Changing the Notion of Masculinity

[DetlefK]

1. From hunter/gatherer to provider to ???

Times change.
Challenges change.
We define us by means of our environment, so the notion of what being a man means right now depends on what a man usually does right now.

In the Stone-Age, men were the hunters.
What is a hunter? Strong and fast.
What does being a man mean? Being strong and fast.

In agricultural societies (e.g. the ancient kingdoms and nations), men and women occupied the same jobs.
They were more or less equal.

Then came the ages of mass-production, first as craftsmen, then in the manufactures, then in factories.
Men and women occupied different jobs again, so the notions of gender polarized again.
Man turned from a provider of food into a provider of money.

Now we have a technological age. Economic and social well-being doesn't depend on your amount of muscles anymore.
Men and women again occupy the same jobs.
But we still look for an answer, what to do with our lives.



I think, I have solution for this dilemma.
What does survival depend on in today's world?
Your wits, your intelligence, your education.
So, what is a man supposed to provide in a society or family? Knowledge and intelligence.

If we shift the focus away from the body-centered aspect (being able to lift a pig or a sack of grains) to the mind-centered aspect (knowing how to butcher that pig, how to bake bread from these grains, how to build and how to maintain) than we automatically remove the notion of violence and the notion that men and women are fundamentally different.