Dea r Editor,

In a recent publication social theorists lamented that Jamaican boys are forced to conform to a masculine culture that prioritises power over emotional expression. This, they claim, will cause young boys to embrace gender-based violence as adults. But it appears that these experts are conflating masculinity with emotional instability.

Men who abuse women are usually victims of abuse themselves and are unable to control their emotions. Such men are not masculine men, but rather weak men. There is nothing wrong with a culture in which men are encouraged to emphasise power and influence over emotional expression.

The experts also take umbrage with what they term ‘hegemonic masculinity’. One academic noted that children are taught to embrace hegemonic masculinity, which justifies the dominance of powerful men over women and other males, as the template of manhood, which results in an acceptance of bullying.

As a viewpoint, this perspective is simply wrong. It assumes that dominant men automatically use their power to exploit people. Men with power have the ability to effect progressive and detrimental changes in their relationships, having power over other groups does not mean that it will be used for nefarious ends.

Like North American intellectuals, local academics think that denigrating masculine qualities will result in amenable males, which in turn will lead to women having parity with men in all fields. This is balderdash at the highest level.

Numerous studies have shown that men are more aggressive, competitive and less risk averse than women. Hence, when these traits are more prevalent in the male population it is highly unlikely that women will achieve parity with men in leadership. Furthermore, according to research published by the University of Edinburgh in 2007, there are twice as many males as females in the brightest two per cent of the population. But more men are also evident in the least intelligent two per cent of the country. Scientists call this phenomenon the Greater Male Variability thesis, since more men are both extremely brilliant and very stupid. Men evolved to be the dominant sex and social engineering will not change this fact.

Jamaican men need to acquire influence to maintain their rightful place in society as leaders. Jamaica has the highest percentage of female managers globally and more women are enrolled at the tertiary level than men. Therefore, feminists and their male supporters do not need to promote the ‘sissification’ of Jamaican men in order for women to achieve.

Throughout history men have been institution builders and no society where the men are weak will progress. Jamaica is a backward and regressive society because there are insufficient enlightened male leaders. A growing number of our men are either metrosexual losers, employed in dead-end jobs or they want to become entertainers. When these factors are taken into account, along with the popularity of feminist thought that emphasises subjectivity and emotionalism over rationalism and truth, then the only outcome will be failure. Jamaicans should reject feminism before it infiltrates society to permanently emasculate males.

Lipton Matthews

lo_matthews@yahoo.com