The dimming of the men’s movement can be explained by the fact it was a semantic construct and current generations, benefiting from developing definitions of masculinity, need it less. It would be outrageous to suggest that individual men, or individual human beings in general, no longer struggle with issues of identity or relationship to society or each other. But perhaps the terms of the struggle have again changed.
In “Daddy, what did you do in the men's movement?” the Boston Globe takes a look at the current state of the men’s movement, starting with Robert Bly's mythopoetic movement and tracking its descent from moderate popularity in the 1990s to its current underground status.
I read Bly’s Iron John and Sam Keen’s Fire In The Belly as a callow college student, and was inspired by them. While I’ve logged a lot of miles in terms of my perception of manhood since then – from infusing and defining it with rediscovered religious faith to accepting the simpler sense of self (and humility) that comes with time, miles, loads of stupid, stupid mistakes and finally the crucible of parenthood – Bly’s book, but probably more so the effect the original ideas it synthesized had on the generation before mine, left a mark.
From that perspective, though, Bly's book, and the men's movement itself, might be considered not the a bellwether but an epilogue to a process that had begun and was concluding before anybody knew rightly what to call it.
Finally, it's worth considering that the sense of balance I'm optimistically ascribing to men today may be a recurring part of some larger cycle or wave that produces the sort of people an epoch wants and calls for — which seems likely considering the shifting (around a core concept) ideas of masculine roles and identity over the millennia.
Article comments
1 - Bryan McKay
Perhaps the dimming of the men's movement can be attrbiuted to the fact that its archaic definitions of masculinity and almost comically phallocentric worldview have far less relevance in today's society than they once did.
That, and, well, frankly this looks ridiculous.
2 - Ernesto
I've got to admit ... I just read the two books referenced above. Never went to one of the drum parties or saw pictures like those.
3 - Joey
The men's movement moved on... because?
They had to get and go to work in the morning? I work so much, I don't have time to bang drums and travel to some peyote council and play native white guy insearch of himself.
I work so much, that I don't have time to buy a Harley and ride around all Sunday playing biker dude.
I work so much, that I don't have time to bask in my greatness and humbleness and solicite pity from buttheads who put out drival for mass consumption.
Maybe I'm not in touch with my inner self? Bullshit.
4 - Shark
Just wanna throw in a fantastic historical reference:
Phillip Klass (the author, not the ufo debunker) -- one of the greatest overlooked SF in America -- wrote a story in the early 1960s called "The Masculinist Revolt" -- which is a hilarious and prophetic account of the 'men's movement'. (Their symbols were a sword and a cigar.)
BTW: This was a few years or so before the 1960s radical feminists made the news.
It's a great story, and I highly recommend it.
Klass/Tenn's web site
5 - Shark
correction: shoulda been
"...one of the greatest overlooked SF WRITERS in America..."
6 - Mark Saleski
i read iron john a long time ago.
i use it and a copy of the book of virtues to keep the bathroom door open.
7 - Eric Olsen
could Iron John take Iron Chef in a fight?
8 - gonzo marx
maybe he could take Sakai...but Chen's cleaver woudl mess him right up, and Morimoto would make ice cream out of his brains...
nuff said?
Excelsior!
9 - Ernesto
Not worth considering the American Iron Chefs?