The Physical Male

Why do so many men engage with sports, aggression and violence? In my now experienced world-view it is overly simplistic to say this is solely the result of the socialization of environmental/learned masculinity. These forces have existed within males in all cultures and throughout human (and even pre-human) history, throughout – in fact – the evolution of all species (watch any nature documentary and the same male forces are at play!). In my view contemporary cultures have maintained that being modern, intellectual human beings means our (pre-) historic need to kill for food, escape from predators and procreate has evaporated with modernity, industrialization and thought. I now believe that this physicality, this male force, still resides within our cellular memory and needs healthy expression. Internalization and denial of these forces inevitably leads to their unhealthy expression. Unhealthy expression of these inherent forces surround us, and they are truly frightening.

Agency, Power and Excitement

Where does a male's need for physical experience originate? Child development researchers have examined the differences in the act of play and interpersonal relationships from a very young age. Boys, from the earliest, pre-gender socialized ages prefer relationships and games which develop and display sensations of power, excitement and – specifically – agency. They generally choose, as early as the age of two months, toys which feature movement.

Boys – and I would suggest males of all ages – need to feel these sensations of agency, power, and excitement in their bodies. Throughout their entire lives.

The Origins of APE.Men

I think I snapped the day I was watching a documentary on masculinity directed, written and financed by women. I had been raised a feminist, had lived my life believing in equality in all respects and that the power typically held by men is negative. More importantly: I believe profoundly in the American proclamation that all human beings are created equal and I am extremely wary of the trappings of power. However, hearing a female gender expert in the film state “masculinity is 0% organic” and another proclaim “98% of male and female DNA are shared, so we are the same” provoked me to feel castrated: I felt these statements in my body.

Later that day I researched that we share 96% of our DNA with the chimpanzee and 60% with a banana. While I believe we are equal. I am exhausted by the discourse that we are the same; even more exhausted by the story that men are terrible, simply for being male. Equality does not imply sameness. Our bodies and hormones are different. More than ever, as I’ve discovered and accepted without shame the physicality of my body and my maleness I wish to help men acknowledge and engage with the tremendously positive aspects of their male physiology and for what that physiology means for our psyche. It is my belief that society needs to stop attempting to change men and, instead, find ways for maleness to be embodied healthily (for men) and safely (for others).

The male body expels semen during ejaculation at 11 mph. That’s tremendous force. And many men produce that specific force daily. The energy required to power these contractions are part of the male experience. This force, this energy, is movement. It is not the only energy of maleness, but it is a great metaphor for the characteristic forces and energy of maleness.