ON MASCULINITY
My experience with the table saw reminded me of a recent radio commercial. The purpose of the spot is to encourage men to have regular prostate examinations. Several guys are talking, and one of them says something about the connection between prostate cancer and the male mortality rate. At first there’s silence, and then one guy speaks up. “Did any of you guys watch figure skating on television last night? Man that triple axel was something else.” He would prefer to talk about anything other than his own vulnerability to disease. To me the commercial suggests that men aren’t as tough as they would like for people to think they are. We can’t admit our weaknesses in a direct manner, so we choose to ignore threatening subjects. I have two thoughts about masculinity. (1) Masculinity is not defined by physical strength, tough talk, coarse language, and how fast your car can go. (2) Masculinity is defined by a willingness to accept responsibility, by being courageous enough to admit one’s shortcoming, and by showing enough kindness to help a few human beings who is in need.
posted by Norman @ 5:41 PM
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