The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 9

MONDAY 14 MARCH 1994 THE AOE 9 Opinion: An optimist returns The ghouls inside Arts: Art of surprise Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Too much heat in the White House kitchen The Clintons might face some unpleasant sacrifices as the Whitewater probe goes deeper, write Simon Tisdall i and Martin Walker in Washington. Man Man A7 Features Women are perving at men on Channel Seven's new game show. Is it a barrel of laughs or a destructive case of tit-for-tat sexism? Wendy Tuohy reports. ShOW US your tits!" bellows a woman high on Hardy Sir James as 'Man Man' contestant niimber seven, Luke, emerges in a lovely cutaway number to do his talent act. The irony of her predicament is that it all stems from her role as breadwinner while her husband built his political career and earned a paltry $35,000 a year as Governor of Arkansas, But it was Hillary Clinton who wanted more.

She took the lead in the First Couple's original 1979 decision to try to make serious money from property development. It was she who played the active role after the Clintons formed the Whitewater Development Corporation. But the leading man and leading lady of the Joint Presidency have one fundamental problem in common each other. Together they rose, these Siamese twins of ambition; and if one falls, how can the other survive? So far, at least, the sacrifices have all been on Mrs Clinton's side. She gave up the promise of a sparkling legal career to join her husband in a poor Southern state.

She bore their child, Chelsea, and put up with Bill's sometimes desperate philanderings and his embarrassing relatives. She earned the money, handled the family's legal, financial and tax affairs. She even surrendered her maiden name. Now she desperately needs his loyalty in return. Can she be sure she has it? Hillary knows better than most of her husband's propensity for swiftly discarding colleagues and friends who become political embarrassments.

It won't happen. For there is no doubt who is the steelier of the two. To Bill's blubbing, boastful, boyish King she plays Lady Macbeth. Her nerve is stronger, her courage greater. For her, Whitewater is bogus, a conspiracy got up by her enemies.

It is a mere political plot against the throne that must be unmasked and destroyed. And, indeed, she may well be proved right. The Guardian WHEN THE White House's French chef, Pierre Chambrin, threw in his spatula last week, he said he had resigned because of disagreements with the First Couple about menus. "I have a different concept of the food," Chambrin said haughtily. But in the bubbling cauldron of contemporary Washington, where nothing is ever taken at face value, such a simple explanation was unacceptable.

There must be more to it than that, said the insiders. Chambrin, in fact, was Hillary Clinton's latest victim, they concluded with malicious smiles. He could no longer stand the First Lady's highhanded ways, her know-it-all attitude. Nor was he enamored of the President's low-class taste for burgers, fries and chocolate milk. Jay Leno, the 'Tonight' TV show host, suggested: "I guess he got fed up with Hillary using the food processor to shred those Whitewater documents." Chambrin is not alone in feeling the heat in the kitchen, at the end of a tumultuous political week in the life of the Joint Presidency.

Bill Clinton's ability to govern, and to enact the ambitious agenda of domestic reform on which his hopes of re-election depend, is now in dire peril. The other half of the Joint cy faces personal damage, as the Whitewater flood sweeps away her claim to be the nation's "moral Amid the corrosive drip-drip of Whitewater, Hillary Clinton may be in the worst trouble of all. She faces poss-ible'disbarment from her chosen profession, probable civil lawsuits, and a certain criminal investigation arising from her work for a Little Rock savings and loan. Luke teeters on to the catwalk in heels, blue taffeta, lipstick and a Marilyn Monroe wig. Swinging his empty Martini glass, he does a good version of the sex-goddess singing 'Happy Birthday' to President Kennedy at Madison Square Garden in 1962.

The glamorous, all-female audience approves of this Christopher Lambert lookalike with stubble. Smartly dressed women whistle and heckle. But they forget Luke quickly when the shorter-but-darker Christian comes out to limbo his goatee under a fiery stick. He is of the swarthy, "Carlos" genre that the warm-up man John Deeks says women usually go for. Christian does an exaggerated lay-back under the stick at its starting height, pulling his cotton trousers tightly to his pushed-out pelvis.

After that, no one seems to notice or care when he jumps over the stick, ponytail flying, after it is lowered once. For Luke, Christian and the other four contestants who survive the 'Hi, my name is round of Channel Seven's controversial new game show, the stakes are high. With their inhibitions removed by two hours' of champagne consumption, the 150-lipsticked executioners ruthlessly dismiss those who do not impress. After each round of singing, dancing, talking, "chatting up or swim-wear muscle-flexing, the men stand beside the station's new, $200,000 swimming pool while the women record the number of their favorite. Tension mounts as models in baby-doll dresses crowd around the scoring screen awaiting the results.

They then descend from their platforms, giving each man a flirty kiss and pushing the losers into the pool, sudden-death style. The crowd roars ps the hapless chap gets the splash. Although the men appear to be enjoying themselves as much as the audience, 'Man Man' has created a storm in mild old Melbourne. Tub-thumping cries about "sexist, exploitative trash" by television critics and media watch programs have fuelled publicity. A letters war was sparked in 'The Age' Green Guide after one woman wrote on 24 February that 'Man Man' was appropriate for the "equal opportunity" '90s.

"With 'Man Man', women can now demonstrate that they too have human 'charac Investing in the 90's is a pretty serious business. Is50.1p.a. return serious enough? In 1993, Wcstpac Property Trust was awarded "Property Trust of the Year" in the influential magazine "Money Maybe that's a good place to start your investment portfolio this year. Call Westpac Financial Services on 13 1817 or contact your broker. htdrprtidrut Viipmi' Trust Ra'inr University psychology professor, disagrees.

"It doesn't help to simply reverse roles because if it (exploitation) was wrong when it was the other way round it's still wrong when you reverse it. Revenge isn't of any worth either," she says. "Normally, when people think of revenge they think of closing the cycle, and pop culture encourages us to think like that. But the reality is that revenge starts a vendetta and what may be seen as just revenge by women may be the beginning of another cyle by men." Bretherton says that women who say it is liberating for them to show men how it feels to be judged on their looks are undermining their feminist arguments. "There is perhaps a feeling of power in a bit of a pay-back, and also there's a bit of a feeling of power in breaking out of your confines, so I can understand why people think it's a bit of fun.

But I think people will tire of it." Robert Ware, who runs a Melbourne men's leadership consultancy, Men International Trust, takes a more aggressive stance. He decided to watch the first episode of 'ManO Man' "for research" but was so outraged he turned it off after 10 minutes. He says the program, which is rating very well, is "a blatant manipulation of the gender war for ratings" and that it "takes women back 20 "It doesn't do anything constructive for men or for women, except to show us how silly we can be "I actually feel very sorry for the men who allow themselves to be degraded and used on this show. This is an example of how men are devalued in the media, they're just cheap meat." Ware may be right, but Andrew, Luke, Tony and Christian, the four remaining men in tonight's competition, are trying their hardest to come across as sensitive sides of beefcake. "Tony, if you could change the world, what would you change about it?" a woman asks a contestant.

"I'd give equality to everyone," gets him a long way with the women. Deeks says the hilarity of the earlier rounds gives way to serious scrutiny when the women get to question the men. The super-careful replies show how keen men are to "work out just where they are in this new "If they're at all unsure they might really drop themselves in it, like one poor guy who was asked 'do you believe in monogamy in and he said, 'absolutely, of course, its one of the sacrifices you have to make'!" Deeks says if he has learnt anything from his work on "the most bizarre "show I've ever it is that modern women may love muscles, "the Country Road look" and but what they really want is "monogamy and Revelling in seeing those who do not fit the description flung into pools is just a "weird" way of snowing it. 'ManO Man' screens at 7.30pm on Saturday nights on Channel Seven. Going: a hopeful contestant tries his best to impress.

Going: while another came prepared to take a dip. Gone! When push comes to shove, make a splash. Wo Neither Wcstpac Filmic ul Services Limited AON (MHI2I4 127 nor Westpac Banking Corporation ARBN IXF7 457 HI guarantees tile performance of the Trust or the repayment of capital. Wcstpac Properly Trust listed in May 1992. Past performance may not be reflected in future performance.

Investors are advises! to read the half-yearly report ami Financial Statements for the period ended 31st Pec. 1993, available from brokers or Westpac on 13 1H17 Westpac Financial Services IIMIVMtWMO SIMM Ml teristics', similar to those of the male species. Women don't mind observing a 'good chassis', a 'smooth-line body' or even a 'finely tuned donk'," wrote loan Vander Kraan of Greenvale. This provoked a barrage of replies, with men and women arguing that although men have "objectified." women through history, the program is unacceptable in times of gender reconciliation. "As a heterosexual female believes in equal opportunity I was disgusted by J.

Vander Kraan letter," wrote Claire Atkins of Greensborough. "Perhaps she seeks some sort of justice through the screening of this program. However, this sort of reverse discrimination will only lead to further gender segregation within our society. "Not all females feel comfortable with this appalling portrayal of women ogling men on national television as a representation of feminism." Jennifer MacFarlane of Hoppers Crossing disagreed. "If 'Man Man' is exploitation of men, I say it's well overdue!" Back in the studio, the mostly male crew would appear to be on Ms Atkin side.

Having asked women to tell their bloke jokes to fill a commercial break, When brawn and brain go Evolving with sex on John Deeks is looking taken aback by the results. One cameraman, recently bailed up by nine women outside the studio who demanded a kiss each and his phone number, is shaking his head at jokes such as this: "There was a miracle on earth the other day A baby was born with a brain and a penis." It is received with hoots of approval and followed up with: "What do you call a useless bit of skin on the end of a man's penis? His body!" And: "What do you call a man with half a brain? Gifted." Is all this just a healthy bit of revenge for decades of female flesh parades? Di Bretherton, a Melbourne One scientist believes our brains grew larger as a courtship device, writes Sanjida O'Connell in London. bility by being slightly longer. Sexual, selection means that females would have chosen longer-tailed males as mates because their young would inherit the advantage of having a long tail. Eventually the aerodynamic advantage becomes irrelevant the huge, ornate and rather cumbersome tail of the male peacock is designed to woo females: the male with such a tail gets to mate with most females, but males have large tails because females choose them to be that way.

The system has gone into It is not unusual for females to choose the out-of-the-ordinary or even the downright odd. Female herring gulls will abandon their own eggs and instead roll a super-large egg into their nest if given the opportunity: one type of female tungara frog has a decided preference for deep-voiced males, even though males of the spe 0 AfeterValues'' In 1993 the performance of property trusts was rather good. In 1993 the performance of Westpac Property Trust was rather amazing. In 1993 the Westpac Property Trust returned 50.1 to its unit holders. If you conip.ire this to other forms of investment, you may wish to c.ill your broker rather quickly.

Call 131817 for a copy of our latest report or contact ynur broker. hidepniJnitPri'prrlyTnutRmni' together our minds cies do not have deep voices. In human terms, Miller suggests that pure chance linked the preference for a large brain to genes that increased brain size; runaway sexual selection could then take place in a similar way to the expansion of the peacock's tail. Because having a smart brain has had many uses, if females choose large brains then both their sons and daughters benefit. In a study carried out on 37 cultures, the traits most preferred in a partner were kindness and intelligence.

This preference indicates "whether your partner is going to be thrilling to be around, over and above being efficient at reproduction," says Miller. The development of large brains allows us to escape "the prison of our genes" and means we can be adoptively unpredictable. Miller admits the major flaw in his theory: "I certainly haven't made an airtight case for why us and not other great apes." But he suggests that chance, combined with natural selection is an important element. He adds: "Runaway sexual selection is basically a very unpredictable process." The Guardian IT WEIGHS the same as one and a half bags of sugar and consumes a quarter of our energy. It began to grow rapidly in size two million years ago, and it suggested to us rather arrogantly perhaps our name.

What puzzles researchers Is not only how it got so big, but why we are the only animal blessed with such a large and intelligent Homo sapiens-(meaning wise man) thinks it is the brightest animal on the planet, but it also knows it was the only proto-hu-man to enjoy a rapid Increase in brain size for no apparent reason. Dr Geoffrey Miller of Sussex University argues that our brain grew larger to act as a courtship device and is designed to stimulate others and assess others' stimulation. What distinguishes us from animals is our love of the unpredictable and a tendency to neophilia the need of the new. He believes that our brains grew to their present size and complexity because of a "runaway sexual selection" model, the best example of which is the peacock's tail. Originally a male peacock's tail might have had some use it might have added a bit of aerodynamic sla- MaslerValues saves MasterCard card holders up to $732 per person on 7 nights twin share accommodation at Daydream Island and nights at Hamilton Island including economy airfares.

Normal price (ex Melbourne) $1,920 per person. MaslerValues price (ex Melbourne) $1,188 per person. For more Information on this and other great offers call MaslerValues. (Free Call) 1-S00-62-4567. Wliitsundays Neither Wcslpic Financial Service limited ACN IS nor WrMna.

Nanking Oirrmtion ARBN (KI7457 Ml guarantees the performance of the Trim or the rcrayncnl of capital. Wcstpac Property TruM listed in May 1992. last performance may not he reflected in future x'rMtiijnof. hrvestors are advised to read the half-yearly report and Financial Statement for the period ended '1st Iec. Ynx available from broken or Westpac 13 IHI7 lestpac Financial Services I A1 IU It 1 v.t.