An Enquiry into the Duties of the Male Gender – Pt. 2

Individualism

“No man is an island” — John Donne

We live in an individualist world. Despite the apparent connectivity of the internet, as we have learned, all this has accomplished is to stratify people. We have been separated into our respective camps, either politically, socially, sexually and even geographically as communities collapse under poverty while others balloon in cost through gentrification, forcing people out of former their neighbourhoods where friends and families once lived and could meet in public spaces. The understanding is, as Margaret Thatcher said, that: “There is no such thing [as society]! There are individual men and women and there are families”. You are on your own. Deal with it.

Conveniently, this chimes with the contemporary idea of the Man as a solitary figure. The ‘Lone Wolf’. The archetypal masculine hero who must stand alone against all problems. We can see this characterisation almost everywhere in popular culture, particularly in media. Whether it’s James Bond, Batman, Iron Man, Superman or even Andrew Neiman in Whiplash, male characters, whether they are anti-heroes, flawed protagonists or superheroes, these characters are depicted as standing alone against their sea of troubles. Most troublingly, they are depicted as succeeding; it is…