Boyé Lafayette De Mente
In fact, the prevailing culture in America is rapidly making the ancient stud image and behavior of men obsolete—and what it is doing to American women is even more thought-provoking.
While American boys are being programmed to be girly men, American girls are being brain-washed to be stud women. This remarkable situation is not something that began in recent times. Much of it can be attributed to the Industrial Revolution which began in England in the mid-1700s. This revolution changed the way most men work, and was to have a number of effects that were surely never imagined during its first two hundred years.
For one thing, historical records note that in the early years of America most men in rural areas could lift up to four hundred pounds or more, even though they were smaller in body-build than present-day males. The typical man today would strain a gut trying to lift half that amount.
Machines Have Replaced Muscles
One of the most important of the effects of industrialization—the use of machines instead of male muscle—was the gradual reduction in the need for men to be burly, brave and he-men (sexually speaking) to attract women. Another effect of the revolution was that it resulted in large numbers of women becoming part-time homemakers and full-time factory workers.
This fundamental cultural shift in male and female behavior slowly but surely changed the nature of male and female relations. Among other things, the conversion to a money economy had a profound impact on the way men and women saw each other.
In fact, being a success in business and having money (no matter how it was obtained) was often more effective in attracting playmates and mates than muscles and a strong sex-drive. Many women were obviously more turned-on by thoughts of money than by fantasizing about actual bedroom encounters with men.
By the 1920s the basic image that upper middle class and top class American women had of men had gone so far in reverse from the old caveman figure that there was no comparison. They were attracted to men who never smelled of sweat, were classy dressers, always neat in their appearance, and had good table manners.
Then along came movies and such novels as The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which glorified the lifestyle of “girly men”—the phrase former terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger called politicians who behaved as if they did not have cojones (which is Mexican for balls!).
The “Buffoning” of American Males
By the 1950s the movies, novels and comic strips often ganged up on the masculine take-charge type of male, and made men buffoons who not only couldn’t keep a stiff upper lip in emotional situations, there were other things they couldn’t keep up as well.
One the most famous of the de-neutered males in American history is Dagwood in the Blondie comic strip. There is never any doubt about who wears the pants in the Bumsted family. The fact that the strip has survived since the 1930s and is still going strong and evolving says a lot about American culture. Today’s Blondie, the wife, has led and kept up with the times by becoming much more “man-like” in her behavior.
The Homosexual Factor
It has long been suspected by some people that “anti-masculine men” movies proliferated because so many of the movie makers and stars were homosexuals who brought their feminine-oriented mindset to their image of the ideal male.
Then the women’s lib movement took over with a number of powerful books leading the charge, claiming that women should be treated exactly like men, with all of the standard male rights and special privileges.
Many of the claims and charges made by these feminist writers were, in fact, valid, and could not be denied or ignored by the male bastion. Very slowly but surely the male-dominated business establishment began to shed some of its exclusively masculine policies and practices, and cater to various degrees to female employees.
This was good, but the most powerful and strident voices among the feminist battalions were not satisfied with just gaining equal rights with men. They were determined to eradicate the traditional masculine male mindset altogether.
The campaigns of the feminist forces were supported and magnified by the mass media that sees anything controversial as fodder for its insatiable profit-driven appetite. Large numbers of journalists and commentators took up the feminist message, calling on all women to take up arms and to assert themselves emotionally, economically and sexually.
No More Feminine Mystery
One of the most powerful elements of the feminist message was that women should throw off all of the ancient religious-oriented sexual restraints and taboos, and both glory in and flaunt their sex. This alone has now gone so far that in the United States there is no longer any mystery about the feminine body and feminine sexuality. It is exposed and paraded before the public 24 hours a day.
[This syndrome is something I refer to as “Eros’ Revenge” in my novel by that name, which is based on the theme that the deliberate repression of the natural sexual impulse by misguided religious zealots since ancient times has now come home to roost, and is taking its revenge.]
The message of the extreme feminists included the idea that girls and women not only should take the initiative in their sexual behavior, but that it was right and natural for them to be the aggressors since they were far more sexually potent than males.
[The prurient news media often backed this point up by noting that women could engage in sex with dozens of partners every day, while even the most libido-driven men were pooped after they had climaxed four or five times.]
These messages by the feminists and their news media lackeys had a powerful impact on males because men knew only too well that when it came to sexual stamina they were powder puffs in comparison with women—a disturbing knowledge that was no doubt a primary factor in the attempts by primitive as well as modern men to control the sexual behavior of females.
By the end of the 20th century the divorce rate in the United States was around 50 percent, and more and more young women were foregoing marriage altogether in favor of a lifestyle that allowed them to have sexual encounters whenever and with whomever they chose—something that had previously been a male prerogative.
All of these influences combined resulted in an astounding speed-up of the evolutionary process that results in males beginning to act more like females in direct proportion to the degree in which females act like males.
As in other species, it seems that nature does not like and will not abide for long two genders that are basically even in their sex-drives. Where humanity is concerned, it seems to be nothing more complicated than the fact that the more masculine women behave the more feminine men behave.
Number of Girly Men Growing
The evidence of the growing femininity of American males is so glaringly obvious it doesn’t take a Ph.D. to see it. And now, instead of individual feminists leading the charge against masculine men, the entertainment industry and the business industry have taken over the lead.
Boys and men are being incessantly programmed to use deodorants and perfumes of one kind or another. They are being conditioned to have their nails done and their hair styled and to wear earrings. They are being taught to be more sensitive, like women. They are being brain-washed to show off their butts (although this part of the male anatomy may be less attractive to females than to some males).
The trend for women to become the dominate sex is not limited to the United States. It is particularly conspicuous in Japan which does not have as far to go as the U.S. because traditional Japanese culture feminized males to a remarkable degree. Growing crowds of Japanese men now regularly patronize beauty parlors for the same service that women get, and with the huge cosmetic companies hyping the custom with seductive advertising it will no doubt continue to grow until it becomes the norm.
But in Japan there is a countervailing movement that will probably delay this process well beyond what would otherwise be the case. For centuries Japanese men have typically had small bodies and physiques that in Western terms were more feminine than masculine. When they began to encounter large-bodied Westerners, and to compete with them for women and other things, they felt this physical disparity strongly.
Bodybuilding was first introduced into Japan back in the 1960s but only a very few men were interested. As competition with foreigners increased and the influence of Western moves, television and magazines became stronger, the popularity of bodybuilding began to grow—and the diet changed. Now it is common to see young Japanese men, especially athletes, who are tall and have muscular physiques.
The entertainment industry remains one of the most powerful worldwide influences in programming boys to think and behave like girls. Many of the most popular male singers are more feminine than masculine in their voice, behavior and dress. The constant exposure of young boys to this kind of influence is obvious.
A large percentage of the most popular television shows have more “feminine male” characters than masculine men—and this is not counting the growing number of homosexual characters—real and pretend—that are featured on these shows.
There is, of course, evidence that the percentage of homosexuals in all of the entertainment industries is disproportionately high because of their creative abilities, so the fact that so many television shows portray males exhibiting female behavior should not surprise anyone. The influence of homosexual themes in movies is, of course, another of the most conspicuous examples of the fundamental shift in the way males are viewed and the kind of male behavior that is ostensibly approved by a big segment of the population.
A New Race of Amazons
American women are now taller, heavier and physically stronger than their ancestors were. There are female boxers and female wrestlers, and women who play football on mostly male teams. There are women who are into bodybuilding and have muscles that put most men to shame. There are female weight-lifters, and women who participate in such things as Alaska’s annual 1,150-mile Iditarod dog-sled race. [In a race some time ago a woman beat out all of her male competitors, winning the famous event in record time.]
There are women who have sailed solo in small boats across the Atlantic Ocean, women who have swum the English Channel and others who have climbed the tallest mountains on the planet—all things that were once considered the exclusive preserve of men.
These are all things that traditionally have been associated with testosterone—the male hormone. Whether the physical feats performed by present-day women mean that their bodies are now producing testosterone is an interesting piece of speculation if nothing else.
There is no doubt that the level of testosterone in males in general is lower now than what it was in earlier generations, which may be the result of two factors: women are now competing with men in testosterone-type activities resulting in men producing less of the male sex hormone, and the activities of most present-day men do not require as much testosterone as before so their bodies naturally produce less of it.
The huge sports world that continues to celebrate male strength and speed was once a private preserve of males. It is now co-ed. When female sports figures outdo their male counterparts the news media glorifies their victory and notes that their accomplishments prove women can be the equal, if not better, than men when they have the opportunity.
It is entirely possible that if the present trend for women to get bigger and stronger and to engage in dangerous and demanding activities (like fighting in wars!) continues over several generations, and the trend for men over the same time-frame is the exact opposite, the paramount role of the sexes could change.
One thing that would speed up this trend, for both males and females, would be for more and more women to opt for artificial insemination to get pregnant rather than take the old-fashion sweaty way.
The final straw that would surely herald the end of men as cocks-of-the-walk will be the day in the not-so-distant future when enough women decide they don’t want to go through the inconvenience of pregnancy and the pain of childbirth, and relegate those functions to baby-producing labs.
In any event, the cultural juggernaut that is now diminishing the stud role of American men and increasing the male role of American women has achieved self-perpetuating size, weight and speed, and will inevitably play itself out.
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Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente.
An ebook version of EROS’ REVENGE—Brave New World of American Sex is available online. To go to the “buy page” click on the title. To see a list of 60-plus other books by the author, go to http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/
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