[Company name][Company address]

In a paper titled Angst, Co-Dependence, and Phallic Weakness in the Songs of

Kris Kristofferson by Dr. Joey Pogue, he analyzes the songs Silver Tongued Devil,
When I Loved Her, and Stagger Mountain Tragedy, all written and performed by Kris
Kristofferson. In this paper, Pogue follows these three songs to format an ideal of
masculine interactions with feminine receivers. He focuses on three separate
theories within the gender binary. The first, accompanied with the song Silver
Tongued Devil, looks at the angst of ambivalence, with Pogue discussing the
currency and power created by the female in the song as causing the male
protagonist to put on a mask and create a false self to achieve satisfaction of the
libido. While the character does not necessarily subscribe to these notions, it is
implied that he does not feel whole when hiding himself from the world, creating a
feeling of sex as more of a chore than an expression of intimacy.
In the second song, When I Loved Her, Pogue links child-like dependency to
the character Kristofferson creates by the lyrics. In the song Kristofferson forgoes
the woman that idolized him to pursue one with more power and currency to
exchange. While this happens though, he loses the ability to be propped up
emotionally by the new woman in his life. Then it is suggested that Kristofferson
became longing of the standard hegemonic ideal of the nuclear family. Wishing for
the woman who was there with all of her love and support as compared to one that
he constantly has to struggle with internally for standard positioning within the
gender binary.
The third song, Stagger Mountain Tragedy, Pogue suggests that phallic
weakness causes the protagonist to action through standard misogyny and fear of
the feminine. He explains the difference between phallic and penile states of mind
and associates them with trouble created in the new more open sexual world that
has been created post-1960s. Links are made that include controlling libidous urges

to create phallic growth in a society where it is good to be penile. Further

suggestions indicate that this creates a goal for a man within the culture to achieve
certain aspects of both phallic and penile balance to be truly appreciated with
western cultural, gender hegemity.
In this extended synopsis, I plan to use personal experience within
each of the three categories discussed in the paper to further explain and expand
on subjects that felt reflective to both my persona and experience within the gender
binary.
When I enter the bar, in a similar way to Kristofferson, I may be just going to
initially enjoy a drink. Then everything hits the fan. If there is an attractive woman
in there who becomes engaged with me I put on a mask to hide my true self. I must
remain and act cool it feels, because I lack basic societal requirements in western
hegemonic masculinity. When this becomes a factor, I feel that I dumb myself down
to make interactions more basic with the opposite sex. It is not often that I meet a
woman in this region that will be willing to discuss everything under the stars all
evening. The interaction must be quick and simple, because if I dont succeed in a
short amount of time she becomes bored and longs to find someone more into
making sure her fulfillment happens. Pogue, when discussing this, equates it to
women being able to choose and be afforded to have both intimate and sexual
needs met by her choice. While in the progressive world this does ring mostly true,
the rape culture and date rape scenarios remove this control of both power and
currency from the female and lands them in the males hands due to sheer ability to
overpower physically. Though is this the prevailing truth behind cultural misogyny,
or is it reactionary within the world of increased sexual identity? In chapter two of
the Foss book, language is the main driver of the current gender binary. The
increase in sexual identity for all genders and gender neutrals allows the language

to become more pervasive and direct. This does well for the traditional male model
of masculinity, but leaves quite a few men left with increased feelings of fear of
feminine, including myself. This can create the feeling to cover up even more of
ones true self, and leads to a noticeably fake image being portrayed to members of
both the same and different sex. This creates a predatory landscape in the bar
scene not unlike the animals we consider ourselves so separate from. In this new
Sahara, the ones who most fit to the hegemonic ideal through masks are the ones
who usually succeed. This idea is elaborated upon in Kristoffersons song The Silver
Tongue Devil, in which the man with the mask wins, even though he would much
rather be himself. The new Sahara prefers penile interactions rather than phallic.
Bordo describes the difference between penile and phallic as the difference between
acting through nature (penile) and the norms practiced within civilization (phallic).
Interpreting this diverse landscape can create animosity towards sexual excursions,
and create situations that can leave one if not all parties unsatisfied or unfulfilled
within drives for both sexual satisfaction and true intimacy. The hookup culture, as
the bar scene has been described for this generation, purveys that to break from
the gender binary sexual openness must land in the realm of quick interactions that
decide whether or not both parties will interact sexually. It allows for more sexual
freedom of choice yes, but by making the interactions short, it creates an
animalistic point in sex where the body is just a machine. Sex feels good so why not
just fulfill the penile functions of sex? This phenomenon in the new culture makes
men hide behind language and masks as they try to navigate the field of fulfilling
both sexual and intimate needs. As many in my family have said to me as I got
older, You cant find love in a bar kid, you may be able to start that connection, but
you will never fill it if you dont take the time. The way to fulfillment is through a

true balance of phallic and penile interactions, with the terrain being harder to
navigate than a minefield.
When looking at the issue of child-like dependence on a female figure, I was
brought back to one of the two women I dated in my high school career, she was
with me through my junior and senior year and we remained together until shortly
after graduation, where we had an open and mutual breakdown of our intimate
relationship. Sam was quite a woman, and it took me quite a while to realize and
appreciate the luck I had to be with her. We had been founded on lies, I had cheated
on another girlfriend with her. After my other relationship collapsed, we quickly
became public with our relationship. While it lasted two years and included a
promise ring, part of me felt like I was just dating her to hold up appearance, not for
intimate gain or satisfaction. Eventually this relationship grew to an intimate level,
and I grew to love what she was as a person. This relates to Kristoffersons song
When I Loved Her, in this songs, he describes leaving feelings for a woman he had
loved to pursue a relationship that involved more currency and power exchange.
This related so well to my relationship with Samantha that I had to listen to the song
twice to understand it fully. Pogue describes the sexual revolution of the 1960s as a
creator of new forms of phallic anxiety, in which men fear the new power of
sexually free women. He looks at Kristoffersons song and ties it into child-like
dependence on a female within a subjects life. He ties this feeling to the ideal
portrayed through the media about the nuclear family ideal in western culture. In
this culture, the woman sacrifices her freedom to feel by supporting and uplifting
the male in her life. Sam did this amazingly, but she wasnt the ideal that had been
ingrained into my mind. Chapter five of the Foss book describes the effect of pop
culture within the hegemonic ideal. There are five parts to this structure, and each
works their way through advertising and culture items that reaffirm the current

hegemonic ideal and idolizes older ones like phallocentricity and the traditional
patriarchal order. Television shows like Mad Men paint the ideal of the late 50s
nuclear family model as the ideal and easiest life to attain. Everything seems to
work for the main character, and his wife sits back at home while he cheats and
drinks to fill the role of his sexual and emotional support tool, nothing else really.
Sam was almost the same way, just with different circumstances. She was always
there in the background, especially towards the end of our relationship. During this
time however, I distanced myself from her and had my own life with friends. I never
invited her to join us, however, feeling she took the steam out of my relationships
with them. She was always there to support me, but I chose instead to take
advantage of that simple fact and left her emotionally unfulfilled. While it was a
mostly unconscious action, there were times when I realized what I was doing, yet
continued to do so. I was using my penile power to satisfy myself sexually not
emotionally. Bordo discusses this in her book noting that the desire for bodily
satisfaction leaves other possibilities out to dry. I did this with Sam, and used it to
my advantage to keep her in a long term relationship with little intimate satisfaction
on her part.
The third song discussed in Pogues paper covers phallic weakness, described
in association with the song Stagger Mountain Tragedy. In this song, Kristofferson
describes leaving the previously mentioned penile nature and enters into the world
where phallic ideal is set within the culture. In this world, he is given power and
currency if he can resist the libidos desire for a woman. If not, he becomes weak in
the phallic sense and works back towards the natural order of penile gratification.
Work is a great place to explore this idea. At the restaurant I work at, male
members are required to sign a sexual harassment contract that requires us to
refrain from being overtly or even covertly sexual about desires we have for female

members of the staff. The females are given more freedom and can and do date
members of the male workforce. This gives them the power. Bordo, in her chapter
on gender neutrality discusses the world of the gender neutral or transvestite and
their desires to change themselves within the world. When looking at this ideal, a
correlation can be made to the change in power to the desire of gender neutral or
gender queer individuals in this world. They constantly seek agency and currency,
and find it not within specific black and white gender norms dictated by the
hegemonic gender binary. This sexual harassment contract relates, because it is
one sided and fits within the traditional ideals of gender binary hegemity. The
benefit of this black and white system here is that the power exchange and the
changing of currency between parties is limited on the male side and expanded to
the female employees. At work phallic weakness is noticeable, with the harassment
policy probably being breached in multiple ways, just not with physical contact. In
Pogues paper he describes the difference between phallic strength and weakness.
At work it is very noticeable when there are members of the male employees
removing themselves from female communication because they are too locked into
the idea that they must be the initiator. By placing the female employees as the
ones who must initiate in the workplace, it creates a split between which males can
actually communicate and excel with them and male members who only look at
them in a sexual way. This whole policy almost changes the master narrative,
described by the Foss book as clues to the hegemonic ideal and how social
arrangements and values in society work. Flipping the tables also creates phallic
anxiety again, by placing men in the position to lose their job and income source by
just barely overstepping their bounds. Not that this isnt a fair policy, but the policy
allows for a breach in the standard hegemonic ideal created in western culture.

While pop culture creates the ability to retain or change hegemity, master
narratives have to be slowly changed over time through proactive policy. I feel that
work mixes well with the final song in the paper because success is dependent upon
leaving libidous feelings at the door. You cannot be successful at work if the penile
structure is adhered to more than a phallic structure.
In conclusion, all three of these ideals mix inherently well with each other.
Like most communication, the study of it requires breaches in hegemity and cultural
ideals just to be open in discussion. Overlapping is common, because the pieces all
fit together to make one whole open study of the hegemonic ideal created in
western culture and how to climb the obstacles created by it. When looking at
current male interactions, like Kristofferson does in his music, we see that the
differences between phallic and penile states of mind create a need for balance. To
cast out these ideas is to remain within the gender binary, because these
overlapping ideas are the deepest we as a society have delved into the effects of
the sexual revolution and increasing call for equality between the sexes. The
hegemonic ideal has set men back in terms of being descriptive with emotional
reactions, causing the resistance to the changes made by strives for equality. If we
were more open to discuss, maybe wed be able to create an ideal system that
includes both equality and understanding of all sides and facets of gender, not just
the tried method of gender dominance.