In researching some ideas I had about rebelliousness (especially political) and father-absence I came across several provocative ideas related to the formation of male / female identity. In a review of THE CHURCH IMPOTENT: THE FEMINIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY by Leon J. Podles:
Mr. Podles embeds his account of feminization of the Church in a far-reaching theory of masculinity and femininity. For our author, male and female signify much more than biological facts. Each term denotes one side of a fundamental polarity.
As our author sees matters, “the female is the norm from which the male must be differentiated. The basic pattern of the human body is roughly female…and male characteristics develop from that pattern only under certain circumstances” (p. 37). From this basic fact of biology, supported by evidence from psychology and anthropology, Mr. Podles concludes that the fundamental nature of the masculine is separation.
Men, of course, do not remain permanently apart from women. But, if they are to achieve proper masculine status, they must for a time break from the feminine. “The masculine is a pattern of initial union, separation, and reunion, while the feminine is a maintenance of unity. This pattern is found on the biological level, and even more on the psychological, anthropological, and cultural levels” (p. 45).
Man then represents separation, woman unity. Mr. Podles has given us no less than a metaphysics of gender. His theory in part resembles that of Otto Weininger, a controversial Austrian Jewish writer who influenced, among others, both Wittgenstein and Hitler. “Weininger anticipated many of the later psychological analyses of masculinity and femininity; he saw that femininity was the natural condition of all human beings” (p. 191).
To grasp Mr. Podles’s theory correctly, we must avoid a common error. The feminine is not, he holds, a principle of reception in contrast to a male principle of aggression. In a fascinating excursus, our author blames the adoption of Aristotle’s analysis of the female by the medieval scholastics for the prevalence of the erroneous position. In Aristotle’s view, man imposes form on the female, who is pure matter. (In Aristotle’s metaphysics, matter sometimes means receptivity.)
Man, then, must separate. To do so, initiation rituals play a crucial role. In these rites, young men, under the supervision of adult males, enact special ceremonies that mark their departure from the feminine. Often, the aspirant to masculinity must undergo special physical pain: if not, at least something dramatic happens that impresses his new status upon him.
This reminds me of the scene in Dune where Paul Atreides is forced to use the Gom Jabbar, although in that case he is initiated as a member of the human race by the Bene Gesserit.
Father-absence and problem behaviors:
Marilyn Stern, John E. Northman, and Michael R. Van Slyck, “Father Absence and Adolescent ‘Problem Behaviors': Alcohol Consumption, Drug Use and Sexual Activity.” Adolescence, 19, 1984, 301-312: “The absence of the father from the home affects significantly the behavior of adolescents, and results in greater use of alcohol and marijuana and higher rates of sexual activity. The impact of the father’s absence from the home is apparently greater on males than on females. The alcohol and marijuana use and sexual activity rates for father-absent males is greater than for any other group. The data underscore the significance of the father as a key figure in the transmission of values and as a role model in the life of the adolescent. In addition, the father may have a stabilizing influence within the family structure….This suggests that the father’s presence may serve as a deterrent to more liberal indulgence in alcohol and marijuana use and sexual activity….Father-absent males reported the highest levels of alcohol and marijuana use the sexual activity. This group of adolescents appears to be particularly at-risk for problems associated with the three areas of alcohol, marijuana and sexual activity.”
An unfamiliar (to me) typology, Dr. William Sheldon’s Somatotypes:
In the 1940s, Sheldon developed a theory that there are three basic body types, or somatotypes (based on the three tissue layers: endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm), each associated with personality characteristics, representing a correlation between physique and temperament
Father-absence and its effects on female trust:
Suzanne Southworth and J. Conrad Schwarz, “Post-Divorce Contact, Relationship with Father, and Heterosexual Trust in Female College Students,” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 57, No. 3 [July, 1987], 379-381; epitomized in The Family in America: New Research, October, 1987: “In surveying 104 female college students from divorced and intact families, Drs. Suzanne Southworth and J. Conrad Schwarz discover evidence that ‘the experience of divorce and its aftermath have long-term effects on young college women’s trust in the opposite sex and on their plans for the future.’ Particularly, the [University of Connecticut, Stors] team find that ‘daughters from divorced homes are more likely to anticipate cohabitation before marriage’ than are daughters of intact marriages. Among daughters of intact homes it was found that ‘only daughters who had a poor relationship with the father planned to cohabit,’ while among daughters of divorced parents ‘plans to cohabit were uniformly high and unrelated to the father’s acceptance and consistency of love.'”
It’s amazing the assertions people can support with research. Sometimes I think all this sort of stuff is so biased that I just shouldn’t pay attention to any of it.
I agree. People see what they want to see ultimately. If you’re belief is one way or another it changes your receptivity to information. It also affects your research, etc. Everything we experience is filtered. I guess that’s why it’s so hard to grasp at what really is.