The Glory Days of Testosterone

 Robert Mitchum exuding pathological machismo.

Here in the Maine Public Schools, a new curriculum called "Boys to Men" teaches boys how to stop being boys. Actually, it "retrains middle-and high-school boys away from pathological machismo." This of course goes hand in glove with the national discussion regarding gender, and how it's now unacceptable to apply labels like "girls" and "boys." Let's all just be fluid, i.e., "I'm feeling mannish today, so call me him." That sort of thing.

Fine, I sincerely don't care. What gender someone is or pretends to be bores me; I'm more interested in if they're funny and how much they give to charity, and do they have those dripping snot jewelry piercings coming out their nostrils and are they kind to animals. Beyond that, what someone does with their genitals is their business. But I do wonder how future generations will be produced if men stop being masculine, which for many of them is the only quality that attracts women to them in the first place. (I suppose cloning will be perfected.)

I'm glad I grew up when men were still allowed to be men, producing Hollywood box office bait like Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, Robert Mitchum, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, James Caan and Al Pacino. Those were the glory days of testosterone.