September 11, 2001 - From Ashes Rising: The rebirth of the American Male.
Marks, Carole*,1, 1 , Windsor, ON, Canada
ABSTRACT- What has been happening between the sexes in America, in recent decades? A revolution, I claim. An identity crisis. A dilemma that, fortunately, and with the utmost irony, finally resolved. How and when? At the very moment, two, high-jacked American jets crashed into The World Trade Center, the American male was reborn. A fortuitous blessing, I suggest, arose from a tragic curse. A look back. With the advent of the women′s movement, in the late sixties, the relationship between men and women began to change. Although the metamorphosis was gradual, it was drastic. In the seventies, woman was obsessed with ′′finding herself′′. Meanwhile, man didn′t know who he was anymore. His centuries-old understanding of himself was evaporating, before his very eyes! After Vietnam, strength, bravery, aggression and protection -- ancestral traits of masculinity -- were irrelevant. As woman was beginning a voyage of self-discovery, man got lost in the shuffle. No one saw it. No one talked about it. Instead man suffered alone -- in complete silence! Since ′′an earthquake′′ had occurred between the sexes in the seventies, America longed to return to ′′the way we were′′. The country therefore shifted to the right in the eighties. Woman, entering the work force in greater numbers, demanded more political and economic power. Furthermore, she didn′t forget who had subjugated her for centuries -- MAN! Man, whether he knew it or not, was in for the battle of his Life. Woman, seeking revenge, was at war with him! The nineties in America, I argue, was the greatest period or male-bashing that the world has ever known! Leaders and heroes were paraded -- one at a time --into televised courtrooms. Innocence or guilt is not the point. This is: The sadistic pleasure America seemed to crave tri the spectacle of men squirming like worms. And man, apparently, enjoyed the symbolic slaughter of his sex as much as woman did! When would man have suffered enough in America? When would woman have punished him enough? September 11th. In a terrible moment, time stopped and man found himself again. Todd Beamer′s heroic, last words: ′′Let′s roll!′′ became a mantra for masculinity. After three decades, man, finally, was valued -- and valued himself --for all that he had ever been. With this tragedy of terror, is the battle between the sexes finally over? Perhaps so.
Key words: American Male, women