The Alleged Menaissance

It sort of seems to me like this entire feature is constructed around the term "Menaissance".

This kind of backlash is bound to happen with the decentering of 'masculinity.' There are all kinds of popular culture texts that support this idea, the most common and contemporary one being Anthony Soprano, who, upon sharing his feelings with a matriarchal therapist, fears the loss of social status within the group of 'manly men.' (decentered identity among a patriarchal system)

Tootsie would be a forerunner to this notion of the reconfiguration of masculine identity. And it occurs near the end of the second wave of feminism.

The term menaissance is inflammatory inasmuch as it suggests that in order to reclaim and center their identity once more, men need to engage in an act of remission. Some of us (children born in the second wave, maturing in the beginning of the third wave) are comfortable with a more balanced identity that breaks apart from the patriarchal and shifts towards a more societal attitude. But there will be resistance and resistors (bigger and 'better' trucks, guns, etc). Don't worry, not all of us will run to the local army supply store and buy a phallus replacement such as a sword or gun.

But that doesn't mean I support Hilary over Barack, ;-)

ps. how about a link to the article for those men still to lazy to get off the couch and search?

pps. how about a little less of the sarcasm on the "alleged?" =)

Interesting, but one warning: it is not so simple as to advise men to "be who they are". How do you deal with a man who really is, in his innermost self-of-selves, too sexually transgressive? Violent? A child molester?

Also, embracing a 'decentered self' still perpetuates a very similar dynamic to what one already finds in modern identity politics. We can talk all we want about the de-centering of masculinity, but that doesn't account for the actual, material differences between the salaries of men and women in the workplace, for example. If we continue to rely on identity politics to articulate sexuality, we'll be equipped with a bunch of sheik postmodern jargon, but that won't amount to much political change.

As an egalitarian, I'm a feminist. I think it's ridiculous to assert that women rule the world and make mens' lives terrible. This is like the slave master wanting reparations for the loss of slave labor. It is the man who has waged war. The man who has driven capitalism forward. It is the man who has ravaged the land. Women are not innocent, but to pin these things solely on women is beyond reason.

I think people just need to be more comfortable with themselves, whatever that means. I have chracteristics that some of my fellow males consider feminine. I don't seem gay or even metrosexual at all, and I'm not. I'm just not Joe Sports. It seems unmanly to them for one to be vegan, "overly" compassionate, "too" concerned about ethics, not warmongering. Yes, I have more characteristics commonly associated with females. However, those characteristics make me stronger. They say it weakens my reasoning, but I reason circles around most men without effort. It seems ridiculous to me that they consider me less manly for being different. I thought courage was supposedly manly. Since when is conformity manly? I suppose we all know the answer.

*NOTE:May have been incoherent. I was tired.

I agree with Mr. Vanguard, an individual makes theyre lives the way they want it. If a man chooses to be submitant to an opressive woman that's his choice, but you're no man at all if you can't make the decision not to be opressed.

pardon me for the horrible spelling of oppression.
When I get excited about something I forget my grammer.

Um, white, middle-class, western men whining about the unbearable, soul-withering angst of being asked to comb their hair or help raise their own children? Poor babies. How can we make it easier for them? No, seriously. How?

feminism isn't an attack on men at all.

I gl d this by mistake.. how can I undo that? LOL

Yeah Kylie, but I don't sign the checks.

And an attack on my rhetoric will not close the wage gap either.

I only attack that rhetoric because I spent a long, long time caught up in the vicissitudes of third-wave feminism and constructionist gender studies. Without careful articulation it symbolically replaces the very thing it originally attempted to resist.

Kylie. Fair enough, but I try to carefully articulate my meaning: always. I must admit that I do not know as much as I had probably ought to about the intricacies of the "waves," and the terms likely come to pass too quickly in my rhetoric. All I am suggesting is that I, and a great many other men, are trying to reconcile what we were taught with what we have learned.

I have not been caught in the vicissitudes. I admit I am a resistor at many times. Not because I dislike feminism (I prefer the term egalitarian), but I think because there is something that I can never "get" as a white male. Damned white privilege.

And isn't all language mere symbolic replacement :-)

god, it's nice to have a pleasant and civil discussion on this site.

ps. speaking of wage discrepancies, my college has gone above and beyond to eliminate possible discussion. the writing is a bit vulgar, but...
http://current.com/items/88882254_my_school_sucks_more_than_yours_does

This is the first I've heard of a "Menaissance". It's hard for me to imagine what it means.

I guess I don't understand why we as men need to reclaim or reestablish masculinity. I am not defined by the fact that I'm male. It's just a biological trait I happen to possess. My sense of what it means to be male has, to some extent, shaped my sense of self, but I try not to let it be limiting (i.e. "I can't do this because real men don't"). Nor do I need it to be empowering (i.e. "I'm entitled to behave this way because I'm male").

I behave the way I want to behave -- taking into account my personal relationships, social obligations, and ideals. If that's not a sufficiently masculine way to live, then fuck masculinity: I don't care.

To me, the true goal of what we call feminism is to free us from the obligations of arbitrary social constructions like masculinity and femininity. It seems that the "Menaissance" movement hasn't figured this out. And that's too bad.

chet_arthur: I never knew you were an intellectual! It's cute! :)
-jules