History, culture and gender histrionics have always required its men to be brave, confronting and chivalrous. With passing generations, chivalry became an inseparable part of the male identity. And in war times, it was needed as well. However, now as there is pacification, chivalry has become actually a burden for men.
Due to an over-impending expectation of being chivalrous, men find it very difficult to express their weakness or problems which portray them as weak. Added to that the wonderful titles and roles bestowed on men of those of the PROTECTOR and PROVIDER worked as catalyst to above behavioral pattern of not portraying weakness of men. Moreover, because of this men are expected to solve problems on their own.
And thus whenever a man faces any problem, the first thing he tries to do is hide his problem and tries to solve it on his own. Such a behavioral pattern was very suitable for the society as the society was not required to take responsibility for its men. And the male identity of being chivalrous, brave and a Knight in Shining Armor was also protected.
Men love to romance women who are weaker than them as it gives them a sense of superiority and an assumed power position, and for women it worked wonders as the responsibility was taken by men and the most difficult jobs were also undertaken by them.
However, with changing times, the thin lines between genders blurred and there was a dramatic shift in women's role, however, men's roles remained there which led to expectations from men skyrocketing and problems of men kept rising. This led to the foundation of the concept of men's rights and abused men started experiencing a transformation to become men's rights activists.
However, the position was extremely confronting for other men who found the male identity shifting, an identity which did not consider men being weak as demeaning, an identity which did not consider women as weak, an identity which was closer to its experiential domain, and thus they out rightly opposed the identity shift, in short they opposed men's rights.
For example, take Harish Brajoor, who has, without any reason or knowledge of any factual background, stated the research based on a survey conducted by men's rights organization on domestic violence faced by men as unscientific in the article titled, "Help, my wife beats me". This happened, because when he was confronted with men's problems and men's rights awareness groups like Save Indian Family Foundation and its allied partners, his assumed power position was threatened and his concept of male identity was confronted and thus he retorted back by marking the research and survey as unscientific.
Hence we see that the same concept of chivalry that used to be an integral part of the male identity has become the greatest impediment to men's freedom and their access to their basic rights. Chivalry has become an unnecessary evil for men.
But, I can't see any possible solution that could solve this issue. And all what I can see is that the world is heading towards a Gender war. Reason being as you mentioned Men cannot tend to lose their identity and start living like dogs or cats.
And we are heading towards a no-relationship society and father-less descendant society. No doubt about it...
As I think about the today's theme - it reminds me of Thomas Edison, the man who invented the electric bulb. He had made a famous statement "Things are 99% perspiration, 1% inspiration"
Same applies to men's rights movement as well. It is a matter of constant awareness campaign and hitting at our opponents and proponents of male abuse. Contrary to popular belief, it is 3 times easier to abuse a male than a female because males have no support structure and male abuse is accepted by the society as social service.
As I have repeatedly mentioned in my articles that cultures have deceived men, acting as vultures. Men have been used as the FREE ATM MACHINE, the UNPAID BODYGUARD, the de-facto PROTECTOR and PROVIDER, etc.by cultures and in the process have been reduced to disposable entities. Their abuse is considered a social service now.
And men, the way they are, are in a great way responsible for this. They rarely challenge or question conventions, traditions, histrionics and stereotypes thrust upon them. They do not feel the need to fight for their rights - only a handful of them are doing though scores are getting victimized. They do not demand for their space in the society and accept things as offered to them.
To this effect, today I take the example of Skandagupta - the great emperor of India. His stepmother has him sent to Ujjain so that her son can be made the emperor. He obeys her. But then the Huns attack India under the leadership of Attila the Hun. The army of Skandagupta calls him back as they needed his expertise.
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