An Interesting Perspective On Men and Nurturing

Dear "He",

I was reading this article and it reminded me of your original post on the impact of war on fatherhood. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that more or less the premise of your piece was about men lacking the ability to care and show love to their sons and daughters, and we were looking at the argument more from the perspective of fathers and sons. This article called "Why Men in Preschool Makes Sense" looks at the role of men in education, and what it does say about men and nurturing I think we can apply not just to education and parenting, but in other areas too. Here is an excerpt:

"As a society we associate nurturing behaviors with weakness and our culture rewards strength. A man who is caring towards children is considered less masculine and so less valuable, according to his peers, as a member of society. This is where the tired cliché of "woman's work" turns on its head. Not that only women should care for children but that caring for children is a skill or capacity that is squashed in men from a young age. It is societal and until we begin to help boys grow up whole, we will never have men in younger classrooms."

I was wondering if you felt this statement to be true, and if so how it could be applied to our discussion on authentic masculinity?

I am also thinking of how important it is to realize how culture influences certain traits that we claim as masculine or feminine. In our current conversations, are our expectations for masculinity and femininity heavily influenced by culture instead of what we come to know through our relationship with God? I know that of course culture plays a major role in our expectations of each other (it is hard for it not too), but reading this article and rethinking about your post made me wonder that perhaps sometimes even as practicing Christians we can allow culture to guide our expectations more than our relationship with God.

Just a note in regard to the article and education, but when looking at the history of American education, traditionally men were the first professional educators and tutors, and then it shifted to a more female dominated profession. I mention this just because it is worth noting how certain roles traditionally associated with gender do change when social and cultural beliefs and principles change and I think that this does shape what we see as masculine and feminine. Granted prior to the Suffrage movement and similiar points in history, of course men dominated the professions, but again the point being is to consider the influence culture has on our views of masculinity and femininity, and that the danger can be forgetting God's role in it all.

-She Said