Episodes
Sunday Jan 19, 2020
The Failing Language of Masculinity, For Moses and For Today
Sunday Jan 19, 2020
Sunday Jan 19, 2020
Moses, having been raised by a team of women, "goes out" to experience the world of men when he becomes a teenager. He experiences fighting and injustice, and when he looks "to and fro" to see if any man is going to do anything about it, sees that no "man" is willing to step up. So he steps up himself. He then sees two Hebrew men fighting, one the aggressor and the other the victim, and he tries to engage them in conversation to stop the behavior. But like a male locker room, rather than talk at all, they (even the victim!) threaten him. The world of men does not allow for a conversation about abuse, dehumanization, and changed behavior. So he must flee to Midian, where he then "rises up" in action to stop a group of young men from harrassing young women. Though clearly 1) Moses knows what justice is, and 2) Moses is not afraid of action, just a few verses later 3) Moses says he is incapable of articulating either in words. (This might indicate what the revelation of Sinai will be, by the way.) This is remarkably similar to the recent book of Peggy Orenstein, who argues that young men today 1) know how they should be treating the world of women, 2) know what actions are the right ones, but 3) lack any language for explaining it all, for explaining what it means to be in the world of men (especially in any positive sense), and why they won't "rise up" in their lockerrooms or social groups to stop other boys from spreading offensive pornographic memes, sharing misogynist jokes, or encouraging conquests of women. Such young men would have to risk their social capital, and even when willing to, don't have the language to persuade against the self-images of masculinity. Like the Hebrew men threatening Moses for even beginning a conversation about their wrong, abusive behavior, Moses goes out to the world of men, sees the problems (including the treatment of women), but then tells God he would never be able to articulate true masculinity or the need for changed behavior in the world of men.
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