There is a great disparity between the numbers of men and women who are involved in lifewriting.
In general, lifewriters tend to be women.
Perhaps the reason is one of these: - Men often feel they lack permission to express their feelings.
- Men often feel that introspection is not in keeping with being masculine (whatever that may be).
- Men often accept that family affairs are under women's jurisdiction and that passing on family culture and history is therefore women's responsibility.
Men are also more likely to drop their memoir projects.
Why this should be so is all the more difficult to understand since history has given us many artists and philosophers--explorers of both the feeling life and of the depths of the psyche - who are men.
This is the very domain in which lifewriting excels.
When faced with questions about their lives, I have seen men turn to their wives and ask, "Now why did I do that?" One man even asked his wife, "What were the important events in my life?" At least since the advent of the Industrial Revolution, society has had a vested interest in keeping men far from their feelings.
How else could men have accepted to spend their lives at dreary, repetitive jobs that held no intrinsic meaning for them! Even today, our society would collapse if men refused to do the work they are conditioned from boyhood to do--conditioned both by their fathers and their mothers.
Although some men break through stereotypes--some at the price of being seen as less "masculine"--to become artists, visionaries and philosophers, many reject the idea of engaging in what they perceive as a "feminine" domain like lifewriting.
Undertaking the challenges of lifewriting can go against a lifetime of masculine indoctrination.
Contacting one's feelings is a powerful--and therefore frightening--experience! In the end, it's the healthiest challenge a person can accept, regardless of gender.
So, women - liberate a man in your life - your mate, your father, your son, your friend - so that he can connect with his feelings.
Support his lifewriting in every way you can.
Good luck writing your memoir-whether you're a man or a woman!
In general, lifewriters tend to be women.
Perhaps the reason is one of these: - Men often feel they lack permission to express their feelings.
- Men often feel that introspection is not in keeping with being masculine (whatever that may be).
- Men often accept that family affairs are under women's jurisdiction and that passing on family culture and history is therefore women's responsibility.
Men are also more likely to drop their memoir projects.
Why this should be so is all the more difficult to understand since history has given us many artists and philosophers--explorers of both the feeling life and of the depths of the psyche - who are men.
This is the very domain in which lifewriting excels.
When faced with questions about their lives, I have seen men turn to their wives and ask, "Now why did I do that?" One man even asked his wife, "What were the important events in my life?" At least since the advent of the Industrial Revolution, society has had a vested interest in keeping men far from their feelings.
How else could men have accepted to spend their lives at dreary, repetitive jobs that held no intrinsic meaning for them! Even today, our society would collapse if men refused to do the work they are conditioned from boyhood to do--conditioned both by their fathers and their mothers.
Although some men break through stereotypes--some at the price of being seen as less "masculine"--to become artists, visionaries and philosophers, many reject the idea of engaging in what they perceive as a "feminine" domain like lifewriting.
Undertaking the challenges of lifewriting can go against a lifetime of masculine indoctrination.
Contacting one's feelings is a powerful--and therefore frightening--experience! In the end, it's the healthiest challenge a person can accept, regardless of gender.
So, women - liberate a man in your life - your mate, your father, your son, your friend - so that he can connect with his feelings.
Support his lifewriting in every way you can.
Good luck writing your memoir-whether you're a man or a woman!
SHARE
