How, Now, Make Men Out of Boys?

The term gender refers to the male and female of a given species that reproduces sexually.

People do not act according to that biological role in about 2 to 5% of cases. But that doesn't change the fact of their gender. Gender is established science not opinion.

I'll note, by the way, that Native American societies that said there are six genders *did so* because they were all about being orderly and definitive in their way. They *needed* six in order to make sure there were enough social roles that everyone could actually live with.

They didn't exactly live lives where five percent unemployment and general social stick-fights as a means of ensuring surplus produce for the monarchy to sponge off was necessary for economic growth, never mind subsistence.

People who claim 'There are two absolute genders, and the definitions are tight' usually have an interest in trying to enforce a conformity that ain't exactly natural to the species.

Or you could kneel at the altars of homophobic priests, or vote for, say, homophobic senators who like to tap their feet in certain places usually intended for other purposes...

Who's in the gutter?

Guess it depends on your definitions, doesn't it?

Heh.

'Excuses?' You're the one making *excuses* for a view of humanity that doesn't *function,* Gary.

The fact that you seem to need to believe that the honest and caring and committed lives of so many others just *have* to be all about the hedonistic 'needs of the moment' you seem to be fixated on does not change reality.

However many 'genders' you choose to define, well, if you want to say that's all there is, it's on you to find some definitions that actually *fit* nearly everyone instead demanding only the boxes are real and trying to herd everyone *into* them. :)

Excuses, excuses. There are two genders. All the rest of it is behavior, some good and some bad. Good in my view doesn't involve risking others health and happiness to please one's own need of the moment.

christians society madrasas.

back in the late 60ty, a black activist by the name of elija muhamed announced himself to be the messenger of god to the black man in america.
elija who born and raised in the (christian)america ,seeing the christians whites and blacks bowing and kneeling at the christian church in front of a white european skin image who they call the son of god the lord the savior of mankind????????,elija never regret it .

if the dalia lama decided to be the messenger of god to china towen ,what is the diference ?

on the scale of christianity the white mankind jesus is the son of god while the rest are false gods and heathens.!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

delusionism and colorism share the same underwear and they sleep in the same rotten bed.

there is only one god.every mankind is equal under god means every mankind is the creation of god and under the superiority of god not the superiotity of mankind .

If he *is* it'd be a heck of a time to find out, wouldn't it?

Maybe he could settle for letting others be. :)

" Garyd:

Men is a stereo type Now??? There are six genders???"

Two, three, six, three hundred, ...Frankly I think it makes no difference if your ideals have two separate ones that don't actually even *cover* half the population.

It's a problem of your monotheistic and authoritarian tendencies, actually, Gary. You have a singular absolutist ideal for each sex, neither of which even *begins to cover* even most gender-unambiguous people, and freak out when both of these ideals only fit a minority either men *or* women.

When you guys talk about how men and women 'should' be, you're really talking about one kind or another of 'alpha male' and 'breeding female' ...and relegate probably more than half the world to the status of 'failures and deviants'

...instead of realizing we're socially-complex creatures who tend to diversify, organize, and specialize within groups.

Then wonder why real life just won't be crammed into those shapes. :)

Well, actually. These are important ideas the Reverend is touching on... of course, as always, he wants to resort to a defense of Biblical perceptions that don't really convey a mature view of the sexes, either.

It's true that our society produces a lot of 'older boys,' ...but I attribute this in large measure to the mixed messages males get in the course of the *conflict* created between 'traditional' senses of male entitlement vs the existence of strong women with equal human dignity.

Still operating on 'zero sum,' all they learn about relations between the sexes often *is* about unrealistic ideals of musclebound warriors they define as 'real men' and pound each other over until they're either 'dumb jocks' or 'cowed nerds' ...or 'someone with the money.'

One thing a lot of males don't realize is that the stories they tell each other about what comprises 'superiority, whatever that is, are much more about how young males negotiate who among them gets *access* to females than what females who are empowered to make up their own minds are actually interested in. They get frustrated and either aggressive or withdrawn when this doesn't work. They feel they're being robbed of something because the 'rules' they feel entitled to being rewarded for following actually involve other living human beings...

So it is with our society on so many levels.

(Yes, it has a whole lot to do with sexuality.)

Certainly, what being male is all about is a societal challenge for many, (And I think as Pagan clergy one that I see a lot of grappling with.) I can only offer in brief the observation that this isn't about competition and rules, this is about spirit and instinct and a will to inform and honor both.

Too often there is a perception that 'feminism' must denigrate males. (Even to the point of confusing second and third wave feminism. *Second* wave feminists are the ones who got looked at funny by my generation on certain matters of footwear and overalls. :) But who's counting, right? )

But I think on a lot of levels, too many men and institutions have been telling other men and themselves what *men* are all about, and that they should spend their efforts enforcing these views instead of remembering what *is* whole and good about em.

Frankly, for so many men, it seems their real response to modern reality is to sulk and dress like slobs and wonder why women don't come to *them,* or else to radicalize and see where blind dominance behavior gets them. :)

We can really do better, but more of the same is not the answer. It's a bit of a crisis for a reason. And that reason is not so you can roll it back.

Males, (And not just the 'alpha types' of your competitive presumptions and models) need better.

And it's happening. Some things you can't dictate.

Men is a stereo type Now??? There are six genders???

What monuments to selfishness you have established.

What's wrong with simply raising boys to be adults? "Making them into men" implies forcing them into stereotypes that almost surely will not fit all of them.

Helping boys become men and girls become women sounds like a real good idea. Is it? What do you have for homosexual and asexual boys and girls? What you helping them become besides the object of discrimination.

There are 6 readily identifiable genders, male, female, males with female sex drives, females with male sex drives, males with no sex drive at all and females with no sex drive at all. Deciding what's good for all while limiting all to 2 out of 6 is 33.33% and a failing grade.

Aren't all 6 genders God's children? Maybe "male and female God made them" needs to be updated? They got that wrong. What else did they get wrong?

Denying the existence of 4 out of 6 genders makes sexism a given for those who get their facts from the Bible. If religion is going to address sexism then the Bible, other sacred scriptures for other folks must be discarded first. Otherwise religion will always hinder and never help end sexism.

Ash your ignorance is showing. Ten to twenty percent of Baptist churches in the south are African American. There isn't a Fundamentalist church on TV that doesn't have at least a few people of color sitting in the pews.

What you say might have been true fifty years ago but it no longer is.

GaryD,

Christian fundamentalism, not affirmative action, is the primary reason race remains a contentious issue in the USA. Fundamentalism is institutionalized racism's direct descendant. The death of legal segregration was the birth of the separatist fundamentalist education system. These Christian madrasas pour tens of thousands of ignorant, hate-filled, and poorly socialized race-baiters such as yourself into adult society every year. You and your ilk will be the death of American freedom.

superiority of god.

how to develop the brain and mentality of mankind(male and female) to understand the superiority of god over his creation?

misunderstanding the superiority of god over his creation is the root of every raceism,is the root of every deviationism,is the root of every evilism.

god is one ,no son,no daughter none but his uniqueness superiorness over his creation.

misunderstanding the superiority of god over his creation misled mankind to glorify and superiory false gods and false ideologys .

please work on glorify the creator not the creation.

That sir is arguably the Best column you have written here to date.

Neither of these issues are something that the government with it's tendency towards one size fits all solutions and pounding square pegs into round holes can ever fully address.

How much of black under performance on standardized tests is attributable to entrenched racism and how much of it is attributable to pathologies with in the ghetto culture itself? How much of the discord between the sexes is the result of Ultra feminist teachings that would SEEM to indicate that we'd all be better off if boys were stripped of their sperm and killed shortly after entering puberty?

On my part I believe that the chief reason race is still a problem in this country lies primarily at the feet of the various affimative action programs
which now do little more than secure a steady stream of intellectually vacuous recruits for cheesy outfits like the Nation of Islam and the KKK and their various allied organizations.