[MD] more girls please

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Rebecca mocks namby pamby mamma's boys with great wisdom]
I think the push to eliminate the differences between men and women is a 
big part of the identity crisis that men (and many women as well) are 
experiencing.  In trying to make the sexes equal, we´re missing the fact 
that they are different, have always been different, and necessarily play 
different roles.

[Arlo the Yak Hunter replies]
Hear, hear. I read a book a few years ago called "Reviving Ophelia", and 
remember thinking that short of "Iron John" there appeared to be nothing 
comparable in the literature that suggested a similar "revival" for 
woefully depleted masculine energies (I'd argue that the "arrogance" and 
"warmongering" attributed to the masculine psyche is a result of young boys 
being raised with little to no understanding of the masculine energies 
attributed in antiquity to such figures as Dionysus (Bacchus), Pan, Apollo 
and Odin (who, from Wikipedia, was considered the "god of both wisdom and 
war. He is also attested as being a god of magic, poetry, victory, and the 
hunt."))

I think that historically, men have held improper social power over women, 
forcing them into subjugating and servile roles. In an attempt to free the 
feminine from masculine control, there has been an "equalizing" in the form 
of "indifferentiation". That is, the cultural force has been not one of 
equalizing two distinct forces (what should be done), but has attempted 
equality through diminishing those distinctions.

Now, I'd be the first to argue that men should seek expressions for 
nurturing, something typically associated with women, but that doesn't mean 
that men need to become "like women". Men have been sooooo afraid to show 
any signs of typically feminine traits that they have fled from all natural 
masculine expressions of those traits as well (this was the basic jist of 
Bly's message). Women (according to Reviving Ophelia) have been so eager to 
appropriate typically male normative expressions, that they have fled from 
all natural feminine expressions of those traits. Women are told to be 
"more aggressive", men are told to be "more sensitive". The Yin is told to 
be more Yanish, the Yan is told to be more Yinish. No one should hold 
dominance over the other, but their inherent and distinct value must be 
appreciated.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off for a weekend of Bacchic Rites, grilled 
Yak and numerous tankards of mead and ale.

Arlo

PS: What'cha doing in Mexico, Rebecca? Fun? Work? Escape?