The Virtuous Male

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Clearly, we're living in anxious times. Once upon a time, masculinity was tacitly defined in terms of the extent to which men had control over their labor and could be self-reliant in the workplace. If a man failed, he could always head 'West' -- geographically, metaphorically -- in search of a new frontier. A self-made man could always start over.

Today, an increasingly mechanized and bureaucratic workplace offers little true autonomy. With the civil rights crusade of the 1960s, followed by the rise of the women's movement and the gay and lesbian movements, the homosocial world of the traditional workplace has a new visitor: the 'other.'

Surely, anxiety about these shifts accounts for part of the resurgent appeal of men-only events, especially for middle-class straight white men in their late 20s through their 40s, the mainstay of Promise Keepers (and of Bly's 'mythopoetic' men's movement). Still, economics is only part of the story; something else is going on.

'Responsibility' is the watchword of the growing evangelical men's movement, just as 'atonement' was a crucial theme of the Million Man March. What shifts might this return to male virtue foretell? Hopefully, a new masculine frontier -- this time not so far from home. There are babies and young children to be cared for, equally by men and women. Raising our voices in unison, we could be a mighty tide for changing hours of work and promotion rules to make that possible.

Looking further, we could work to discredit domestic violence, gay bashing, and sexual assault. We could stand up -- white men and minority men together, also women and men together -- against the systematic economic disenfranchisement of those who didn't have the time, the energy, the money, or the hope to join the millions who marched on Washington.

All this could happen. The choice is ours.

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