The Emasculation of Men in the Technological Age
Much has been said of the existence of the modern effeminate male being caused by falling testosterone levels, by diet, by feminism, by TV and video games, by divorce, by the government education system, etc.
However, a sizeable and oft-forgotten cause (or at least factor in the equation) is the way technological advances and hyper-specialization have cut the knees out from under every man.
For thousands and thousands of years, a man, as the head of his home — even if he didn’t build the home himself — took full responsibility for the home (as the protective walls around his family) and everything in it (as tools to be utilized for the protection of and provision for his family).
If there was a leak in the roof, he was up there fixing the shingles.
If there was a broken window or door or lock, he replaced it himself.
If a cradle was needed for the new baby, he built it.
And perhaps if he was busy enough and rich enough, he hired others to do these handyman jobs, but he still knew exactly what needed to be done and how, he hired the men himself, he oversaw the jobs being done; in other words, he still took that responsibility upon himself, because he was a man, and this was what a man did in providing for his household.
The phrase was originally jack of all trades but master of one. This is what a man was. Whatever his career or specialty, he could still do all the masculine jobs.
And then as indoor plumbing and running water and faucets came along, men added knowledge of pipes and plumbing and water pressure to their repertoires.
And then as automobiles came along, the men all learned to be mechanics; able to service, repair or completely rebuild their own cars themselves if necessary.
And then as houses began to be electrified, the men all learned about electrical wiring and light bulbs and filaments and radios and film projectors and televisions and toasters.
And so it was that in high schools in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, a man could come out certified as a plumber or carpenter or electrician or auto mechanic.
The men of the mid-1900s knew the sciences and technologies and how these things actually applied to their lives.
But then a number of things happened throughout the seventies that shifted the course drastically for the Western man.
Firstly, China opened up for cheaper manufacturing allowing companies to utilize foreign labor to produce cheaper goods at greater profits, which took manufacturing jobs away from home.
Secondly, as the gadgetry and devices increased, computing power and computer technology began to automate remaining manufacturing systems, and everything — cars, TVs, radios — everything became both more technical and simultaneously poorer in quality, needing replacement or fixing more often, requiring more and more specialists to fix things for you.
Thirdly, as money ceased to have any connection to gold and silver whatsoever, international trading and multinational corporations began to want more and more office workers, requiring men to go to colleges after high school to be trained in business, finance, accounting, law, etc, which shifted the focus of government high schools away from real world, practical blue-collar skills to white-collar office skills, ultimately removing most practical skills entirely.
And fourthly, the media (particular Hollywood and the silver screen) perpetuated these ideas that you needed all these gadgets that you didn’t need a hundred years ago, and that in order to keep up with all the gadgets and all the inflation of a made-up paper money system, that more income was required; that a man needed to work more hours and seek higher paying office or managerial style jobs, and ultimately, that a man needed to get into debt and go to college and focus on a hyper-specific career path to the exclusion of all else.
And somewhere along the way, being a man stopped being about having all the skills and know-how to build and repair all the things, and became only about earning the high-enough paycheck to pay other people to do everything else for you.
As such, most men nowadays live in houses they don’t know how to build or repair, they drive cars that they don’t know how to build or repair, they use computers and smartphones and iPads, none of which they know how to build or repair.
They’re helpless slaves to the system, cogs in a machine, tricked into complete codependency through convenience.
As men, they no longer offer women that same protection of knowledge and know-how, capability and creativity, wisdom and ingenuity. They offer a paycheck, hopefully a few good swimmers, and some extra size, strength and aggression for the illusion of safety.
What this means is that in order to fix manhood/masculinity in society, we need to fundamentally restore what it means to be a man by reclaiming that level of responsibility of skill-based know-how for a home and all the stuff in it.
As a homeschooler, I have a specific plan for my sons.
While they are young, they learn to read, write, do arithmetic, sing, play music, begin to learn a second language, and some basic cooking, cleaning and self-care skills. And after the age of eight, they will begin to accompany me and work alongside me in doing whatever I do, learning home and farm skills, basic building, hunting, butchering, martial arts, survival skills, along with a foundation of communication, business, philosophy, logic, morals, ethics, and interpersonal skills.
And at age eleven or twelve, they will begin to learn intensive skills year-by-year (diesel mechanic, construction, electrician, engineer, constitutional and contract, law, etc.) until they are capable in their latter teen years of standing on their own two feet as a man, building their own house and providing for their own family.
I intend for my sons at fifteen to be stronger, better, more capable men than I am right now at thirty-five; cogs in nobody’s machine.
