Monday, October 12, 2009

% of men (2009)


1% of men are afraid of dogs
2% of men say that they have been stalked at some point in their lives
3% of men disagree with the statement ‘real men cry’
4% of men fear dating a woman with a higher income
5% of men consider themselves bisexual
6% of men say looking at pornography is cheating
7% of men make it to heaven
8% of men are deceived about the paternity of the child they’re raising
9% of men are left-handed
10% of men in the Kinsey data were more or less exclusively homosexual
11% of men report general dissatisfaction with their looks
12% of men had inadequate intakes of the nutrients studied
13% of men think they have it easier
14% of men admit they exceed the speed limit most of the time
15% of men reported expressing love
16% of men describe themselves as being on diets
17% of men relied primarily on self-support
18% of men said they were motivated by the law
19% of men did housework on an average day
20% of men are afraid of spiders
21% of men refuse to listen
22% of men die from natural causes
23% of men experience impotence
24% of men go through andropause
25% of men are circumcised
26% of men work in professional specialty or executive, administrative and managerial jobs
27% of men said that violence against domestic partners was unacceptable
28% of men are commonly affected by premature ejaculation
29% of men say they look at pornography on occasion
30% of men stated their income had increased
31% of men are high scorers on religious engagement
32% of men smoke
33% of men say they trust average-looking women
34% of men had an affair with a co-worker
35% of men admit they received an unwanted Father’s Day gift
36% of men suffer from erectile dysfunction
37% of men are overweight
38% of men pay more attention to online ads
39% of men reported incorporating a vibrator into sexual activities
40% of men were dissatisfied with their physiques
41% of men are single
42% of men think talking to one’s ex on a regular basis is cheating
43% of men reported feeling work-life conflict
44% of men replied they would buy flowers to make women happy
45% of men said having meals and spending time together as a family made them happiest
46% of men have faked an orgasm
47% of men report having a gun at home
48% of men have suboptimal erections
49% of men fall into the personality temperament known as ‘guardians’
50% of men snore
51% of men were either overweight or obese
52% of men are nostalgic for the days when a handshake in business meant something
53% of men would take the male birth control pill
54% of men will have an affair at some point in some marriage
55% of men voted to re-elect Bush
56% of men consider themselves knowledgeable football fans
57% of men say they enjoy shopping for their wives
58% of men who access the internet from work admitted to accessing non work-related websites during work hours
59% of men drink coffee daily
60% of men have two or more chronic illnesses
61% of men said they have "more money than they expected"
62% of men say they would consider staying home
63% of men would not cheat
64% of men accepted that "men should participate more actively in housework so that women are able to work"
65% of men play games
66% of men had participated in oral sex
67% of men reported high satisfaction with their emotional relationship
68% of men would like to get flowers
69% of men are confident they could train another person to drive
70% of men were back to normal sexual activity
71% of men do not rape
72% of men were faithful to their spouses
73% of men believe in heaven
74% of men said “my brain is more important than my body”
75% of men observed did wash their hands
76% of men were satisfied or very satisfied with their overall living conditions
77% of men want home improvement related gifts
78% of men saw military service
79% of men admit they sometimes interrupt others in conversation
80% of men use the internet
81% of men were successful
82% of men report that they have not been involved in any consultation
83% of men believe that they should pay for the majority of dates at least until a relationship is established
84% of men who die of heart attacks during intercourse are found to have been cheating on their wives
85% of men achieved significantly improved erections
86% of men reported money as a significant stressor
87% of men having sex with men
88% of men consider themselves happy people
89% of men reported knowledge
90% of men describe themselves as "shy"
91% of men would have sex with a robot
92% of men were likely to marry
93% of men washed their hands with soap and water and then used paper towels to dry off
94% of men showed a preference for thin partners
95% of men reported having masturbated
96% of men indicated that they had heard of AIDS
97% of men originally had iron intakes above 100 percent RDA
98% of men don't really want to answer
99% of men reported working at some point
100% of men could meet


Process notes: This is something I put together a few weeks ago. You could call it flarf. I Googled "[x]% of men" for numbers between 1-100, and used phrases from the first page of results only. The most interesting aspect of this for me was the recurrence of themes, and what these recurring themes might say about men, masculinity, sexuality, the internet, surveys, statistics, sampling and context.

8 comments:

  1. Perhaps an interesting exercise but also an example of what I was saying about doing the same experiments over and over. Flarfff has been around for ten years, cut up and collage techniques for eighty or more years. So we might call this very old-fashioned experimentalism.

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  2. You can call it whatever you like. I agree there's nothing particularly novel about the method employed here, although I hadn't really tried this kind of thing before (a flarf list poem). I was actually hesitant about posting it on the blog at all. But I think the results are interesting.

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  3. Having an interest in gendered knowledge and also in statistics, I find this a fascinating exercise. Very curious what you would find if you substitute 'women' for 'men' and replicate the experiment...

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  4. Stu,

    Why reduce your always interesting, original and various poetic procedure to the dimensions of a silly label that carries with it all sorts of silly polemical affect that has nothing at all to do with your own very particular, specific, singular Stu Hutton practise?

    "I esk you."

    Tronica's "curiosity" of course collapses the poem into an "experiment".

    "But seriously..."

    Men, as we all know, are 100% jerks, Tronica.

    Still, there's allegedly one of them

    Buried in Wittgenstein's Grave

    (Verification word: "djokeesm". Yet another new "-ism" in disguise?)

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  5. [Part of an email to TC:]

    "I'm fascinated by the impassioned responses I've received at the mention of flarf. I can understand this label/'movement' has become a thorn of contention. I've followed the debates, provocations and slanging matches up to a point ... I've also seen the term used (perhaps naively) to mean poetry composed with the assistance of search engine(s), with nothing more intended than that. And that's perhaps all I intended by it in my post."

    However, clearly 'flarf' is more than that (or less, depending who you ask).

    Note I've ditched the 'flarfing around' label and introduced 'process notes'.

    100% of men are jerks? Close enough!

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  6. Call it flarf, conceptualism, googlism, the end result is a well structured and interesting poem, although the 55% line is scary...

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  7. Hi Mark,

    Yeah many of the lines are scary in one way or another.

    I'm more interested in conceptualism than flarf.

    I think I'd still like to perform this poem in its entirety. It would have to be in the right context though.

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  8. Yayaya, everybody is agreed the word flarfff is over with. What a relief. (another impassioned response). I am going to miss those debates, provocations and slanging matches though. I'll have to pick a new word.

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