Architectural Drawings for Men (Part 2)
A roadmap for embodying new forms of masculinity
Upon reading Architectural Drawings for Men, a woman I know suggested that I explain about the “multivariate challenge” that men face in much more detail, elaborating the ways in which guys might address the complex problem set before us.
Here’s where I think we need to do some work.
#1 The universal sense of shame that men feel. Our culture’s attitudes regarding the male body fundamentally shapes our identities as adult men, equipping us with an extremely complicated relationship to our embodied presence. In some settings we worship the male form; in others, we demonize it.
For cisgender men our conflicting views begin early. Although we are born with an innate delight in the unusual piece of equipment between our legs, we experience an enormous amount of shame regarding the penis from a very early age. During our pre-school years, we are taught that it should remain hidden from view. We later learn that this piece of our anatomy cannot be trusted. Not only does it have a mind of its own, we’re conditioned to believe that it causes as much harm as it gives us pleasure.
As we mature into men, our dominance-based culture of masculinity repeatedly sorts men into cohorts organized by our physical…
