Eric Raymond on The Demonization of Masculinity
Eric S. Raymond has an interesting post about the demonization of masculinity that is occurring in Western culture. Conservative Christians have been pointing at this trend for many years, but I find it especially interesting coming from Eric, who I believe is an agnostic.
The context of his thoughts are specifically related to a news article about how a bricklayer saw a toddler walking alone, but didn't stop to help the kid because of the way an adult males is generally suspected in everything he does with a young child. And that unassisted child ended up falling into a pond and died!
Just take a look at the latest movies and how men in general and husbands in specific are portrayed and you will see the way which feminism and other societal forces have distorted the perception of what it means to be a man. One of the most hurtful legacies of feminism is found in the essential defining propositions of radical feminism: "Men are bad...and women should be just like them."
Here are some quotes from Eric's post that I found to be very accurate in their assessment of what is generally going on:
"Men are designed to protect women and children, specialized for it; in a very basic biological sense it’s what we’re for. But the modern West bombards men with the message that their specialty isn’t needed, isn’t wanted, and that they’re assumed to want to prey on women and children."
"Is it any wonder, then, that young men are increasingly opting out of college, that the percentage of adult males never married is also rising, and that in the 21st century many men seem to want to opt out of responsibility altogether? When our instititions equate feminization with virtue and masculinity with evil, this is exactly the outcome we should expect."
Could it be that our culture's fear of the worst sort of men sometimes causes good, honest, and moral men to feel like they are useless, unneeded, inept, suspect, dangerous, etc.? And furthermore, to feel like we are unable to be of assistance to this world in ways that we were created to be helpful in? Does fear sometimes take our society to extremes (ie. the implicit distrust of masculinity in general) that are perhaps harmful?
The context of his thoughts are specifically related to a news article about how a bricklayer saw a toddler walking alone, but didn't stop to help the kid because of the way an adult males is generally suspected in everything he does with a young child. And that unassisted child ended up falling into a pond and died!
Just take a look at the latest movies and how men in general and husbands in specific are portrayed and you will see the way which feminism and other societal forces have distorted the perception of what it means to be a man. One of the most hurtful legacies of feminism is found in the essential defining propositions of radical feminism: "Men are bad...and women should be just like them."
Here are some quotes from Eric's post that I found to be very accurate in their assessment of what is generally going on:
"Men are designed to protect women and children, specialized for it; in a very basic biological sense it’s what we’re for. But the modern West bombards men with the message that their specialty isn’t needed, isn’t wanted, and that they’re assumed to want to prey on women and children."
"Is it any wonder, then, that young men are increasingly opting out of college, that the percentage of adult males never married is also rising, and that in the 21st century many men seem to want to opt out of responsibility altogether? When our instititions equate feminization with virtue and masculinity with evil, this is exactly the outcome we should expect."
Could it be that our culture's fear of the worst sort of men sometimes causes good, honest, and moral men to feel like they are useless, unneeded, inept, suspect, dangerous, etc.? And furthermore, to feel like we are unable to be of assistance to this world in ways that we were created to be helpful in? Does fear sometimes take our society to extremes (ie. the implicit distrust of masculinity in general) that are perhaps harmful?
Labels: feminism, gender, masculinity
posted by Mark Nenadov at 9:00 PM
3 Comments:
"Agnostic" is a bit too simple, actually. Depending on your angle of view, you could legitimately describe me as an philosophical atheist, a Wiccan mystic, or a Zen Buddhist sympathizer.
But you are correct that I am certainly not a conservative Christian.
Raymond,I can never see how anyone could be a Wiccan or Buddhist.The
problem I have is ,if there is a zero
or nothing,as Wiccans and Buddhists
belief,then there must be a one.
It is like being a Satanist.If
there is a Satan,there must a God.
Why root for a losing team.Nothing
implies that there is a truth.0
times 0 equals zero.But,that is
only true if 1 times 1 = 1.
Sorry Eric. Thanks for the correction. I thought there was one point where you referred to yourself as an agnostic.
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