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This essay and all site contents Copyright L. Goodwin 1990 -2001
I have deep sympathy for the plight of modern men. They really _are_ bashed a lot, and have few real heroes worth emulating. Brotherhood of man!? WHAT brotherhood of man!? It's shark-eat-shark out there! The pressure is on all the time, and competition is fierce. Gone are the days when a man could simply be respectable and have that be enough...now you gotta be rich or you are nothing! And how many guys can realistically ever be rich? Hardly any! This means that most guys are taught to think of themselves as losers, no matter what wonderful things they do or how well, and that sucks!
You ladies don't like PMS once a month? Try living at that hormonal level all the time! And on top of that, you are expected to be "the strong one". Men are pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed, and men run hot by nature, and then people give them guns! Oh! Yeah! That's smart! What I marvel at is that MORE people aren't gunned down every day! Most guys are SAINTS!
Men are *not* less subtle, deep or emotional than women! Men are ~forbidden~ to be emotional! They unlearn it! They are taught to not feel, to be untrue to themselves! This is wrong and must change. Our ancestors left plenty of literature, and in some of those wonderful old books the men of former days poured out whole population's worth of heart! And often quite beautifully and brilliantly.
How can men have to their sex's credit so many wonderful artistic works, and still bear the stigma of being "the colorless sex"? Isn't something out of joint? They can't BOTH be TRUE!
I'm a mother with sons and a daughter. I have seen how they are pressured to act right in accordance with their sex, and how harsh people can be when a kid gets out of step. Let's look closer at males: with my daughter, the day never came where I had to send her alone into a public rest room. Our separation is gradual, and is accomplished by mutual consent in gentle waves. But a mother and son are literally torn from one another's arms very early. Before the little boys are really ready, they are subjected to an ever-increasing series of rude awakenings and rough bumps, because they have to be "toughened up".
Yes, males are naturally more aggressive than females, and this shows up early. But how the aggression is expressed, how it is interpreted, channeled, and rewarded demands closer scrutiny!
No wonder so many men live double lives, lying to their wives. They were taught early to lie to themselves, to disrespect themselves, and to submit themselves to the will of the masculine groupthink. Many modern men don't even know how to identify and express their own emotions. All they know how to do is to be depressed or to be angry. Many take out their frustration and bewilderment on the women in their lives, and this is wrong too, because this whole setup was not *our* idea.
Look, since nobody really benefits from the crummy way things have been, why don't we all agree to change it!? You Can Be Happy! It's not too late!
Join Alt.com - largest BDSM/Alternative Lifestyle Personals!
This essay and all site contents Copyright L. Goodwin 1990 -2001