There’s no point progressives wringing our hands. We lost, forever. The best use of our time now is to try to work out some of the reasons why, so that future generations may not repeat our mistakes. It’s worth considering a range of explanations: economic, technological. psychological. For the first, economic, you won’t do much better than this one by Nesrine Malik of The Guardian, to which we just had to give a nod [1] But at the same time we couldn’t help thinking that everyone is affected by the economy(that’s how it got its name) So why the split between men and women? Have a look at this:
The president-elect represents a particular type of masculinity: he is seen as brash and straight-talking, and can appear domineering or patronising around women………………. For some women who voted for him, this might be a familiar personality that they’ve seen in their fathers and husbands. For men, Trump represents “hegemonic masculinity”, the exalted position of men at the top. In this view, aggression, control and dominance are all admirable traits and highly socially valued.
It’s from an article by Ashley Morgan in The Conversation,[2] and it made us ponder. The way that masculinities are formed, particularly in certain social classes. How smoking was advertised, and why it took so long to die out. Why speed cameras and signs near our home are often vandalised-and elsewhere [3] Why some people idolise gangsters. Why football hooligans exist. But before we begin, let’s ask a deeper question: why?
For thousands of years societies have prized strength and courage You needed it if you were a herdsman trying to push your flock over a pass in the Zagros mountains. While simultaneously fighting off the next tribe of robbers who sought to despoil you of the lot. Later industrial societies had many roles for such masculinity, in agriculture, industry or war. Never forget Dr Johnson‘s famous dictum “Sir- among the lower orders, what is often called insolence in times of peace is called courage in time of war.” For far too long, people who call themselves “progressive” have been too ready to despise and condemn men of-how to put this delicately?- certain classes and occupations.9that’ll do for now-ed) Last week they just came round to take their revenge. Serve us all jolly well right.
[3]https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/18/wales-20mph-speed-limit-lives-money-policy
#masculinity #class #socialisation #trump #harris #neolithic #transhumance
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