Comments on: Male & Female Approaches to Spirituality

By: slomo

slomo — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 19:33:25 +0000

I was wondering how much of gay culture is a reaction to changing cultural images of the male within the context of larger society.

A lot. This is a very big and complex topic, and addressed in depth by people who have made academic careers thinking about it.

I tend to ignore gay popular culture (or popular culture in general [as opposed to PopOcculture!]). It’s profoundly fucked up. Nevertheless, I’m sure my psyche has been formed in response to larger gender issues in the culture at large. I don’t fully understand it, or me

By: Tim Boucher

Tim Boucher — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 19:14:21 +0000

I have a fairly intense male energy sometimes (in spite of, or maybe because, Iâ€™m gay),

I’ve wondered about this as well, actually. I’m straight myself and honestly don’t know too much about the gay culture, but I was wondering how much of gay culture is a reaction to changing cultural images of the male within the context of larger society.

By: slomo

slomo — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 18:44:21 +0000

I didn’t want to mention specific names because I thought the comment itself was bitchy and unfair (though I generally like the other things that particular commenter has to say). But, yes, it was at RigorousIntuition.

I agree with what you say about male energy being caged. I have a fairly intense male energy sometimes (in spite of, or maybe because, I’m gay), and it often rubs people the wrong way. I’ve had to train myself to modify it. However, I find that the more I balance the yang with yin, the more able I am to direct the aggression in a positive manner that yields results (i.e., what I want).

By: Tim Boucher

Tim Boucher — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 16:27:07 +0000

Yeah I remember the comment. It was left at Rigorous Intuition. I thought it was a bit over the top, but I could see where they are coming from - especially in regards to my older writing, which I think was a lot more aggressive and sometimes - dare I say - “bitchy”.

One of the side-conversations I got into with my sister over this issue was that in a lot of ways culturally, male energy has been caged. It’s not culturally okay to be aggressive anymore - unless its within specific accepted areas like sports, business, etc. Religion and spirituality? Forget about it.

By: slomo

slomo — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 04:24:56 +0000

Tim, I would say your site is kinda nerdy. I mean that as a positive!!

The “nerd” energy is usually pretty male, but aggressive and probing in an intellectual rather than physical way.

I recall reading a comment on another site that was a bit negative about PopOcculture; the author of the comment seemed to be a woman (or at least had a female pseudonym). So it could be that you might alienate some women. Although clearly a lot of women post comments here too.

By: Tim Boucher

Tim Boucher — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 17:24:22 +0000

So… is anybody actually going to answer my questions above??

By: jlhart7

jlhart7 — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 17:21:45 +0000

I kinda figure that all people of both sexes should strive to behave in a way that balances the virtues stereotypically attributed to both sexes, and avoids the vices stereotypically assigned to them. For example, be both brave and kind, without being either egotistical or flighty. These are of course stereotypical descriptions of male and female behavior, but that’s not the point — or maybe it’s precisely the point. A virtue is a virtue and a vice is a vice, and I believe both sexes are capable of embracing what are seen as both male and female virtues.

By: slomo

slomo — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 21:50:24 +0000

A couple of years ago there use to be a website where you could submit a couple paragraphs of text and it would tell you whether the author was male or female. It used some kind of machine learning/pattern recognition to do it. I couldn’t find it, so maybe it has disappeared.

Anyhow, there are male and female energies (yang/yin) and, in general, biological males exhibit more of the former and biological females exhibit more of the latter (although this is only a general stochastic statement and not absolute). But your energy is just a state, always in flux, so even if you have a genderless (and immortal) soul, the energy you emit will be in large part determined by the biology of the current incarnation.

By: pmp

pmp — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 20:42:11 +0000

possibly was an inarticulate way of describing an orientation towards facts & detailed analysis vs. a more intuitive & emotional approach, i.e. the shallow popular conception of left & right brain dynamics.

i dunno, your writing seems more of a healthily synthesis of the two than most. either is annoying by itself.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 18:39:02 +0000

You forgot to mention that if we have immortal souls, that whole question of male/female is smoke and mirrors anyway - or do you think our souls have an unchanging gender attached to them…? I’m a man, feel like a man as far as I can tell, but I always perceived that “thought-voice” inside my head as being without gender.

But your sister saying your blog has a strong and positive maleness to its approach… sounds like a compliment to me!