Of Myths and Men
Columnist, James Harkin expressed his view in The Guardian last year that “Our attempts to create a gender-neutral society have had the unfortunate effect of stripping men of their boldness. The values and pursuits we traditionally associated with masculinity are increasingly ridiculed or pathologised”.
It has become popular in our culture to attack men simply for being men, as if maleness is itself ‘politically incorrect’ these days and our energy, talents, strengths, fire, passion, drive, sacrifice, and dedication are things to be ashamed of.
It is not just men who feel this. The feminist writer, Doris Lessing, tells how she visited a class of nine- and 10-year-olds and listened to a young female teacher tell the kids that the reason for wars was the violent nature of men.
“You could see the little girls, fat with complacency and conceit”, she said, “while the little boys sat there crumpled, apologising for their existence, thinking this was going to be the pattern of their lives. This kind of thing is happening in schools all over the place and no one says a thing. It has become a kind of religion. The most stupid, ill-educated, and nasty woman can rubbish the nicest, kindest, and most intelligent man and no one protests. Men seem to be so cowed that they can’t fight back, and it is time they did”.
And yet, as feminists point out, the people in positions of power – in the education system just as in our legal and political systems – tend to be men. It is maybe – but only maybe – understandable that a woman would be critical of men and that a female teacher might abuse her power and contort the truth in this way, but it is almost certain