Tough Guise: Violence, Media & the Crisis in Masculinity

[radicalliberal]

14. I'm not sure I'd ever take my cue from you.

Last edited Tue Jul 9, 2013, 07:44 PM - Edit history (5)

One of the traditional supposed measures of masculinity has been participation in sports. That particular little item is even specifically mentioned by Katz in his description of the "narrow box." Do you favor stigmatizing boys who have no interest in sports as wimps or "feminized" males? Do you favor the bullying of nonathletic boys? After all, they represent a departure from the "norms" of supposed "masculinity."

You talk about strength. What about moral courage? Did physical strength play any role at all in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, or was it driven by moral courage?

I don't believe in blending the sexes. There are differences between men and women, aside from the "plumbing." But you seem to be advocating machismo, which I detest completely. I grew up with machismo and learned all about it before I even heard the word. I had my fill of it!

Listening to Men's Rights Advocates and other guys, you'd think all men's problems were caused by women. Well, as far as I'm concerned, many of them have been caused by other men! Machismo has caused more misery in my life than anything else. Some, if not much, of this misery is of a personal nature and obviously cannot be discussed in a public forum such as this one. It took me decades to realize just how phony and wrong machismo is. If I sound angry, it's because I am!

I never expected Jackson Katz to be attacked in a progressive forum. I'd expect this sort of reaction in a conservative or reactionary website.

Katz is not the problem. He's just a reformer like Joe Ehrmann. He's all right by me.