to burn.” (1Corithians7:8,9) And again, the Western man is expected to revel in all things that are violent, brutallyphysical, and competitive, and yet he is to shun all things that require a gentler spirit, such asdrama, art, poetry, and literature. Another plague to the male in America is the sever homophobia that runs deep in oursociety. Anything that a boy might do that doesn’t fit into the strict and rigid ‘boy-code’ leaveshim to be branded as a ‘fag’ by his peers. And, over time, the emotional abuse to the sensitiveboy leads one of two ways. The Type A product represses his anger and humiliation anddreams of revenge upon those that tortured him (there are even a couple of these in our class);whereas, the Type B product copes by retreating into a world of fantasy, and he will attempt tolose himself in tales of ancient civilizations and future times. (Coincidentally, I am a Type Bperson.) To be a boy in America is hard, and boys only make it harder on each other. If only every guyin our culture could be made to understand that, then perhaps boys in our society couldactually grow up to be the kind of men that are able to understand why their wives get upsetwhen they forget things like anniversaries, or the kind of fathers that can actually be a fatherfigure to their children. ...
