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Dad: bad, mad, sad.

By MICHAEL BLACKBURN.

THE AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION has just issued a 36-page document containing its guidelines on “psychological practice with boys and men” for those of its members who presumably have never come into contact with the male sex or have found their experience of such contact confusing. It has received considerable condemnation from various sides (including Toby Young and Suzanne Venker) for its blatant attack on traditional masculinity.

Everything traditional these days is under attack in our institutions, as is anything that supports homogeneity of any kind. Anything deemed normal is bad, because to define anything or anyone as such is automatically to define those who are not as abnormal. Abnormal (and I’m trying not to think of Igor’s brain mix-up in Young Frankenstein here) immediately translates in loonthink into “excluded”, “marginalised”, “victimised”, etc. Since gender is currently the main fetish of the intellectual commissars, with men identified as the overriding oppressors, it is no surprise that traditional masculine virtues, such as stoicism, competitiveness and self-reliance, are regarded not just as vices that need to be extirpated but symptoms of sickness.

It is not necessary to read the entire document to gauge its monstrous inanity. It is not necessary to read beyond the Introduction, to be honest. “By their vocabulary shall you know them” is a useful standard by which to judge the pronouncements of the cretinocracy. Therefore I give you the first two sentences:

Boys and men are diverse with respect to their race, ethnicity, culture, migration status, age, socioeconomic status, ability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and religious affiliation. Each of these social identities contributes uniquely and in intersecting ways to shape how men experience and perform their masculinities, which in turn contribute to relational, psychological, and behavioral health outcomes in both positive and negative ways (e.g., Arellano-Morales, Liang, Ruiz, & Rios-Oropeza, 2015; Kiselica, Benton-Wright, & Englar-Carlson, 2016).

Your Cobblers Klaxon should be honking madly, especially if your wife says, “let’s try counselling”.

If I may appropriate the traditional term “cobblers” as a crude description for nonsense, then your Cobblers Klaxon should be honking madly straight away, especially if your wife says, “let’s try counselling”. As in those old war movies, this should be accompanied by a voice in your head shouting, “This is not a drill! This is not a drill!”

Here is the list of offences.

Diverse. One of the most tainted words in modern discourse. If you’re not on board with diversity you’re a fascist. Diversity is the new normal even when it does not reflect the norm. Diversity is desirable in as many spheres of human life as possible except in thought. Banning diversity in thought is fascism.

Every category in the list in the opening sentence (because they’re diverse).

Social identities: as if any identity can exist that is not social. As Hayek pointed out years ago, this kind of application of the word “social” is a means of replacing the traditional with something else.

Intersecting — a neat twist on intersectionality, the loony left’s Hierarchy of Oppression (which can also be used to construct its obverse, the Hierarchy of Sacred Victims). In this case if you don’t want to view it as a hierarchy than you can  look at it as a set of Venn diagrams. The rules of the game are simple: however you play it, you must always end up with the same conclusion — straight, white, middle class, Christian, western men are the worst. And something must be done about them.

Experience and perform their masculinities — here’s a little bundle of charlatanism. The loons love their plurals, hence “masculinities”. Must be something to do with being diverse. Anyway, it sounds good in pseudo-scientific papers. Masculinities makes it sound as if being a bloke is like choosing different outfits of clothes you can put on or take off at will. And how do I “experience” my own masculinities? I am most reminded of my own masculinity when I see pictures or videos of Debbie Harry in her prime. These produce the same pleasurable but unsatisfiable perturbations they did forty years ago. Luckily I can deploy my “emotional stoicism” in combatting the urges, which must be a good thing, in the same way it was a good thing when I felt similar urges towards young ladies who were more accessible than Debbie and lived on the same continent. A bit of “self-reliance” was also useful in this regard but I won’t elaborate.

As for “perform” – this is another piece of loonthink, very popular with the gender merchants and promoted by the ineffable Judith Butler and her acolytes. According to these people it’s not just that we “perform” our sexuality (or sexualities) it’s also that our performance, especially through language, creates it/them. At least, I think that’s what it means, although to my simple, unreconstructed, Neanderthal male mind it’s still a pile of cobblers. Unfortunately this nonsense is often taught in courses on English Literature.

So there you have it. You know the message. If you’re a bloke with traditional bloke characteristics you’re bad and probably need therapy. The only cure is for you to become a woman and then everything will be all right.

The Association says that these guidelines are only advisory. We all know how supposedly advisory things turn into dogmas even when not converted into legal requirements. No doubt similar idiocy is bound for Britain shortly. God help the poor blokes who end up being “helped” by those espousing these ideas. If they aren’t screwed up when they start they certainly will be by the time the shrinks have finished with them.


suxcoverCurrente Calamo columnist, poet and writer Michael Blackburn lives in Lincolnshire. A Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Lincoln University (2005 – 2008), his poetry has appeared in numerous publications and anthologies over the years, including Being Alive (Bloodaxe) and Something Happens, Sometimes Here (Five Leaves Press). His most recent book is Albion Days (perennisperegrinator press). Sucks to Your Revolution is a collection of his Fortnightly columns.

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