Masculinity

Last night (Monday) I went to a bar, but it was for research, I swear! I'm in a masculine studies class and I went with a classmate to observe "straight masculine dating behavior." I'd never been to that bar, technically it's an illegal student bar, but all that means is they don't have a liquor license and the people who are there know it by word-of-mouth. My classmate's roommate, Anders (a Dane) happened to be there with a small group, so we sat with them. Next to Anders was Karl, from New Zealand. We told them about the project and it was so funny b/c though Karl was completely conscious of the assignment, he fell into most cliches. He was intellectually aggressive, the kind of guy who's more or less intelligent and well-informed but most of all enjoys the sound of his own voice. He would strike up "intellectual discourses" and invite others into the conversation but would pretty much dominate it. Also he would be occasionally vulgar, throwing in bits of sex and etc. And he would direct most things at me even though my friend (a dude, shocking coincedence) was supposed to be observing the same thing. It just got me thinking about dude's general interaction. I mean I participated in the banter, but I did feel uncomfortable--why do guys have to do that? I couldn't be funny or amusing the way I normally like to be and I left feeling annoyed that somebody was trying to get a reaction out of me. Haha, what a nice little unrelated rant. Anyway, I liked the bar and the experience gave me a good perspective. It'd be interesting to see Karl again, you know, say all the things I didn't think of at the time. Hmmmmm.....