I’m inclined to just say, “man up and embrace your freedom from masculinity.” 😏
Maybe young men should shift their objective from “masculinity,” which is an increasingly empty concept, to “character,” which is about being a decent human being. It’s true that the world doesn’t always reward this choice, and it’s often very difficult to do, but it’s the only one worth aspiring to. It doesn’t really need to be more complicated than that.
There’s no greater example of this divide than Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy this week. None of the 4 main US reps (Trump, Vance, Hegseth, Rubio) have traditional masculine bona fides other than being heterosexual men. Their party continually talks about traditional masculinity (and femininity), to the point of referring to Trump as the daddy figure who is going to get the belt out. What we saw in that meeting though is what happens when men posing as traditionally masculine meet the real deal. They belittled him in the same way Trump belittled McCain, because they don’t want to be held to a standard of masculinity that requires actual courage, character and authenticity. That is why they are so obsessed with trans people. It has nothing to do with the sanctity of women’s sports and everything to do with changing gender roles. They can’t handle having men in the military who were identified female at birth. They have a hard enough time with cis-women in the military. Everything about the Trump brand is meant to maintain this veneer of traditional masculinity, which at least explains his fascination with the Village People. By the way, the book “Sapiens” by Yuval Harari has interesting observations about when the environment changes faster than genetics.
me too. I enjoy Steve's use ironic use of "man up." Everyone knows what that means, but it's parallel "woman up," doesn't exist and if it did, we'd have to explain which type of woman. I think that's part of the pressure--simple, safe choice vs complex and risky.
I’m inclined to just say, “man up and embrace your freedom from masculinity.” 😏
Maybe young men should shift their objective from “masculinity,” which is an increasingly empty concept, to “character,” which is about being a decent human being. It’s true that the world doesn’t always reward this choice, and it’s often very difficult to do, but it’s the only one worth aspiring to. It doesn’t really need to be more complicated than that.
Good thought Steve. Not sure it’s an either or character or masculinity. Gender roles are so deeply encoded.
I think this may depend on what you mean by “encoded.” Are we talking genetic encoding or cultural conditioning? Both?
There’s no greater example of this divide than Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy this week. None of the 4 main US reps (Trump, Vance, Hegseth, Rubio) have traditional masculine bona fides other than being heterosexual men. Their party continually talks about traditional masculinity (and femininity), to the point of referring to Trump as the daddy figure who is going to get the belt out. What we saw in that meeting though is what happens when men posing as traditionally masculine meet the real deal. They belittled him in the same way Trump belittled McCain, because they don’t want to be held to a standard of masculinity that requires actual courage, character and authenticity. That is why they are so obsessed with trans people. It has nothing to do with the sanctity of women’s sports and everything to do with changing gender roles. They can’t handle having men in the military who were identified female at birth. They have a hard enough time with cis-women in the military. Everything about the Trump brand is meant to maintain this veneer of traditional masculinity, which at least explains his fascination with the Village People. By the way, the book “Sapiens” by Yuval Harari has interesting observations about when the environment changes faster than genetics.
exactly. That meeting got me thinking about bullies and how much I hate them. Some thoughts on that next week.
I am really interested in hearing more about these pressures.
me too. I enjoy Steve's use ironic use of "man up." Everyone knows what that means, but it's parallel "woman up," doesn't exist and if it did, we'd have to explain which type of woman. I think that's part of the pressure--simple, safe choice vs complex and risky.
I was unaware that women had more choices in role models at an earlier time and that they are freer to experiment. I’ll consider that.