News Round-Up: November 27, 2017

Some news items you may have missed:

• I realized I don't feature many blonds on The Randy Report, so let's celebrate a Happy Monday with Joseph Sayers (above) via kenneth-in-the-212.

• An Indianapolis lesbian couple was kidnapped, viciously beaten and sexually assaulted over four days. Three men have been arrested on 26 charges, including criminal confinement, kidnapping, rape and battery by means of a deadly weapon.

• The Anaheim Ducks tweeted, then deleted, this video of Ryan Kesler walking around the Ducks' offices in his "birthday suit" to celebrate the 100th birthday of the National Hockey League yesterday.

The @AnaheimDucks released this cringe-worthy and tone-deaf video of Kesler walking the office naked. The tweet has since been deleted. pic.twitter.com/b0DNTyT0aE

— GrandStand Central (@GrandStCentral) November 26, 2017

• Forty people were injured in Spain's Canary Islands this weekend when a popular gay nightclub's dancefloor collapsed plunging dozens of clubgoers down into the basement.

• The FDA has approved the first two-drug daily regimen for treating HIV.

• Former Olympic swimmer for the UK, Mark Foster, who has appeared on Strictly Come Dancing and acts as a commentator for swimming coverage, has come out at the age of 47.

• Gillette has produced a short film asking UK men for their views on masculinity, what it means to them and how they see the future of being a man progressing.

The video was released alongside a study of 1,000 men that showed 67% believe a man’s role in society has evolved; 45% say they have felt unable to share their feelings because of their gender, and 23% admit that they still feel pressure to be a ‘man’s man.' Watch the video below.

Podcast: LGBTs Notch Historic Wins In Political Races; George Takei Accused Of Sexual Misconduct

In this week's podcast:

• Political history was made in elections across the country this week by LGBT candidates

• A new poll in the UK shows gay men have an issue with masculinity

• Australia looks poised to legalize same-sex marriage, but there could be a snag

• A Las Vegas father shoots and kills his 14-year-old son for being gay. Click here to contribute to a GoFundMe campaign aimed at helping pay funeral expenses.

• Pro soccer player Robbie Rogers, the first openly gay athlete in one of the “big four” professional sports, announced his retirement

• Star Trek star and LGBT icon George Takei accused of sexual misconduct

All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report.

Short Film "American Male" Explores Internalized Homophobia Through Hyper-Masculinity

This chilling short film, American Male, from director Michael Rohrbaugh explores the inner monologue of one hyper-masculine frat bro that becomes an unrelenting stream of consciousness afraid of any social perceptions that are less than masculine identifiers.

Steroids, working out, practicing beer pong, chugging beer and more become the daily routine in an effort to avoid any possible personality traits that could be perceived as gay or feminine.

The film's off-screen narration consists entirely of the rules of the masculine road:

“Order beer. Not wine. And beef, not chicken. Never light beer, though. And tofu. Can’t get more gay than tofu.”

"At a young age, I began to closely observe the people around me. The way they talked, the way they walked, what they said, where it got them. Now, I am no longer a person, but a set of social cues."

The film was a winner in MTV's Look Different Creator Competition, which invited emerging filmmakers to create groundbreaking videos on the topic of privilege.

My Favorite Thing Today: Aussie Crossfit Athlete Khan Porter

Australian Crossfit Athlete Khan Porter is officially "my favorite thing today."

This story starts with Porter, who posted the following fun little "pre-lift" video featuring him dancing into gear before lifting 264lbs over his head.

Seeing as Instagram only allows 15 seconds of dancing and apparently the interwebs doesn't mind a bit of Beyoncé, here...
Posted by Khan Porter on Monday, January 11, 2016

After hundreds of thousands of views, though, Khan followed that up with a thoughtful post about perceived "masculinity:"

Beyoncé, Masculinity and Mental Health

If you guys watched my Beyoncé video yesterday, I would love you to take a moment out of your day and read the following.

Yesterday I reposted a video of myself dancing to Beyoncé and at the time of writing it, it's been watched over 1.5 million times.

It's also been Shared a bunch and even made its way on to TV haha.

I reposted my video after seeing Channing Tatum's lip sync battle with his wife in which he dressed in drag and danced to a Beyoncé song and the interwebs went wild.

I posted my video for fun obviously, but also because l think the way the public reacted reflects a pretty cool shift in preconceived notions of masculinity and think that's grounds for starting some more positive conversations about what it means to be "a man".

A well known male celebrity goes on national television, dresses in drag and dances to a girls song and the world embraces it with open arms.

I post a video dancing and it too gets plenty of positive attention, showing a shift in the way society views masculinity or what is acceptable for a man to do or say.

But how far does that acceptance go?

If myself or Channing Tatum were openly gay and did the same thing would people still applaud it?

There's still so many stigmatic ideas around masculinity and blokes face very real issues in terms of dealing with what society has deemed as appropriate behaviour for their sex.

Did you know that suicide is the leading cause of death for males aged between 15-44?

How about that the rate of suicide in men is almost triple women?

As someone who has personal experience with mental health issues, I know how difficult it can be for a man to seek help for something that is often brushed off as "just being a pussy" or a "soft cock".

If society can have a good laugh and accept a man dressing up and / or dancing like a woman these days, how hard is it to have a chat to your mates about something like mental illness.

Just as its ok for blokes to dance, it's ok for them to battle mentally and emotionally sometimes too.

If a bunch of people can watch a 25 second video, surely they can also spare the time to ask one of their mates if everything is ok.