WHATS THE MATTER WITH MEN?

Richard V. Reeves, a British American scholar of inequality and social mobility, and a self-described “conscientious objector in the culture wars,” would like to skip past the moralizing and analyze men in the state that he finds them: beset by bewildering changes that they cannot adapt to. His latest book, “Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It” argues that the rapid liberation of women and the labor-market shift toward brains and away from brawn have left men bereft of what the sociologist David Morgan calls “ontological security.” (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/30/whats-the-matter-with-men)  This analysis seems to forget many other features of "male insecurity" that have been documented in the past.  An example is the book DELIVERANCE (also made into a movie of the same name) in which a group of "urban" men go on a canoeing trip in the "wild" where each is trying to prove his manliness to the other.  The story culminates in outsiders committing homosexual rape on some of the group until one manages to kill the attacker with a crossbow (the true weapon of archaic manhood!).  Reeves doesn't emphasize homosexuality as a threat to modern males, perhaps because of the changing culture, but his British heritage includes strict laws prohibiting the behavior,  which persists anyway (perhaps learned by isolation in same sex boarding schools).   Homosexuality is an ambivalent dilemma of males seeking to define their "masculinity" in the absence of available women.  The transition from the 50s, which made short military haircuts the sign of masculinity, to the 60s when "independent males" let their hair grow long "like women" is highlighted in the movie EASY RIDER when the motorcycle guys with long hair and their buddy get attacked while camping out.

Earnest Hemingway provides a most interesting story of 20th century "manliness".  Most of his writing describes activities in the outdoors and military adventures.  He participated in a few as a journalist,  though biographies suggest that his involvement was more limited than the writing suggests.  He was famous for challenging others to fist fights in bars, etc, and wrote a book about the masculine courage of bullfighters.  But his mother dressed him as a girl until mid childhood,  his relationship to his father, who emphasized hunting and fishing, was conflicted, and the father eventually committed suicide.  Hemingway had difficulty maintaining relationships with women,  and was partly supported by his wives until his writing became successful.  FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS is a masterpiece of masculine wartime adventure,  but after writing it,  Hemingway's later years were mostly dissipated in fun adventures, before his own suicide. His books suggest a standard of masculinity he could not fulfill, as in "The short happy life of Francis Macomber".

In contrast,  a long history of successful powerful men not involved in specific "masculine activities" occurs in many cultures.  Leadership, cultural sophistication, financial acumen, and other skills result in successful men who are political figures, traders, etc.  The European/British tradition of martial "lords" remains a fantasy of that culture,  while the majority of their descendants have assimilated into bourgeois society and its roles.  In other words,  "macho males" have been transforming into more socially complex individuals for hundreds of years.  Why the sudden concern about the current changes?

Some of this is probably an American phenomenon.  We are a new country and culture,  whose settlement required significant physical capabilities.  The last state was incorporated in 1959, less than a century ago.  Much of the settlement of the western states still requires physically active jobs,  though less than in the last century.  The country is transitioning from a settlers' culture to an urban culture, to a mega-urban culture in some areas.  The role for men is changing and some men have more aptitude for the changes.  This leaves some men confused about how to fit into the society,  and changes the work tasks but does not "threaten masculinity".  Reeve's view that there are particular skills (hunting, exploration, etc) that are more significantly male is a typically upperclass British, not wrong, but culturally narrow.

Some of this may also be a result of #METOO culture.  The assumption that a woman without an escort is fair game for sexual advances is not a universal human cultural assumption.  It is not even a universal American cultural assumption.  The cultural value that respects the personal physical space of a woman continues to be present in much of America, including legal standards.  The increasing role of women outside the home in the workplace may contribute to an increase in attempts at exploitation.  But many instances of women exploited by famous or powerful men do not occur in the immediate workplace,  and suggest that these are characteristics of specific men, with specific attitudes about women, and should not be generalized to changes in all men.  And not being able to exploit women does not threaten "masculinity" any more than it threatens a woman's ability to be sexually attractive to others.

The more significant change in gender role is the expanding option of LGBT+, the possibility of choosing one's gender role in disregard of your genetic/anatomical basis.  These changes reject the notion of any absolute gender determination, and offer the option that the individual chooses their social-gender-presentation, and disregards the reproductive aspect.  This does not just threaten "masculinity" it challenges the definition of gender as a predetermined genetic-anatomical feature,  and substitutes social presentation as an alternative.  

Many features of modern society are in transition.  The role of men, women, and their gender identities are all being reassessed.  It is a mistake to make this a sign of problems in "masculinity"  though some men may experience it in that way.  And some women may experience a de-valuation of emphasizing "femininity" as well.  It is a characteristic of elders to sometimes see changes as problems,  and a characteristic of younger members of society to not anticipate  potential dangers in the changes.