Philosophy
I've been reading Daniel Boyardin's book Unheroic conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the Invention of the Jewish Man. He argues that our contemporary picture of sexuality arises from the Christian division of masculinity during the Middle Ages into the monk and the knight. The knight is physical, strong, bold, gallant, and brave. He is rewarded for his life of the body with romantic love, that is, he is the image of the sexually desirable male. The monk, on the other hand, in devoting his life to the spirit and to study, is removed from the body and completely desexualized. He is does not desire (or at least seeks to elevate himself above mere desire) and, more importantly, cannot be seen as an object for desire. This picture, Boyardin contends, is -- to paraphrase Nietzsche -- rendered invisible because it has triumphed so completely.
But it is not the only picture out there. Boyardin argues that the Jewish construction of masculinity in classical Talmudic times and in 17-19th century eastern Europe was completely different. There it was the scholar, the skinny, sensitive, clever nerd who was the real husband bait. Non-Jews, goyim, were big, strong oafs who were violent and drank too much. Jewish men who were strong and physical were seen as inferior husbands and fathers. Unlike the Christians, the Jews had sexualized their monks.
When the notions of heterosexuality and homosexuality were being codified at the end of the 19th century, this sexualized nerd of the Jews is what made it easy to conflate Jewish and gay men, Boyardin holds. In reaction to this and political injustice Jews were subjected to, we see Freud and Hertzl trying to change Jewish masculinity. Zionism was an attempt to create muscle Jews, to conform Jewish masculinity to Christian masculinity. It was, he argues, a move that succeeded, but which impoverished our approach to sexuality.
I look at the rise of the tech world and wonder whether our capitalist presuppositions are undermining this. If a good husband and father is one who provides for his family and if one could provide better by being a nerd, does that make the nerd hot? Bill Gates is a better "man" on this account than Joe the Plumber, despite the fact that he is less "masculine." Is the digital revolution leading to a new kind of sexual revolution allowing us to re-envision masculinity?
- Modern Mencken
Tomorrow is Mencken day at the Enoch Pratt Library, honoring one of the great intellects of Baltimore. Who would be the modern day version of H.L. Mencken? Is there a writer who is smart, ascerbic, conservative, and wry? P.J. O'Rourke? ...
- Is There Progress In Art? Society?
I'm working through Max Weber's methodological essays and one of the points he argues is that social progress is a myth. Across the ideological spectrum of founding fathers of sociology, from Marx's communist view to Spenser's free...
- Justifying Fashion
This is fashion week in New York. To be honest, I've always had an antipathy for fashion. Growing up as a nerd in an upper-middle class suburb, fashion always seemed to me to be a two-pronged evil. On the one hand, it was something...
- Grammar Curmudeons
Had a student ask yesterday about grammatical pet peeves. His was "irregardless." My big three are: 1) "Quote" used for "quotation." Quote is a verb. You quote someone. What you write down is not a quote, but a quotation. ...
- Indexical Obsolescence?
Tightening up the index for Einstein's Jewish Science. Last item before it goes to the printers. It will be released in mid-April in both hardback and e-book formats. If we are moving towards an all e-book world in the next decade...
Philosophy
Sexualized Nerds
I've been reading Daniel Boyardin's book Unheroic conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the Invention of the Jewish Man. He argues that our contemporary picture of sexuality arises from the Christian division of masculinity during the Middle Ages into the monk and the knight. The knight is physical, strong, bold, gallant, and brave. He is rewarded for his life of the body with romantic love, that is, he is the image of the sexually desirable male. The monk, on the other hand, in devoting his life to the spirit and to study, is removed from the body and completely desexualized. He is does not desire (or at least seeks to elevate himself above mere desire) and, more importantly, cannot be seen as an object for desire. This picture, Boyardin contends, is -- to paraphrase Nietzsche -- rendered invisible because it has triumphed so completely.
But it is not the only picture out there. Boyardin argues that the Jewish construction of masculinity in classical Talmudic times and in 17-19th century eastern Europe was completely different. There it was the scholar, the skinny, sensitive, clever nerd who was the real husband bait. Non-Jews, goyim, were big, strong oafs who were violent and drank too much. Jewish men who were strong and physical were seen as inferior husbands and fathers. Unlike the Christians, the Jews had sexualized their monks.
When the notions of heterosexuality and homosexuality were being codified at the end of the 19th century, this sexualized nerd of the Jews is what made it easy to conflate Jewish and gay men, Boyardin holds. In reaction to this and political injustice Jews were subjected to, we see Freud and Hertzl trying to change Jewish masculinity. Zionism was an attempt to create muscle Jews, to conform Jewish masculinity to Christian masculinity. It was, he argues, a move that succeeded, but which impoverished our approach to sexuality.
I look at the rise of the tech world and wonder whether our capitalist presuppositions are undermining this. If a good husband and father is one who provides for his family and if one could provide better by being a nerd, does that make the nerd hot? Bill Gates is a better "man" on this account than Joe the Plumber, despite the fact that he is less "masculine." Is the digital revolution leading to a new kind of sexual revolution allowing us to re-envision masculinity?
- Modern Mencken
Tomorrow is Mencken day at the Enoch Pratt Library, honoring one of the great intellects of Baltimore. Who would be the modern day version of H.L. Mencken? Is there a writer who is smart, ascerbic, conservative, and wry? P.J. O'Rourke? ...
- Is There Progress In Art? Society?
I'm working through Max Weber's methodological essays and one of the points he argues is that social progress is a myth. Across the ideological spectrum of founding fathers of sociology, from Marx's communist view to Spenser's free...
- Justifying Fashion
This is fashion week in New York. To be honest, I've always had an antipathy for fashion. Growing up as a nerd in an upper-middle class suburb, fashion always seemed to me to be a two-pronged evil. On the one hand, it was something...
- Grammar Curmudeons
Had a student ask yesterday about grammatical pet peeves. His was "irregardless." My big three are: 1) "Quote" used for "quotation." Quote is a verb. You quote someone. What you write down is not a quote, but a quotation. ...
- Indexical Obsolescence?
Tightening up the index for Einstein's Jewish Science. Last item before it goes to the printers. It will be released in mid-April in both hardback and e-book formats. If we are moving towards an all e-book world in the next decade...