Dear RObert,

I was referring historically - when the system
constrained people.
Our society today is more individualistic
and more open to change and choice.

Most of us today value a person's individual
human qualities, rather than his or her
biological sex. And those qualities are the
primary measure of that person's worth and
achievment.

Of course I'm merely expressing a subjective
point of view based on my own experiences.

Here's a simple question.

What is something that our society values highly that is seen as an essentially male characteristic, rather than as an indicator of personal qualities that may be irrelevant to masculinity?

Don Ritchie,

http://gawker.com/5563648/meet-the-australian-whos-saved-160-people-from-suicide

No sense in listening to him I suppose.

What some might consider too is the continuing spike in male suicide in country Australia. Some here are aware of the daily struggle to wrest a living from the soil and the gross, savage restructuring that has destroyed so many lives and families. In another culture the responsibnility and accountability shown by those men for their loved ones and their ceaseless striving to produce food for millions might be celebrated as raw courage, the stuff of good citizens, and they might get some recognition and support. Not so in Australia, apparently.

Lastly, many of the men who need support cannot afford it. It is all very right to dismiss the 'promlem' of suicidal men by saying it is OK now, they have been told they ought to get help. But only patronising feminists and fools would believe that men don't already know that. The usual problem is how to pay for it because there is no government support as there is for women.

There is a distinct absence of funding and real support for men's issues. Until then it is all window dressing and sweeping more dust under the rug.

The pity is that once upon a time, support would have been forthcoming simply from the concentric circles of community.....not so anymore, as now it's called "service" and institutionalised.

So the same system that's responsible for alienation is also charged with picking up the pieces.

It's just scavenging contaminants that disrupt the smooth flow of goods and money, Poirot. Men who are disaffected and have no social connection are dangerous to have around and even more dangerous as evidence that the corporatist/feminist model that produced them is inherently a negative-sum proposition - it costs more than it creates and in the process it damages lives. The preferred way to deal with that damage up until recently has been to devalue men to little better than animals that need to be controlled, but that hasn't worked as intended, so it's "Man Therapy" for the defective specimens to teach them how to be happy as societal waste products.

Dear Antiseptic,

You asked, "what is something that our society
values highly that is seen as an essentially male
characteristic, rather than as an indicator of
personal qualities that may be irrelevant to
masculinity?

I'm not sure if this is what you want to hear- but
I'd have to say - the male anatomy, or physical
structure and appearance. The most important of
these distinctions, of course, is in the
reproductive systems. Of course there's other
anatomical characteristics such as height,
weight, amount of body hair, distribution of body
fat, and musculature. These distinctions are
socially important, both because they make it easy
to recognise an individual's sex and because
they may determine the physical attractiveness of
a particular male.