Print 
PDF
The American Psychological Association has released a set of guidelines for physicians who work with boys and men.
The APA guidelines mark traditional masculinity as "harmful" because it is marked by stoicism, competitiveness, dominance, and aggression."
In essence, the study declares war on traditional masculinity and attempts to help physicians assist boys and men to break free from "traditional masculinity" and embrace "positive masculinity."
Be informed. Be discerning.
According to the APA, traditional masculinity ideology condones behaviors of "anti-femininity, achievement, eschewal of the appearance of weakness, and adventure, risk, and violence."
Simply put, in a follow-up article to the study the APA says, " The main thrust of the subsequent research is that traditional masculinity ...is harmful."
The study finds that if men are "socialized in this way" (traditional masculinity), they are "less likely to engage in healthy behaviors."
The study also notes that traditionally masculine men are less likely to share their emotions, less likely to care for their mental and physical health and are at a higher risk for suicide.
As I began to read the study, I suspected where it was going---at least in part.
I was right.
The guidelines also touch on gender binaries.
Ryon McDermott, Ph.D., who helped draft the guidelines, asked: "What is gender in the 2010's?"
He answers his own question, of course: "It's no longer just this male-female binary."
According to the study, traditional masculinity is viewed as a negative thing because men could feel forced to suppress "gender-nonconforming" feelings which can lead to "increased hostility toward LGBT men."
McDermott believes that these new guidelines can change the world.
He says, "If we can change men, we can change the world."
Doug Mainwaring, writing for Lifesite News, says there is nothing new in the APA study---"traditional masculinity is on the whole harmful."
He's right, there is nothing reassuring. And their message, under the guise of "science" in their 16,000 word study, is an all out attempt to delegitimize traditional masculinity.
Mainwaring opens the curtain on his life, and his personal struggles with same-sex attraction.
He says:
"As a man who has struggled with these attractions...I see the APA's guidelines for what they are: An attempt to diabolically undermine not only manhood, but family, marriage, and natural law. And the most important vulnerable in society---specifically boys---will be harmed the most by these new recommendations."
He writes,
"It's almost as if the APA wants to convince boys and men to be uncomfortable with themselves, causing them to question day-in and day-out their every thought, impulse, and action, the very nature of who they are.
"Traditional masculinity is depicted as problematic," he says "while homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgenderism is not."
He claims the terms defined at the outset of the study set the tone for the whole document. Most troubling is the term "cisgender," which the APA now uses to refer to people whose biological sex is aligned with their "gender identity" as if it were an odd human condition.
In other words, the abnormal condition these doctors are defining is when boys think they are boys and girls think they are girls.
Young boys no longer enjoy the certainty of who they are---their masculinity---because they are attacked in the classroom, in entertainment, at the doctor's office, and even in some churches.
Masculinity now comes with a warning label. Deviant behavior does not.
Taken to their logical conclusion, here's what the APA are leading parents to teach their sons:
- You might grow up to be gay;
- You might grow up to be bisexual;
- You might grow up to be androgynous;
- You might grow up to be a transvestite or a transsexual, like the strange folks who read to you at drag queen storytime at the library;
- You might, in essence, grow up to be a woman;
- You might grow up and choose to surgically amputate your penis, take hormones, and grow breasts. In fact, you can begin to take puberty blockers now if you feel like it;
- You might grow up to be some form of sexual being no one has ever conceived of being until you decide for yourself what that is.
Oh, and by the way, there’s also one more possibility:
- You might grow up to be a man – a man who is romantically and sexually attracted to women and who will one day marry the girl he has fallen in love with. But if you do, you reveal that you have “conformed to masculine norms,” which according to the APA are “psychologically harmful,” and therefore not good for society.
The most trusted adults in a boy's world---his parents, teachers, adult relatives, and neighbors---guided by the 117,500 psychological "experts" at the APA, are being told to withhold absolute truths about nature, and nature's God.
Note: Since the APA published this report the public has strongly reacted. Many see the report as a blatant attack on masculinity.
David French with the National Review is one of the many who reacted. He wrote,
"The assault on traditional masculinity---while liberating to men who don't fit traditional norms---is itself harmful to the millions of young men who seek to be physically and mentally tough, to rise to challenges, and demonstrate leadership under pressure. The assault on traditional masculinity is an assault on their very natures."
However, Procter & Gamble, owner of Gillette razor, has, in the spirit of the APA study, created a 90-second commercial titled, "We Believe," which is a new twist on their decades-old slogan, "The Best a Man Can Be."
In the extended commercial, they are taking on the problem of toxic masculinity, promising to, "from this day forward, challenge the stereotypes and expectations of what it means to be a man."
A few years ago Dennis Rainey wrote a book titled, "Stepping Up: A Call to Courageous Manhood."
In it he gave the following profile of a godly man:
- He controls his emotions and passions. He is a man with a heart, head and conscience.
- He provides for his family (I Timothy 5:8).
- He protects his family. Physically and emotionally (Proverbs 4:10-15).
- He serves and leads his family (Ephesians 5:23-25).
- He follows God's design for true masculinity (Micah 6:8).
Be Informed. Be Faithful. Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful.