Continuing to Share

Family Origins

Since I’m calling for men to come together to share who they are and how things are for them, I’m going to continue to share in this format.

My family was definitely not a feminist bastion. It focused on our home where my mother tended that home and the two sons. My father had a certain authority in those days as the man of the household and partly because he was surgeon.

Interestingly, he had a distinct tinge of feminist leanings and he made it clear to me that he supported women coming into medicine as physicians and did not see women coming to power as a threat. His attitude had a leveling quality to the coming reality.

My mother was not antifeminism but it was nothing she would have fought for. It was simply that her background meant this home with a successful man who had fought his way out of poverty in Mississippi was just fine with her. She could not have wanted more.

Another Direction

It feels to me that I had been freed by distancing myself from “normal” male identity.

It seems my nature is what led me away from patriarchy toward support of feminism. I was always intrigued by possibilities and sought novelty. I regret (though it could not have been otherwise) that there were no computers until long after my youth. I would have been a rabid computer nerd. I was not competitive unless wanting to do a good job and get things done was a form of competitiveness. I never saw power as important and often was dumbstruck by venal men in power and what fools so many of them were as they served only themselves.

Who Men Are

Some say men are competitive and aggressive. I was neither. My favorite book as a young child was Ferdinand the Bull. His core attribute was that he loved to smell the flowers. My mother read it over and over to me. Again, if there was any competitiveness, it related to doing that job well and uncovering new possibilities which could be pursued relentlessly.

I learned the limits of male power over time and found it often errant and saw endless skirmishes around men who sought power and domination at all costs. As I watched men pursue power and their own financial interests, I came to see the limitations of their power and its worth. I learned to fear them not at all. In my estimation the shallowness of their pursuits disappointed me. And to this day I see their pursuits were often damaging to so many among us. If my future was impaired by their machinations, then I could go somewhere else. Something else is always possible. And, of course, as is apparent, not all men are devoted to power and financially focused sociopathy.

What Satisfies

Of course not all things, no matter how long they have dominated, will endure. I believe in the cultural flow and know its relentless nature. It may be glacial but it does flow and requires endurance and patience. We see that need for patience in the empowerment of women. From the suffragettes, women in World War II, women’s liberation and on to today we see their endurance and, yes, gains. There is much more to come.

In another regard, what do you see coming and what would you wish? Please let me hear from you. roger.burt@earthllink.net

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power by Roger B. Burt

Roger B. Burt’s Amazon home page

Creating Characters and Plots by Roger B. Burt

Stepfamilies: Professionals and Stepcouples in Partnership

Whatever Happened to Community Mental Health by Roger B. Burt