Cults to Machismo

If you think that American girls have it bad, wait until you take a look at American boys. Not only are they suffering from great emotional distress, they are becoming more and more suicidal.

You might, if you are churlish, suggest that this is the direct consequence of the much noted war against boys. Christina Hoff Sommers has documented the problem extensively. Apparently, these attacks on boys, these efforts to deprive them of their manhood, have caused them to become depressed and suicidal. No one should be surprised.

That they end up in their parents’ basements playing video games should also not surprise us either. After all, the school system has been built to value female over male activities, and especially to undermine all manly pursuits.

At least, and it does count as something of a relief, the authors do not blame it on social media and other assorted gadgets.

As for the extent of the problem, here are some statistics, via the Washington Post and Yahoo News:

Teenage boys, in particular, are experiencing high levels of mental distress. The CDC's 2021 National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) showed a massive increase in male suicide among teens and young men. From 2020 to 2021, suicide rates for males rose significantly, according to the CDC, with the largest increase among males ages 15 to 24. Among this group, the suicide rate was up 8 percent in 2021 over 2020.

And also,

"Boys' human development has been compromised by the boyhood that we have built and managed for them for generations," said Michael C. Reichert, founding director of the Center for the Study of Boys' and Girls' Lives at the University of Pennsylvania and author of "How to Raise a Boy: The Power of Connection to Build Good Men." Common societal expectations - that boys should be strong and independent, for example - hamper boys' ability to acknowledge emotions and ask for help.

Of course, this is a problem masquerading as a solution. The researchers suggest that boys have problems because they are not sufficiently girly. They are not in touch with their feelings and do not express their emotions. They have not done enough therapy.

In truth, this maniacal effort to turn boys into girls and to punish them for not playing the feeling game, is the cause of the problem.

Given that girls can now do everything that a boy could ever do, one must ask what is left for boys. They are no longer allowed to grow up to become breadwinners. See this Wall Street Journal article, about the loss of breadwinner status. They are no longer needed to protect and provide, for women or for children. What is left? 

As it happens, what’s left is machismo. What’s left is a caricature of masculinity, a tough guy, gang banging attitude that pretends to be more manly by beating up others.

Consider this. One Michael Carroll wrote a book entitled, The Cult of the Virgin Mary. In it he argued that cultures produce machismo when males are ineffectual, when they fail to protect and provide for others. At that point, when normal manly pursuits are precluded, or when men have failed to fulfill them, then adopt a mock masculine posture, one that is essentially a bluff.

So, machismo is a function of a female dominant culture. As Carroll points out, cults to the Virgin Mary arose in Europe during the times of the crusades. When all able bodied men, the lords of the manor, rode off to the Holy Land to defeat the infidels, women were left in charge. Naturally, they spent no small amount of time seducing the boys who had remained, the stable hands, the cooks and the gardeners. These males played along in a practice that was called courtly love. Unable to show off their prowess at war, they suffered ordeals for love. 

But then, lacking male role models, these boys tended to grow up to become caricatures of masculinity, tough guys who sat around doing nothing, ineffectual at protecting and providing, but happy to pretend to be playing a role.

So, the more America becomes ruled by women the more it produces macho men. It is not a good thing. 

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