I'm not a trained, licensed psychologist, and I can't determine the causes of or the cures for people's problems. But, I am an ardent student of human behavior, and sometimes I see things that raise what I think are important questions. If awareness of an issue is the first step toward its resolution, then even bringing it to your attention will be of some benefit.
In the paper this morning, I saw an article about a Texan GOP delegate named Robert Hurt who is lobbying intensively to outlaw public nudity in the District of Columbia. The problem is not that men and women are prancing about the nation's capitol in the altogether; that would be a transitory and easily-addressed situation. Rather, the real problem concerns naked art. Yes, all throughout our capitol city, statuary is corrupting the morals of our youth. Said Hurt, "It's sending the wrong message to children that nudity is fine, that nakedness is fine."
Not since Attorney General John Ashcroft saved the souls in the Justice department from having to view the 18-foot tall eponymous statue (who had the bad taste to leave one of her breasts exposed) has such moral outrage descended upon the city. Evidently, Justice herself must have undergone a tragic and disastrous 'wardrobe malfunction.'
It'll be tough, but, for the moment, I'll leave the sarcasm . . . I mean 'irony' . . . aside. Evidently not all men think along the lines of Robert Hurt and John Ashcroft. Even the article in the paper reported the item with a barely-observable smirk on its newsprint lips. I wonder, though, if these guys aren't just extreme examples of a much more subtle fear that appears much more pervasively. Am I mistaken in thinking that many American men feel sexually threatened?
Why is pornography so loudly bashed from sea to shining sea, and yet it's one of the largest grossing industries in the country? Why are 'action flicks' for guys, and 'chick flicks' for women? Why is it that 'big boys don't cry'? Why is showing emotion — or, God forbid, affection — a 'sissy' thing to do? And, on that subject, why is man-on-man sex verboten, but woman-on-woman sex is 'hot'? Why has gay and lesbian marriage (in Massachusetts and, starting tomorrow, in California) the 'death knell' for traditional marriage? What are so many guys in this country so afraid of?
As I said, I don't know the reasons why, and I don't have any answers. What I do suspect is that the male (the American male, in particular) feels that his masculinity is being threatened. It takes a strong person to feel feelings; it takes a strong person to allow them to show; it takes a very strong person not to care about what other people think. The more adult men run away from sensuality and sexuality, the more distance they're putting between themselves and their children. Children have access to information that most of us got much later in life.
Censorship is as dead in this country as in Russia or China or any other totalitarian nation. Communication about everything is everywhere. It's not the end of the world; it's not even the end of civilization as we know it. It just is. Instead of tying ourselves in knots trying to manipulate and sanitize the outside world to try to make it more like what some imagine it should be, perhaps we should be paying more attention to exposing, confronting, and finding some resolution to the psychological bogey-men that live inside us guys. It would be time and energy much more effectively spent.
H. Les Brown, MA, FCC
Copyright © 2008 H. Les Brown
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understanding, masculinity, fear, affection, censorship, nudity, sexuality
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