Here.
It’s a new field in academia. As you might have guessed, it’s been taken over by a bunch of queers! Gay men and lesbians apparently, emphasis on gay men. What exactly do gay men know about masculinity, except that they hate it? Granted lesbians know something about it, but they do not seem active in this field probably because they hate dick too much.
This is so stupid. Sure, it’s a great field for research. Of course it is. I really feel that masculinity is of profound importance in society. Nevertheless, it is a banned subject. If you bring it up, everyone gets weird and uncomfortable and they start asking you if you have issues with the subject. Straight men ask you to change the subject. Women look puzzled and ask why do you guys have such issues with this stuff anyway.
But none of this makes sense. Because although straight men consider this a banned subject, it’s not at all banned in their heads or even in their lives. It is just not up for discussion probably because thinking about it makes them too uncomfortable. It is one of those “do it, don’t talk about it,” subject. In my opinion, much of straight men’s lives are structured around masculinity.
With men who are heavily invested in this stuff, masculinity is informing their behavior and even thinking every minute of every day. How they move, walk, talk, hold a can of beer or a cigarette, stand, sit, make mannerisms, every body action they do is all wrapped up in this stuff. And I believe it effects how they think too. Certainly it effects how they feel.
It is not so much that masculinity is guiding all of this stuff but that these men have set up a framework of masculinity some time ago, maybe in childhood and probably in adolescence. This serves as a framework or structure through which all of their motor behaviors and even most thoughts and feelings are run through before they are engaged. After a while, this process becomes more or less unconscious, which is perhaps why straight men refuse to talk about it.
Nevertheless, punishments are quite serious for men who do not toe the line in this regard. It is extremely bad at junior high and high school level, and after that, it declines but it never goes away. Unmasculine behaviors are regarded with annoyance and puzzlement and males displaying those behaviors make masculine men uncomfortable, nervous and paranoid. Men not toeing the line are probably ostracized on some level or another.
Certainly masculine men do not really want to associate with them or want them as friends. A lot of their behaviors are viewed by masculine men as suspicious and possible indicators of hidden homosexuality. A lot of noncomforming men fall into a sort of wall of suspicion that never quite clears up.
Probably more important is that masculinity seems to be so much of the glue that sticks a straight man’s life all together. Why does he vote Republican? Masculinity? Why does he never go to the doctor? Masculinity? Why won’t he pick his underwear off the floor? Same thing. Why won’t he help around the house? Why does he abuse his wife verbally? Why does he beat her up? All that stuff is all wrapped up in masculinity. Even a lot of homicides committed by males are all wrapped up in masculinity stuff. You would think that a concept that may drive much male homicidal behavior is up for discussion but no it isn’t.
There is an old saw that if you are confident about your masculinity, you can handle all sort of stuff. You can wear pink. You can take insults to your masculinity, even from women. This is a great big lie. The more a male is invested in masculinity, the more likely he is freaked out to wear pink. The more offended he gets from attacks to his manhood, especially by women. The men who can wear pink and shrug off manhood assaults usually do not have a lot invested in masculinity. Often they are not particularly masculine guys.
So the more masculine you are, the more of an insult it is to say you’re not a man, or call you a pussy or a fag. In many machista societies, those are fighting words. Not only fighting words but killing words. South of border, an attack on a man’s masculinity is seen as proper grounds for a homicidal assault to protect honor.
Women are unbelievably wrapped up in masculinity too even though they never admit it and act puzzled when it’s brought up. Truth is that a lot of women’s relationships with men are all wrapped up in masculinity but women are too much into solipsism and denial and Fantasyland stuff to figure this out. If you want to be successful with women, you really need to figure out that masculinity is a huge part of their relationships with men, if you get involved with this chick, your masculinity is going to be a pretty big deal in your involvement with her. Straight men blow this off at their peril.
Let me give you an example of the all-compassing nature of masculinity. You know that Alpha -Beta – Omega, etc. Game stuff? Guess what? It’s all about masculinity. Duh.
Alpha – the most masculine men of all. Duh.
Beta – Most men. Not really unmasculine but not measuring up to Alphas so seen as unmasculine by women and mercilessly punished by women for that failure.
Omega – Utter zeroes in terms of masculinity. At any rate, women see them as zeroes on the masculinity scale. Not coincidentally, Omegas get no pussy whatsoever.
I could go on here but you get the point.
