On 1/4/06 3:36 AM, "Stephen Vincent" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> At the world reconfigures the entry of women
> into the traditional bastions of male power, it has not dealt with the
> issues of how to reconfigure the role of men - in ways that are considerate
> and empowering and, simultaneously, respectful of the rise of women.
> Some may laugh to think this is an issue, but I see it, no only with my son,
> but many other guys who are wandering lost and feeling without place.
I don't think there's any doubt that this has links to the high suicide rate
among (particularly middle aged) men. The empty configurations of
masculinity, which heavily depend on a sense of male entitlement that in
turn depends on the denigration of femininity, including what's seen as
female in themselves, are a huge part of this problem. Hence the links
between misogyny and homophobia. I think it's very difficult for young men
and boys; in my own observation, gender conditioning starts much earlier for
boys and is much more insistent for boys than for girls (girls can get away
with slipping between genders until adolescence, but then the pressures
really kick in).
On the other hand, I do see lots of young men these days who are also very
comfortable with the power of women, and who have no problem relating to
girls as mates. It doesn't occur to them not to, and it doesn't threaten
their own sense of themselves as male. They are boys who have been raised
with the assumption that women are human beings too and of as much
consequence as girls, so the idea isn't a shock. So it goes both ways.
Though I begin to wonder if that's just an Australian thing. US society
seems in general much more macho and certainly much more militaristic.
All best
A
Alison Croggon
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
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