Manhood and Womanhood

A girl grows into womanhood more naturally than a boy grows into manhood, because the potential for motherhood is expressed so obviously in the form of her body; it cannot be missed.  A girl who climbs trees with her brothers and plays ball will naturally and easily turn towards more womanly pursuits as those brothers surpass her in bulk and strength, and as her own body grows less fit for the boyish things.  That is why female athletes sometimes take drugs to suppress the working of the natural hormones in their bodies; or the sports themselves suppress the hormones, as when female long distance runners lose so much of their natural fat that they no longer menstruate.  Their bodies “judge” that they are not fit to conceive and bear and care for a child, exactly as if they were starving.

But the boy must be made into a man; nor is it true, once he has established himself as a man, he need never worry about it again.  Manhood is risky.  It must be publicly affirmed, and you can lose that affirmation by cowardice or effeminacy.  See the movie Four Feathers.  See the old Western Branded.  Which cultures have recognized these truths?  Every single one of them but ours.

Anthony Esolen, Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture, pg.97