Scared Little Boy

This last week has been a very eye-opening experience in the classroom for me, and not just in English 313. I also have a Communications 360 class that is challenging the idea of gender equality and philosophical standpoints of masculinity and femininity in our culture and how language shapes all of this. Each class has seemed to coincide with each other's lectures and it has really helped me see clearly on these issues. Now I do NOT consider myself racist, homophobic, or anti-feminist, nor do I condone or support anybody who is. Some of the following questions or thoughts may seem that way but they are simply out of my raw curiosity and blissful ignorance of people's sensitivities. I am a very open person myself and rather insensitive to "hurt feelings" when it comes to challenging my own positions or identity so I propose these thoughts in the same way I feel I would give the most concise, honest answers should someone question me the same way.
Enjoy a little background of yours truly first. My father is from Argentina, my mother from the whitest state in the nation, Idaho which makes me a blend of sorts. I'm not close with my father's side except my grandmother, who raised me for 5 good years. However, I am close with my mother and her side of the family so I'm close to two of her three sisters. Almost all of my cousins on this side I know well or am very close with except Kyle and Scott, my only two male cousins out of nine. That makes seven female cousins. on this side of the family tree. Oh by the way I was raised with two sisters, Audrey and Veronica, and I have a stepsister, Jennifer. At any given point in my life, there are at least ten females in my family life that I love very dearly and essentially no males that I connect with and count on to be there for me.

This + me is my family reunion

I am at a loss for words when I hear the females in my classes demand that they are the underprivileged sex. I wrote a blog about my opinion of the feminist movement, which should really be termed "Equality Movement" for the sake of queer individuals, but I digress. Let consider Foucault and make this ahistorical.  I am not saying men are the underprivileged sex, far from it. If women aren't, men aren't, and queer individuals make up too small of a defined demographic to be considered a separate sex or class yet, then who is? Give me a break. No one! The great architect Daniel Lediske who created the Jewish Historical Museum in Berlin said it best when criticized about an aspect of his piece, "If you look into the past, you will have no future." This can apply in so many ways to this great Equality Movement. Women may be held down in a certain way, but in our culture they are undoubtedly the prized sex. It is unacceptable to disrespect a woman on public grounds in any way no matter what that female has said or done. In comparison to man, Warren Farrell said it best himself "men are the disposable gender; they die in war and from suicide four times more often than women, and are also the most common victims of violence, overwork and mental illness (Barker 304)." Men's standards are set impossibly high and unimaginably complicated, often threatening and scary. Not the "I might get made fun of" kind of scary. Men's standards are "well, I may lose an arm/my sanity/years of my life/my actual life but I'm doing what is expected of me" kind of scary. And people question why it's taking longer for young men to accept maturity and growing up these days? Because it's fucking scary. Literally.