Pages
- Articles
- Issues
- Be a Man, my Son
- Programmed for War?
- Suckered into Sacrifice?
- Result: Social Violence
- Result 2: Men after War
- Our ‘Courageous’ Leaders
- The Unemotional Soldier
- Emotional Shut-down
- Two-dimensional Men
- Difference = Fear = Aggression = Violence
- Why is the Military Male?
- Socialized into Aggression
- The Hero
- Stoicism – the Endurance of Pain
- Tough Enough
- The ‘Patriot’ who Must Win No Matter What
- The Disciplined Man
- About this blog; About me
- Raising our Sons for War
- Contact me
-
Recent Posts
Archives
Category Archives: War
The Unemotional Soldier
The soldier who is most useful to the military is one who is unemotional. Joshua Goldstein*, an academic and researcher, author of War and Gender (2001) puts it like this: “…cultures around the world with few exceptions construct “tough” men … Continue reading
Posted in Boys, Masculinity, Parents, War
Tagged anger, armour, compassion, controlled, deadened, logical, mentally controlled, sacrifice, sensitivity, stoic, suppress emotions, tough, unemotional, vulnerability
Leave a comment
Our ‘Courageous’ Leaders
The ‘solution’ of war is too often the first choice of politicians and leaders, taken before other tactics are seriously considered. Why? Because politicians and leaders have been raised through childhood in the same way as other men – to … Continue reading
Result 2: Men after War
The most positive thing one can say about our training of boys to be pawns for war is that it is meant to prepare men psychological for war and protect them during war. But is it succeeding? Recently, I read … Continue reading
Posted in Boys, Masculinity, Parents, War
Tagged abandoned, civilian life, combat, danger to families, depression, disconnected, dysfunctional, failing true ‘manhood’, human life cheap, increased murder, increased sexual abuse, negation of life, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychologically damaged, suicide, traumatised, US Army report, validation of masculinity
Leave a comment
Result: Social violence
Research and daily evidence show that nowadays very few men in a developed country are ever required to fight in war. War has changed both in its demands on society, its format and its technology. https://caygin.wordpress.com/2011/04/27/are-we-programmed-for-war/ Despite this, we unthinkingly continue … Continue reading
Posted in Boys, Masculinity, Parents, War
Tagged aggression, assault, children, damaging, disempowerment, down-sides, drinking, drugging, hopelessness, Link of Masculinity to War, low self-esteem, men make society violent, murder, poverty, reckless driving, risk-taking, social cost, social violence, suicide, women
Leave a comment
Suckered into Sacrifice?
Are we, perhaps unwittingly, training our sons to be fodder for war? Continuing the debate from my first three posts: If, in our evolutionary past, society believed that traditional war was inevitable, then it needed all its men to have … Continue reading
Posted in Boys, Masculinity, Parents, War
Tagged boys' games, brainwashed, community, coward, guns, heroism, honour, indefensible and illogical war, killing, masculinity linked to war, masculinity questioned, parents, patriotism, reward, rituals, sacrifice, shame, validation, war romantisized, weapons, women and patriotism
1 Comment
Are We Programmed for War?
Why are we, perhaps unwittingly, raising our sons to be fodder for war? We could argue that for our evolutionary survival throughout the centuries, men have had to be able to kill. Men fought to protect their communities. They went … Continue reading
Posted in Boys, Masculinity, Parents, War
Tagged evolution, manhood, programmed for war, violence, war outsourced
Leave a comment
Be a Man, my Son
In this post I want to start to look at how we may be unconsciously and unintentionally raising our sons for the trauma of warfare, and to be capable of killing. In my last post, I suggested a list of … Continue reading
Posted in Boys, Masculinity, Parents, War
Tagged acceptable male qualities, active, competitive, courageous, fear, Goldstein, killing, mock, risky behaviour, sensitivity, shame, strong, tough, vulnerability, warfare
Leave a comment
Raising our Sons for War?
Are we – parents and society – unconsciously raising our sons to be useful pawns for war? In his fascinating, well documented book, “War and Gender”, Joshua S. Goldstein*, Professor of International Relations at American University, DC, puts forward the … Continue reading
Posted in Boys, Masculinity, Parents, War
Tagged boys, characteristics, Goldstein, killing, men, soldiers, sons, training, war
Leave a comment
Boys to Men 