The New Wounds of Men
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The New Wounds of Men
For a very long time man felt sure of his power and his role in society, and was comforted by the privileges deriving from this dominant position. Then the epochal events happened that transformed and made a deep change in women’s identity, and as a consequence, the male identity underwent drastic repercussions. When the archaic certainties of the patriarchal society fell, various male models also fell in a domino effect – the controlling father, the warrior, the hero, the Casanova – whom men took for examples for centuries: ideals of behaviour which if on one hand could create inadequacy, on the other were reassuring. Post-patriarchal and post-feminist, today’s men do not know where to take refuge and, disoriented, look around. Today’s male has discovered he is naked and vulnerable. He is in crisis, he’s wounded. Even recent news events fit into this picture – news amplified by the media’s over-exposition because men of power are involved – that seem to show “new” wounds: an epidemic of sexual bulimia and physical and/or psychological violence towards women. In reality, this wish to degrade women is a confirmation of men’s strong discomfort in a relation to the female sex. So redefinition of sexual roles is an unfinished game that is being played as much for men as for women. And Vera Slepoj, moving skilfully among history, mythology, psychology and anthropology, goes right to the heart of the matter and is never banal: starting from an analysis of the deep significance of «masculinity», she offers a fundamental contribution to the redefinition of the relationship between the sexes. To «heal» the ancient and new wounds of men, it is necessary to start from the entire relational environment and abandon that spiral of endemic conflict, which seems by now to characterize interpersonal relationships, to move together towards that world of feelings, that may no longer be considered a female prerogative.