What Men Want: Neanderthal TV

Really?

I'm torn. I object to the "Neanderthal" stereotype portrayed on the front page of the New York Times' Sunday Styles section, but at the same time, I can appreciate why men would identify with the brave and competent characters on shows like "Lost," "24" and "Rescue Me," even while they're letting their inner tough guy loose. I root for Jack Bauer when he's knocking heads (which is about every 3 1/ 2 minutes.)

I even wrote about Denis Leary who plays Tommy Gavin on "Rescue Me" in a previous post entitled, "Real Men, Real TV."

I believe that it's the morally struggling protagonist with whom we identify (me included) and that we can separate out the fundamentally good people who sometimes have to resort to behaving reprehensibly from the all-around bad guys. If push came to shove, I'd like to know that my husband would beat up someone if I were under attack.

Mensactivism.org weighed in on the subject too. What do you think?