Big, tough, and well-groomed
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson gets into men's 'care.' Plus: 'milk-drenched battle cries,' polyamory as 'release valve,' and more in the weekend roundup.
The marketing behind Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s new line of “men’s care products” could power a gender studies thesis.
The products, ranging from shampoo to facial toner, are billed as “hard working” and the company, Papatui, is named in honor of his handsome-but-tough grandfather. “He always smelled amazing, he was always well-groomed,” Johnson told People. “He had beautiful skin. He was a big tough guy. He was the professional wrestler.” The line’s signature scents: “lush coconut,” “cedar sport,” and “sandalwood suede.”
In all of this, there’s a careful balancing of care and indulgence with strength and toughness.
This is true of his image, more generally. Johnson is a guy who “puts in the work”—at the gym and everywhere else—but he also loves to kick back with a glass of Teremana tequila. He’s an action star, but he’s also a self-described “girl dad” who loves to joke about living in “a house full of estrogen.” A few years back, I wrote an in-depth exegesis of Johnson’s celebrity, noting that he “literally and figuratively” builds up “big, scary muscles” and then neutralizes them “with good-guy, family-friendly messaging.” As I put it at the time, “There’s something devastatingly Sisyphean about that kind of teetering, compensatory masculinity.”
To the links…
Brittany Packnett Cunningham looks at how tradwives are part of the Trump agenda, and how “white women help to carry the water” of white supremacy.
Andrea Grimes unpacks the “domestic diorama” in Senator Katie Britt’s terrifying response to the State of the Union.
My mention of Molly Roden Winter’s More, a memoir about her open marriage, sparked quite the discussion thread about toxic dynamics and polyamory as a “release valve” or “survival strategy” in an unequal marriage, as
put it.Sen. Sonny Borrelli was asked whether he would oppose efforts to restrict emergency contraceptives. “Like I said, Bayer Company invented aspirin,” he said in response. “Put it between your knees.”
translates: He’s saying women wouldn’t need contraception if they “would just keep their legs closed.”If you missed it earlier, I went on KQED’s Forum this week to talk “divorce memoirs” with Leslie Jamison, author of the fabulous memoir Splinters, and host Alexis Madrigal, who writes the excellent Oakland Garden Club newsletter. A great chat—give a listen.
On another corner of the internet,
interviews Jamison, who says of motherhood, “Why can’t it be wondrous and labor at once? That’s one of the milk-drenched battle cries of the book.”Vox asks: Where does desire live in the brain?