Masculine or Human

 

"All in the Eye of the Beholder" by M. Slavin

Have you seen the groups of young college-aged men who have been removing their shirts at sporting events lately? They make me laugh with a little bit of cringe. Such a typical, silly stunt for groups of men of that age. By showing off their pecks in this way, are they imitating Pete Hegseth and Putin who may have set the example? In this period of excessive masculinity, I wonder what it really means to be male in a period when many of our gains are being retracted.

I have noticed more and more women who are being fired or removed from political and military positions. In political races, women are targeted for their "bad behavior" (Katie Porter) that slips by or is hardly criticized for male candidates (Graham Platner). Women are losing much of what they have gained in the last fifty years. Why?

What does it mean to be masculine? I think of two brief instances that I observed when I saw men acting at their most natural.

"Leap" by M. Slavin

Riding on the Metro in Paris we came to a station somewhere in the north end where a parade filled the streets. Men in long white caftans, long beards, and turbans were beating drums with such power that they seemed to be shaking the earth around them. I felt like I had been transported to Africa. Their faces reached for the sun; they chanted with confidence. They were in their glory.

I grew up in California and know that many immigrants from South of the Border have lived near me working menial jobs, creating an unnatural inequality between us and the lasting impression of subservience. On a weekend at the beach, I walked on the sand just as a group of Latinos came dashing up from the surf, riding horses with authority and with a sense of security - the vaqueros of another era and place, with no deference to others. They were in command of their day.

In both instances, in Paris and on the California beach, I saw a group of men filled with joy, strong in their actions, subservient to no one.

Roger Tory Peterson, naturalist

Lately, I have been watching several Korean drama series. Their idea of masculinity as presented in film vary from ours. The men seem more in tune to their emotions. The films show how they care about each other. They are not afraid to cry. Yet, they can be strong and decisive as well as humble when they need to be, a more nuanced way to be male in films that too many American males see as feminine. But, they almost always have a scene which shows their bared pecks. 

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This weekend honor our founding thinkers, who brought us the Constitution and our ability to interpret and change its meaning: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King.

And don't forget American women thinkers and change-agents: Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, Ida B. Wells, Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Franklin, Sally Ride, Ophra Winfrey, Gloria Steinem, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Geraldine Ferraro, Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris. 

And each one of us who values what democracy offers.