Thought this was a good piece, from Tim Winton, on the contested concept of masculinity.
@crowdyke Ha, alright then, on the subject of those two paragraphs: I think the "rituals" he's talking about are the milestones boys/men used to reach at younger ages (leaving school aged 14, first full-time job almost immediately, marrying young, etc.). He says there's good reasons society isn't like that any more, but nothing has replaced it to guide men into adulthood. As for the manacles, it's metaphorical – think the straitjacket of the traditional masculine gender norm.
@jayeless Thanks for responding. Rituals: not rituals, milestones then.
A director spent a day with me. Told me loads of funny storys Weeks later my line manager asked why my attitude had not changed. The "funny stories" had been anecdotes designed for my guidance. Ooops!
To me this article is a wordy dance around a subject which he never directly addresses. Final paragraph is a side step and fails to posit any solution bar "notice them".
Overall impression - it's all about the word count.
@crowdyke To be fair, that's the kind of critique you could level against every newspaper column!
@jayeless Could explain why I have not bought a newspaper for over thirty years.
The real reason that I ceased purchase was that the news depressed me.
Radio news is a killer. Someone has a mishap at the other end of the country, they are never someone I know or interact with, but the details of their mishap is broacast every thirty minutes.
Tedious and distressing and of no actual value to me or my life. Plus it "sells" the idea that it is dangerous out there.
@jayeless
I re-read my previous reply/rant - totally disjointed.
Toxic blunt tools of the world need to unite against word dribblers of his ilk is where I believe I am at.
@crowdyke Sorry if you got that reply three times btw – this instance seems to struggle a bit with downtime
@jayeless
Confused. What were the ritual pathways to adulthood ?
What is the threat posed by a man in manacles?