Recently I posted about how lots of women try to become "one of the boys" as a strategy to get ahead in patriarchy. Since the state of being female is reviled and shunned, lest any taint of it disarm dudeliness, plenty of women walk around with the point of view of a middle aged white dude. We all receive a steady stream of "what a man wants" since birth, so the psychological transfer barely even registers. Pick up a newspaper, turn on the television, open most books, or browse the interwebs and you get a good dose of dude nation, where its all about the menz, even when it appears to be directed specifically at women, such as the Lifetime network or something similar, it's still a predictable narrative, narrowed to a limited set of men are________ and women are _________.
You can isolate cues about gender norms everywhere, telling you how you should behave and what to expect your life to resemble. Women internalize all the stuff about manhood alongside the lessons for muliebrity, which often lends us the ability to come up with compelling male characters. Take a look at what an international media darling Zadie Smith became for "White Teeth," a bestseller about two middle aged dudes. It's profitable to make men the centre of your work. Or, as another bestseller instructs, "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man."

The NYT offers the most recent example of a woman making a name for herself by making it all about the men with the feature "She's a Director Who's Just Another Dude." Lynn Shelton's recent film "Humpday," premiered:

"At Sundance, where the film made its debut in January, the film’s pitch alone — two buddies reunite a decade out of college only to find themselves agreeing to shoot an arty porn flick on a kind of regressive, Dionysian dare — hit the festival’s sweet spot, and not by accident."

The NYT attempts to class up the premise with the allusion to mythology. Of course a woman who makes a "bromance" film where two scumbags make a porno will fill the theatre seats. Rule number one of being "one of the boys" instructs a woman to laugh when men engage in sexist jokes and to never call them on bad behaviour. Shelton sounds like an enthusiastic cheerleader for dudes. Or, as the author quips, "Ms. Shelton has created an exploration of the male ego and the passionate rigors of platonic, dude-on-dude love." It's sure to be a hit. You know it's bad when they report that she's being called the "female Apatow."
Exalt unquestioned male privilege in all its excess and you will make some bank.

Her credentials as "one of the boys" also receives confirmation: "Mr. Duplass credited Ms. Shelton’s facility with actors, enthusiasm for the working process and, tangentially, her greater affinity for men: 'You know those girls who are closer with dudes, in general? She’s got a little bit of that going on, so that obviously plays into it.'" Men are the centre of the universe, and the women who recognize that will find success.
We also get assurance that Shelton appropriately assumes the supporting role to the altogether more important funnymen; " 'But Lynn is not the one cracking jokes, she’s the one laughing hardest.'" Women shouldn't outshine the men or hold the spotlight, just laugh and cheer on the men.