Manhood is a hot topic these days. I just watched the trailer to Tucker Carlson’s special on masculinity, but I’m so confused about his view of it. I’ve also followed the fall of Mark Driscoll over his toxic masculinity approach. And I’ve read “Jesus and John Wayne” by Kristin Du Mez.

Feminism has been a hot topic for the past few decades, so I applaud the revisiting of masculinity, but I think we dwell too much on secondary issues. Personhood is primary; gender (and preferences and all the accoutrement) are secondary. And there seems to be confusion on what it means to be a real man or a real woman anyway.

I don’t think being a real man or a real woman is about how big your pickup truck is or which new beauty treatment you’ve tried. I think it means being a real good person. I don’t find men who are you-know-whats to be masculine, and I don’t find mean girls to be feminine, no matter how perfect their eyebrows are.

I think the fear is that society will be weakened without traditional bravado on one hand and demurity on the other. But is that really the issue? Maybe the person who looks down on the trans kid is the issue. It’s easy to be a bully, but it takes a real good person to take the time to listen to their story.