Harvey C. Mansfield, a Professor of Government at Harvard University, has written a provocative book — particularly given his Ivy League status — called Manliness. Manliness, says Mansfield, causes men to need to feel important. Mansfield is concerned that in a gender-neutral society, neither men nor women will be well served because manliness will have no legitimate place. Mansfield observes that innate sexual differences persist in our society and are generally enjoyed. He calls manliness, “the remaining obstacle to gender-neutrality, which does not seem easily removed.”
Here is a particularly quotable quote from chapter 1 (entitled “The Gender-Neutral Society”):
Now supporters of the gender-neutral society (call them feminists) are torn between showing that they are as competent as men and doing away with gentlemen who might oppose them. In the first mode, they want to show that they are manly; in the second, they want to deny that there is any such thing.
This book strikes me so far as an outstanding volley against egalitarianism (rampant both in the culture and the church). Egalitarianism is ultimately anti-women because it pushes women to have to be like men. Egalitarianism is ultimately anti-men because it diminishes a proper domain for expressions of manliness.
Check out Mansfield’s book here.
For more on this topic, see my previous post on Newsweek, Feminism, and the Disrespect of Women.