Masculinity

Gender is not a matter of choice in nature. We live in a time of gender alteration by surgery. We live in a time of metrosexuality. We live in a time of sexual take-out menus on Web sites. You name it; you can get it.

Masculinity is still valued in a society where men are becoming undervalued. Education statistics indicate that men are performing badly academically in relation to women. The media culture indicates that brutish, rude, criminal men sell clothes and music.

So, what is masculinity? Is it a mix of hormonal responses and affect? Is it the swagger, the crotch scratch? Is it the accomplishment of athletic skill? Is it the ability to coldly kill an enemy in a uniform? How do you define masculinity?

I abandoned my masculinity about 10 yrs ago when I first fell critically ill and nearly died. I realized that disability had made me something other than masculine or feminine. It had made me human in consciousness. Recovery only solidified this feeling about my genderness. I began the process of accepting myself to an extent I had never imagined when I was engaged in the 'normal' world.

I happen to believe that moving past obsession with gender is another step in personal evolution.

I also think that gender obsession to the point of self mutilation is a disease. The cure for that disease is the actual mutilation (sex reassignment) in the eyes of some. I would disagree, despite the current political trend to accept that solution. Yet, I would support and defend those who feel so compelled that they undertake that surgery, if I felt they have explored all possible options to deal with their gender obsession without self mutilation.

The photograph above is allegedly of Oscar de la Hoya, the famous boxing champ. It has become a notorious image. It challenges the masculine stereotype of millions of men and women. It does not challenge mine. Does it challenge yours? My practice includes being aware of my gender and what effects it has on my attempts at personal evolution. While I am not obsessed with my genderness, I am also not ignorant about it. This is another example of seeking the Middle Path.

Sports

The top photograph to the right was recently taken in front of the Science Museum in Boston. The museum is hosting a corporately funded exhibit on Olympic sports history. The photo below it replicates a Nazi propaganda poster which was used at the time of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, which were presided over by Adolph Hitler and are considered the beginning of the current commercial Olympic movement. This represents the same genre of propaganda used to equate teamwork with family with social responsibility.

The sad truth which history conveys is that genetic-family-centered, sports-centered societies are less socially responsive to social needs. In fact, these societies, like ancient Rome and ancient Sparta, were war-centered and brutal to those in their societies who did not measure up to the warrior classes. These societies, like the current American society, were fractionalized by gangs, political factions and family feuds.

As a taller-than-average boy with a father who was compulsively driven to conform to conservative heterosexual values, I was cajoled and then bullied into participating in basketball games. I had no aptitude or interest. The result was a widened permanent rift between my father, my older sports-minded brother and myself. I was verbally demeaned and humiliated within my family and in public for the remaining years of my childhood and adolescence in my working-class environment. While ineptitude at sports was the overt reason for ridicule, the subtext was my suspected homosexual nature.

This was valuable training for my personal evolution. I saw through the mindless popular myths about sports and masculinity and aptitude. I was able to work out that the men who were most driven to conform and comply with these myths are the same men who support war, child abuse, the abuse of women and the suppression of their own homosexual feelings. I can only assume, from my experience, that the women who are similarly driven are similarly motivated by rage and fear.

I firmly believe that organized sports as they exist are part of the problem, not part of the solution. I believe they are impressed on youth to produce compliant citizens who will join armies and fight real or virtual wars for the corporate powers. The merging of nationalism or global capitalism with organized team sports is glaringly obvious everywhere. I am sure my simple assertion of this opinion could throw indoctrinated team sports fans in to blind rage. This would simply prove my point, in my opinion.

The men responsible for creating democracy in modern times, men like Adams and Jefferson, did not play team sports. They did not learn the politics and philosophy of liberation on a football field or basketball court. Far from it. They read books, studied history and promoted cooperation of the many against the gangsterism of the few.

A world at peace would indeed have plenty of teamwork to do to correct the negligence and environmental corruption caused by corporate power. The time, money and energy spent on corporately sponsored team sports may eventually be put to better use. This would indeed be an evolutionary step for mankind.