Opinion to the Men - Volume 10, Issue 10
By Leeore Schnairsohn
Have you ever seen a dog being teased with a piece of meat? The dog sits patiently, waiting, and , gradually, his eyes get sadder and his mouth opens wider until his is so cute he is irresistible. And just at the pinnacle of the moment, as his well-meaning owner is about to give him the morsel, he rears back and bites the meat out of the owner’s hand? It’s a survival instinct. A dog lives on instinct; when he is hungry, he will eat. He posses no superego to regulate or moralize his actions, and any affections or love he might feel are shoved aside when a basic need is challenged.
The society we live in trains us to be dogs. We can say that our culture is refined and platonic, that we educate, that we create art and science, that we have moved beyond the state of animals--and we are trained to believe that what we see every day is a manifestation of our above-animal state: television, automobiles, oil refineries, sandlot wars.
We say we are taught to be aware of people’s feelings. To walk between two people talking is rude. To eat with your elbows on the table is rude. Don’t hit the little kid on the playground again. Don’’t yell at your father again. Don’t flash the little girls down the black again. Again. It’s too late; the damage had already been done.
Society says it instills us with these values our whole lives through:
Be courteous, kind, and forgiving.
Do not judge.
Listen to your elders.
Be yourself.
Live your life justly so that you will pass onto a better world.
Get married and have children and stay with them always.
You may believe that you have been taught the above as well.
I have something to reveal … you’re a male. I’m a male, too. Society has a different message for us. We don’t realize it, because we’re too busy glamorizing what we think we are learning. We are taught from day one:
The genitals are a private, painful place.
The first doctor’s visit most of us have outside of our first shots, etc. has involved circumcision. This is an act where someone takes a knife and cuts off part of the penis. Any medical reasons for this operation are now long obsolete. From the get-go, males experience horror and pain in the area that is the most sensitive. By having our penises hurt.