Man cave
Encyclopedia
Sanctuary
A sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...
, such as a specially equipped garage, spare bedroom, media room, den, or basement. It is not a cave
Cave
A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...
but rather a metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
describing a room inside the house, such as the basement or garage or attic or office, or outside the house such as a wood shed or tool room, where "guys can do as they please" without fear of upsetting any female sensibility about house decor or design. Paula Aymer of Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
calls it the "last bastion of masculinity
Masculinity
Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...
".
While a wife may have substantial authority
Authority
The word Authority is derived mainly from the Latin word auctoritas, meaning invention, advice, opinion, influence, or command. In English, the word 'authority' can be used to mean power given by the state or by academic knowledge of an area .-Authority in Philosophy:In...
over a whole house in terms of design and decoration, she generally has no say about what gets "mounted on the walls" of a man's personal space. Since it may be accepted that a woman has input on the decoration of the rest of the house, a man cave or man space is in some sense a reaction to feminine domestic power. While the term man cave has connotations of retreating to a more primitive primal place, the term man space has been used which does not have the same positive connotations.
Purpose
Man caves have multiple purposes: they're a place to be alone, to be away from women and from female sensibilities, to indulge in hobbies, and to hang out with male friends. It is, loosely, a male-only space to retreat to, Man Caves, watch sports matches, or play video games. According to psychiatrist and author Scott HaltzmanScott Haltzman
Dr. Scott David Haltzman is an American psychiatrist, relationship counselor, and author. He is known for his work in support of marriage and husbands....
, it is important for a man to have a place to call his own, referring to a male area to which to retreat. Some psychologists claim that a man cave can provide refuge from stressful surroundings and be beneficial to marriage. Rules are relaxed; it is a place where other people's sensibilities about standards of cleanliness
Cleanliness
Cleanliness is both the abstract state of being clean and free from dirt, and the process of achieving and maintaining that state.Cleanliness may be endowed with a moral quality, as indicated by the aphorism "cleanliness is next to godliness," and may be regarded as contributing to other ideals...
are not necessarily observed; as one man said, "You spill a beer there or leave a hamburger overnight, who cares?"
In a sense, for married men, it is a way to recreate some of the space and freedom of their bachelor days since it was like a "pad
Bachelor pad
A bachelor pad is a slang term for a house in which a bachelor or bachelors live. It should not be confused for the formal term "bachelor apartment", which is used in real estate to refer to an apartment with no bedrooms, in which the main room serves as a bedroom, living room and dining room...
" similar in feeling to a frat house game room or a college dorm room
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
where people could come and go "as if they owned the place." It is where a man doesn't have to be on his best behavior, where no women are around, and where "no one is going to make you watch your p's and q's" and "no one is going to ask you to explain yourself". Writer and handyman
Handyman
A handyman is a person skilled at a wide range of repairs, typically around the home. These tasks include trade skills, repair work, maintenance work, both interior and exterior, and are sometimes described as "odd jobs", "fix-up tasks", and include light plumbing jobs such as fixing a leaky toilet...
Sam Martin explained:
Martin thinks that any space in the house will do, even a lounge chair and a set of headphones, provided there's an agreement with one's wife or girlfriend that the space is under the control of the man. The advantages of a self-contained room are that male-oriented design choices, such as "tacky lamps" and "beer-can sculptures", are out of sight of women, but in a way that doesn't disturb female sensibilities since visitors generally don't visit the man cave. It's like a firehouse lounge room, but in the home.
Design
According to several sources, the general architectural and design trend is for men to take traditionally male-only spaces, and enhance them with improvements and masculine aesthetic choices. Man caves can be equipped with accessories such as refrigerators, vending machines, putting greens, kegeratorKegerator
Kegerator is a term used to describe a residential draft beer dispensing device. A keg, typically of beer, is stored in a refrigerated container in order to keep the keg chilled. The user is able to maintain a tapped keg in such a device for extended periods of time, usually a couple of months,...
s, giant TVs, musical instruments including gear such as microphone stands and amplifiers, pool tables, boxing rings, and entertainment centers. A man cave may also be fitted out with a bar and sports memorabilia
Sports memorabilia
The term sports memorabilia usually refers to anything that can be directly connected to a sports event or personality. These items are generally gathered by the fans of the particular sport, athlete or team that the item signifies or by collectors who find value in the rarity time-value of these...
such as trophies.
One man redecorated the space to look like a replica model of the bridge of the Starship Enterprise
Starship Enterprise
The Enterprise or USS Enterprise is the name of several fictional starships, some of which are the focal point for various television series and films in the Star Trek franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. It is considered a name of legacy in the fleet...
from the TV show. Upscale sports-themed furnishings are also available to outfit a man cave. These rooms are also often decorated by the male, with little-to-no female influence. A big screen television is useful for watching sports games with buddies. Since it is an area set off from the rest of the house, it's possible to make noise, or yell at the television, without fear of reprisals from a wife
Wife
A wife is a female partner in a marriage. The rights and obligations of the wife regarding her spouse and others, and her status in the community and in law, varies between cultures and has varied over time.-Origin and etymology:...
, girlfriend
Girlfriend
Girlfriend is a term that can refer to either a female partner in a non-marital romantic relationship or a female non-romantic friend that is closer than other friends....
or mother
Mother
A mother, mum, mom, momma, or mama is a woman who has raised a child, given birth to a child, and/or supplied the ovum that grew into a child. Because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to specify a universally...
.
Garages have typically been a man space since they're often lit by "harsh fluorescent bulbs" and lack heat or air conditioning but nevertheless present a guy with an "opportunity to disappear for hours while never leaving the premises." There are some reports suggesting that some men are likely to "lavish time, money and attention on fixing this spot up". Places in houses which have been typically associated with male-oriented chores, such as garage
Garage (house)
A residential garage is part of a home, or an associated building, designed or used for storing a vehicle or vehicles. In some places the term is used synonymously with "carport", though that term normally describes a structure that is not completely enclosed.- British residential garages:Those...
s, basement
Basement
__FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system...
s and tool sheds which haven't been "particularly welcoming spaces" when shared with storage items and garbage, are being fixed up to be more suitable as full-time living spaces, with more thought to design and planning. One man cave of a Gillette corporation executive has a desk, "a chess board that's always set up, never used". But sometimes there are limits; his wife has not yet agreed to letting him smoke cigar
Cigar
A cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern...
s in it.
Popular culture
In the book by Sam Martin entitled Manspace: A Primal Guide to Marking Your Territory, the author suggested there were several spots from pop culture:- Jerry Seinfeld's apartment. One report suggested the Manhattan apartment of the character Jerry SeinfeldJerry Seinfeld (character)Jerome "Jerry" Seinfeld is the main protagonist of the American television sitcom Seinfeld . The straight man among his group of friends, this semi-fictionalized version of comedian Jerry Seinfeld was named after, co-created by, based on, and played by Seinfeld himself.The series revolves around...
from the TV show represented "the epitome of a male hangout devoid of any female influence" since cereal boxes and mountain bikes suggested to viewers that "Guys rule."
- Tim Taylor's garage. In the TV sitcom Home Improvement, Tim Taylor used to "bring to life all manner of high-powered monster machines."
- Bada Bing room. In the TV show The SopranosThe SopranosThe Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
, Tony's gang would meet in a windowless "dingy office" in a strip club. It was a "guys-only place within a guys-only place." - John Cage's secret bathroom room'. In the TV show Ally McbealAlly McBealAlly McBeal is an American legal comedy-drama series which aired on the Fox network from 1997 to 2002. The series was created by David E. Kelley, who also served as the executive producer, along with Bill D'Elia...
, John has a hidden room in one of the bathroom stalls.
See also
- Bachelor padBachelor padA bachelor pad is a slang term for a house in which a bachelor or bachelors live. It should not be confused for the formal term "bachelor apartment", which is used in real estate to refer to an apartment with no bedrooms, in which the main room serves as a bedroom, living room and dining room...
- Male bondingMale bondingMale bonding is a term that is used in ethology, social science, and in general usage to describe patterns of friendship and/or cooperation in men...
- Men's spacesMen's spacesMen's spaces are separate social and cultural spaces, roles and norms available to men in some non-westernized societies. It is the membership of these spaces that determines a male's manhood, while failing to get a membership of this space amounts to being denied manhood, and to be liable to...
- A Room of One's OwnA Room of One's OwnA Room of One's Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf. First published on 24 October 1929, the essay was based on a series of lectures she delivered at Newnham College and Girton College, two women's colleges at Cambridge University in October 1928...
- ShedShedA shed is typically a simple, single-storey structure in a back garden or on an allotment that is used for storage, hobbies, or as a workshop....