The Bachelor Pad itself is an invention by Hugh Heffner and a reaction to the original men's liberation movement. Instead of achieving liberation through politics and collective action (men at the time were concerned about how traditional gender roles would reduce them to their function as bread winners and exclude them from their own families, also the draft), the idea of liberation was recuperated as consumerism: be free in your man cave after work.
It's a fascinating phenomenon of American culture, to have a designated man space. I wonder whether this seclusion space is just healthy retreat or whether it fosters isolation even more. Probably both in some sense?
The Bachelor Pad itself is an invention by Hugh Heffner and a reaction to the original men's liberation movement. Instead of achieving liberation through politics and collective action (men at the time were concerned about how traditional gender roles would reduce them to their function as bread winners and exclude them from their own families, also the draft), the idea of liberation was recuperated as consumerism: be free in your man cave after work.
It's a fascinating phenomenon of American culture, to have a designated man space. I wonder whether this seclusion space is just healthy retreat or whether it fosters isolation even more. Probably both in some sense?
They used to be called "dens," but that just wasn't manly enough and sometimes conjured up images of dark paneled rooms with [shudder] books.