to the young women’s unexpected revelation. Whilst the radio interview, its approach and the actions of the hosts were very questionably (to say the least), media attention has focused on this as a single isolated event rather than being based in a broader problematic socio-cultural issue. Shou…