The New Masculinity by Alex Manley

Author:Alex Manley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ECW Press
Published: 2023-05-09T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Mental health issues strike at the rich and poor alike, although they are no more a great leveller than anything else—in a capitalist world, if you have more money, you can deal with problems more easily. But it is fascinating to read things like author and graphic novelist Neil Gaiman’s account of meeting another famous Neil—which he posted on his Tumblr—to see that success is no guarantee of self-confidence, fame no guarantee of self-esteem.

Some years ago, I was lucky enough [to be] invited to a gathering of great and good people: artists and scientists, writers and discoverers of things. And I felt that at any moment they would realise that I didn’t qualify to be there, among these people who had really done things.

On my second or third night there, I was standing at the back of the hall, while a musical entertainment happened, and I started talking to a very nice, polite, elderly gentleman about several things, including our shared first name. And then he pointed to the hall of people, and said words to the effect of, “I just look at all these people, and I think, what the heck am I doing here? They’ve made amazing things. I just went where I was sent.”

And I said, “Yes. But you were the first man on the moon. I think that counts for something.”

And I felt a bit better. Because if Neil Armstrong felt like an imposter, maybe everyone did. Maybe there weren’t any grown-ups, only people who had worked hard and also got lucky and were slightly out of their depth, all of us doing the best job we could, which is all we can really hope for.82

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.