Manliness
June 2nd, 2005
Real men don’t hug each other.
I remember in my high school yearbook, friends of mine would write, “If I were gay, you’d be the one…” And we’d all get a good laugh at my expense. What is it about today’s society where men need to do manly things to prove themselves as men? For the retreat we had to read a story called “My Heart… Christ’s Home” by Robert Boyd Munger And we ended up cutting out certain parts because they were too racy for contemporary audiences. Mind you, this was written in the 50’s. The part we had to omit was the end scene in the workroom. It goes like this: “stepping around behind me and putting His great, strong hands over mine, controlling the tools with His skilled fingers He began to work through me.”
So why are we now so uncomfortable around such scenes?
Its because of women! I repeat: Its because of women! In today’s socially egalitarian world, woman are invading what was once man-country. They’re becoming business people, attending graduate school, working rather than rearing children, competing in professional sports. As men, we naturally fear this invasion of identity. And for good reason.
This social push for women to be more like men has created a counter shift of men becoming more like women. The fact that men fear this shift is justified, in fact, rational. Liberallists will say good riddance, one day we’ll all be equal. Bible Belters will say abhor the thought, indicating a “biblical division between man and woman.” Either way, everything is becoming more homogenized. We all eat the same fast food, we all watch the same entertainment, we all dress the same, we all think the same. Talk about diversity, the opposite true. Diverse in color and in gender maybe, but we are becoming more of the same in personality, in mentality, in perspective.
Therefore I must say, men, stay away from sobbing girly-men, because they are giving in to the vicious cycle of the homogenization of society. By grunting and watching football and excluding girls, you are doing your civic duty in maintaining social diversity within this culture, and I salute you.
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Hahaha~ thanks for reminding me about that… *j/k. In all seriousness, I was a little saddened that we could not be fully comfortable with that scene because it revealed an innoncence that has been lost with our generation. I think we made the right decision in leaving out that scene because it would have been a distraction, but from now on I will only embrace the idea of being in the arms of my God. Imagine what it would be to be held by the same arms that created the universe?
I’m not ready to wear pink shirts, though.
Comment by Eric — 6/3/05 @ 9:51 am
:shock:Sexist!!!!
Comment by Jessica — 6/3/05 @ 7:06 pm
the guy thats huggin u looks like jin the rapper haha well kinda…:cool:
Comment by justin — 6/3/05 @ 10:50 pm
actually, i think it’s guys, rather than girls, that take those lines way out of context for a good adolescent-humorish laugh. Also, according to some sociology book, compared to previous eras women and men actually dress more distinctly right now then they have in the past (past as in looking at the last 30 years) although on a global scale, yes, thanks to globalization and ease of communication cultures are becoming more westernized
Comment by Aileen — 6/4/05 @ 4:45 pm
i can’t believe that section was omitted because of “racy lines”. it’s too bad that some christians–men or women–can’t manage the maturity to talk about substantive things (even sex itself).
i don’t really understand how eating the same fast food and watching the same entertainment translates to the homogenization of gender and gender equality. gender? homogenization of culture maybe, but i don’t think it has much to do with men and women.
and we’re talking narrowly when we say society; this is true in westernized society (actually, the united states, in terms of gender equality, is far behind many other nations). the reason why i’m so anal about gender issues now is that so many women suffer from the fist of oppression, whether it be sexual slavery at the age of 7 or being beaten to death by their husband. and as a sidenote, the oppression of women came after the fall. (excluding girls=showing favoritism)
i certainly hope you were trying to be satiric in your last few sentences.
Comment by joyce — 6/5/05 @ 1:05 pm