MEN’S LIB
Do I really want to wear an aftershave called “Savage” I ask myself? Well, I suppose it’s more fragrant than “Scrum Down” which smells a bit like the Lost Property box in the school changing room. But this is all part of the revival of Wild Warrior Man - a newish movement in the States to promote male awareness amongst men; a backlash to Women’s Lib and the New Feminist Man who is tender, changes nappies and loves quiche.
I was on the West Coast of the States again in the summer and was urged to find my Wild Self. (I must have misplaced it while singing sloppy choruses in my teens…) Real Men, apparently, pay large sums of money to go on weekends with their adolescent sons and other Warriors. They fight and smell each other’s sweat and do lots of male-bonding and hugging. Now I admit I’m a hugger - although I was very disappointed recently when I picked up a copy of “How to Hug” and found it was Volume IV of an expansive dictionary… And I enjoy rugger, squash and beating up men who are smaller than me. But the Wild Warrior? Is this really what manliness is about?
If I think about the 24 single men who share my house: some strong and macho, some weak and whimpy, not a few savages and all caring and colourful (form an orderly queue please…) Then what makes all these truly “Liberated Men”, is that Christ has set them free.
Woman Alive monthly column
