The fear of being seen as a coward has made many a man and king into a brave fool, and more fool than brave.
-- Eolake Stobblehouse
... I figure if I write some sentences which sound like adages, who knows, they might become so... :)
This one inspired by Pascal's new comment on my post on risk.
The adage inspired by my comments has inspired more comments. Are we inventing a useful version of perpetual motion here? ;-)
ReplyDeleteAmusingly enough, I had come up years ago with a similar adage of my own : Typically, the weakest spot of men is their manhood, be it physically or mentally. We all know that a blow to the genitals can bring down the strongest man. But striking at a man's sense of manhood is just as efficient a cowardly "low blow". The magical formula to defeat a macho is by pushing him to do something dangerous and stupid, with the "(not so) secret" words : "I dare you to do it, if you're a man. What's the matter, sissy? You chicken? - Hah! Move aside and I'll show you." You could call it, quite litterally, the "Jackass Syndrome".
Similarly, some of the dumbest actions a man is capable of are usually spawned by jealousy or matrimonial dominance, because their all-out manliness feels threatened. "How can you tolerate such attitude/disrespect from your woman?" Macho mentality again. The bane of human History. Me, I know of no greater bravery than giving life : billions of women died from obstetrical complications throughout the millenia, and they knew the risks. Even when nothing goes wrong, it's usually very painful. Guys, if you don't know what it's like to be pregnant and give birth without the support of modern medicine (which has become truly efficient only VERY recently), please, respect the age-long, unique courage of our sisters. Every woman deserves as much respect as your mother and mine. I'm a man, but I wouldn't mind at all if I had been born otherwise. There'd be absolutely no shame in that!
The fact is, lots of males are so much in refusal of their feminine part, that they'd go to any foolish length just to deny they are anything BUT male. Running away from yourself : this is a form of cowardice. They forget that we are all born with nipples and one X chormosome. God was telling us something... The embryo is female by default, until the male hormones eventually kick in. Everybody has and needs both male and female hormones, they're just different in proportion. The most hetero and virile man is always 50% woman. So let's be proud of it.
I remember seeing this hilarious signpost in an old comic :
"Welcome to the American West
Where the men are men...
And the women too!"
Are men feminine, or are women masculine? The point is moot. We are two sorts of humans, and we complete each other.