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Masculinity is not a modern cultural construct nor an American one, no matter what the video says ("We've constructed an idea of masculinity in the United States..."). The very aspects of masculinity that the video decries are pervasive in every human culture known present and past. The Spanish call it machismo. The Romans equated 'Romanitas' or Roman-ness with manhood and the word virtue, which we borrow from the Latin virtus, has a cognate in the Latin vir, or man. In the Bible, a dying King David instructs his son Solomon to, "be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man" (1 Kings 2:2 KJV). Every human society has developed an idea of manhood equated with strength, competitiveness, courage, risk-taking, mental and physical toughness, and sacrifice for the benefit of the weak.
The universality of masculine attributes exists because it is not a cultural construct, but a biological identity. A boy in the video astutely makes the observation that masculinity is instinctive. Men have been selectively bred, through half a million years of evolution, to demonstrate these traits as part of our sexual dimorphism; it is our peacock’s tail. Our cultural artefacts that we associate with masculinity have their root and their sustainment in our biological dispositions. They were not created out of thin air by some malevolent entity to impose male hegemony but are, to borrow Richard Dawkins’ terminology, an extended phenotype to our genetics.
Now, that is not to say that there are not negative aspects of masculinity nor that masculinity evolved on the savanna with its half a million years of cultural accessories fits perfectly in our 21st century world. In fact, I would contend that many of the problems the video associates with masculinity are actually issues with the imposition of modern restraints on manhood and the weakening of male image.
Men are competitive. Every man sees a rival in his brother men. Societies have traditionally fostered this sense of competition through war, sport, and economics. Male self-value is linked tightly with social standing. Men desire to be leaders of men, to be perceived as stronger mentally, physically, and emotionally than other men, and to have more. A man who is stronger will be the leader of the pack, will have the best wife, etc. A man’s worth is determined by his victories, whether in sports wins, his heroism, money earned, his house and car, his wife, etc.
But this competitive desire to be an alpha male is incongruous with the forced egalitarianism of modern Western society. Not only are all men equal but all women are equal to men, as well. Not only is this contrary to our biological impulses but it is contrary to hundreds of millennia of cultural ideas of manhood. We need to be an alpha male; we compete to achieve some semblance of a tribal leader. We desire not only self-empowerment but power over others but society castrates men with equality, leaving this desire unfulfilled. That powerlessness, that nagging disillusionment, produces many of the supposed excesses of manhood. It frustrates us and makes us lash against the world and influences the high criminality and suicide rates among males.
Now, obviously, that is not to say that human equality is not a laudable goal, but we need to be aware of the negative effects it has on the male psyche. The video seems to recognize that modern society is incongruous with traditional ideas of manhood and, dismissing masculinity as a mere cultural construct, implies that we need to redefine manhood.
I contend doing so would only increase the excesses of masculinity in an unmasculine world. Our biology has adapted one way and faced with conflict between nature and society, we attempt to further undermine nature and wonder why things get worse? Why are all these problems manifesting themselves now, in an ever-more equal society, as patriarchy is in its decline? It should not be a surprise that male frustration will follow the discrediting of traditional masculine values and the condemnation of demonstrated male attributes.
Rather than redefine masculinity, a Sisyphean task given its intense biological roots, we need an outlet. We need to recognize how modern society, influenced by egalitarianism and feminism, disempowers men and how excesses like criminality, violence, depression, and suicide, are biological reactions to this cultural castration. We need to empower men with an outlet to express their competitive desires. I do not know what method would satisfy this instinct but before we explore solutions, we must make sure we are tackling the problem the right way and finding the actual causes. It is my contention that the video and modern gender studies approach masculinity the wrong way. Once we are on the same page, we can discover solutions.
Rather than redefine what it means to be men, we need an outlet to prove ourselves as men.
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