Since men are, unfortunately for us, part of society it’s hard to discuss men’s issues without also touching upon general social issues. All of that intersects, you know?
Perhaps I was quite explicit enough, but this isn’t what I was encouraging. As I had written earlier in that post before I brought up fish and bicycles, my idea of meaningful self-reliance is the ability to take care of one’s health, home, and social life without depending on a woman. It seems like that kind of wide-ranging competency to manage one’s own affairs without help has – at least in the US – been relegated to the feminine sphere and men suffer for it. There’s a quiet and gentle pride to be found in knowing that you’ve got your shit together and can simply enjoy somebody’s company without being dependent upon them.
As for taking the weight of the world on one’s shoulders? Screw that. Any man mistaken for Atlas by those around him should shrug off that burden even if it means hurling the very earth into the inferno.
Likewise screwing around indiscriminately without caring a whit for the women one takes to bed. If I’m going to take off my clothes in front of somebody and let them see all of my shortcomings, I want to feel safe with them first. Maybe I’d feel differently if I had done a better job of conforming to American male beauty standards, but that ship sailed already, struck an iceberg, and sank with no survivors.
I honestly don’t think I’ve ever not been insane. But that’s life under capitalism for you; a man has no friends, only competitors, and that competition doesn’t come exclusively from men nowadays, but also from women. This is why I talk to my cat. It’s also why I think we should be more like cats: able to survive on our own while still being able to enjoy others’ company.
Why do you think so many guys think they want to roll back the clock and force women back into being housewives? Jobs that aren’t male-dominated don’t pay nearly as well because the bosses don’t respect women and don’t think work a woman can do needs to pay a decent wage. But there’s plenty of money in lying to men and conning them into blaming feminism for the problems of capitalism. It works, too, because we’ve relegated literacy and critical thinking to the feminine sphere, too.
See what I mean about intersecting sociopolitical and socioeconomic issues affecting men?