Let's return to the core of the series of texts I have been publishing about masculinities. There is a relevant reason for writing this concept in the plural: it has long been accepted by much of academia that we are not talking of one, but rather various masculinities. Another important point is understanding that masculinities are concepts, not people in themselves.
The concepts of masculinities synthesize and represent – therefore promote – ways of understanding and practicing, i.e. living masculinities in the bodies that identify with them and in the imagination of those who relate to them. Hence the importance of knowing them. I follow the line that understands gender as created in the relationship and not so much as something fixed and predetermined.
The importance of accepting that masculinities are varied is due to the fact that this broadens the possibilities of living this experience. Out with the fixed and limited model, giving way to other variations, just as relevant as they are valid. When we move away from fixed models, we are able to see nuances, variations, like branches of the same tree that, no matter how curved or distant they are from the main trunk – here representing the old idea of the fixed model – are just as much part of the tree as any other.
Living with this diversity of possibilities and not seeing them as lesser or, much less, wrong, is to be in the contemporary world as it is: broad and diverse. To me, having difficulty with this diversity denotes, besides the limitation that makes up everything that is fixed and restricted, the fear of being in discordance – a search for acceptance, as I wrote in the previous post – and the difficulty in dealing with the maladjustment that contemporary times have brought.
+ Does power bring freedom? It depends on whether it is power over or power to.
The path to tranquility might come from the awareness that our way of living and practicing or relating to the chosen masculinity is ours, and does not need to be someone else's. And that should be enough. With this tranquility – which is not fixed, either – we can make choices that are in line with what we believe and feel, and reduce our criticism or disapproval towards other forms of manifestation of masculinity. The broader the space, the more freedom, right?
