Manhood

Joseph Campbell observed that women in their own nature are mythological. Men must take on symbolic garb—the chief, the warrior, the king—to achieve mythological status. The first period, the birth of a child, are powerful signs of womanhood, powerful enough for men to suppress and control women.  The newborn child is the birth of commitment and responsibility, a ritual in itself.

For the man, there is no such equivalent. This is why indigenous people create puberty rituals. The men of the tribe are taken apart, taught what manhood means in the culture and taught their responsibilities.

In contemporary American culture, we have no such rituals. How does a young man know he’s a man.  A first car, a first sexual encounter, a drunken binge, a football uniform, locker room talk? In the media, young men consume excessive image of the stud, the rebel, the sexual predator, the macho man, the rock star, the playboy, the heroes of easy sex.

But where is the dialogue of authentic manhood. The moral or ethical dimension? The responsible actions? The commitment to personal values?

We must begin to mean something different when we say, “Be a man”