FRAGILE MASCULINITY, OR LOST ‘MAN CARD’

Fragile masculinity needs help.

And it requires wearing kid gloves, the softer the better

Also, try and be agreeable. About everything.

No one wants to see Superman crash.

Some men are fragile, but it doesn’t show. Why?

Because it’s hidden. No one is supposed to know. More on that later.

Fragile Masculinity:

Fragile masculinity refers to anxiety felt by men who believe they are falling short of cultural standards of manhood. Fragile masculinity can motivate compensatory attitudes/behaviors meant to restore the threatened status of ‘real’ manhood.

Cultural Standards Of Real Manhood?

There are two things going on here: What are ‘cultural standards’ and what defines ‘real manhood?’

Cultural standards start at the top and trickle down, which is about as effective as trickle down economics that never trickle.

The celebrity culture around us is the best example. Who doesn’t want to be like our favorite actors?

Ben Affleck is a cultural standard bearer.

That boy spins from being a young genius with an Academy Award, to married man with kids, to drunk divorcee whose ex-wife takes him to re-hab, to marrying an old girlfriend.

Pick any stage, any place, to begin reclaiming that manhood, though it looks more like old Ben is trying to reclaim much more.

Could someone remind him you can’t turn back the clock since his latest recycled Jennifer won’t.

Too many times I’ve heard about imposter syndrome in Hollywood. But these are actors playing parts. They make a good living as imposters.

But they also have feelings. Can’t forget that.

If you need a role model for manhood, keep looking.

Poster Boy For Real Manhood

The President of the United States has been a good candidate for ‘real manhood.’

My first President was Eisenhower for two terms. I arrived in the middle of his first.

As a real man he was appointed General of the World before he was elected the leader of the free world.

Those are jobs for a real man few will ever duplicate.

My last President to finish a term in office was Trump.

I believe Eisenhower would have hated Trumps guts, if he had any.

A self-aggrandizing reality TV expert compared to a five star general is no comparison.

Young Eisenhower cut his teeth working for General Douglas McArthur:

Eisenhower served as MacArthur’s assistant in Washington and his advisor in the Philippines in the 1930s. He disliked MacArthur for his vanity, his penchant for theatrics, and for what Eisenhower perceived as “irrational” behavior. “Probably no one has had tougher fights with a senior than I had with MacArthur,” Eisenhower once said.

He also worked for FDR and General George Marshall as Supreme Allied Commander, two more ball breakers at their peaks.

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If you tried to create a model of fragile masculinity, it starts with appearance.

Choose an older man. Nothing makes us more fragile than the ravages of age.

Some wear it well, some don’t care, while still others hide under hair dye, make-up, and a girdle.

Don’t call us anything but supermen in our elevator shoes, suit, tie, and condescending attitude.

And don’t be so fragile that you won’t spend time with human traffickers of underaged girls, invite Russian spies into the Oval Office, send love letters to North Korea, and pretend to be Putin’s pet.

Go ahead and hire scummy people and call it an administration, then when you lose re-election turn them lose on the tenets of democracy.

Stand proudly and call yourself smarter than the generals of the Army, Air Force, Marines, and Navy Admirals.

If by some slip-up someone else a pandemic that envelops the entire country, don’t bother replacing the officials who resigned rather than associate with someone who promotes half-baked remedies more harmful than helpful.

Be sure to explain why you’re smarter than the doctors who have spent a lifetime in the field, while this is your first government job.

Make the explanation while waving your hands around and talking shit to fan the stench away.

Making Fragile Masculinity Angry

First, know who you are.

Do that and you won’t be recruited into a regrettable party.

Don’t be that Guy.

“It seems like you wanted to be the big guy, the important guy, the first guy to go to trial … the first guy up there, to revel in the press,” (Judge) Friedrich said to (Guy) Reffitt. “You want to be an important person who makes a difference, and yet you are going about it in all the wrong ways.”

What’s the right way of being the Big Guy kind of guy?

First, refrain from associating with morons.

If you feel like your present best friend is lacking brain power, and most of your group agrees with him, find a new group.

Next, work on being a better person. Be the sort of person you’d like hanging out with.

Go to the local tap house and buy yourself a beer. Why? Because you’re worth it, but only go at Happy Hour. You don’t need to show up early.

Since you’ve decided to change things up, treat yourself to a second beer as if your old self is congratulating your new self. Again, you’re worth it.

Lastly, look at the people closest to you and try to see what they see.

Does your wife see someone better than the man she married? Do your kids see you as their father, and the second father they’d seek if you were a poor example of fatherhood?

Will your dog come to you on command?

Remember, if you need to tie your dog up to keep it home, it might not be your dog.

If you need to emulate a sick fuck with visions of grandeur to secure your man card and sooth your masculine fragility, this might not be your kind of country.