There are few things as disappointing as having a decent concept spoiled by an iffy personal agenda. Conn and Hal Iggulden's The Dangerous Book for Boys, an attempt to enlighten the Playstation generation about the "lost" wisdom of folkways of yore, is the type of book that ought to appeal to me, yet comments made by the authors regarding the intent of the omnibus have left me loath to purchase a copy.
As a dilettante retrologist, I have a keen appreciation for efforts to preserve and present the fascinating parts of our collective cultural history that have fallen by the wayside, but it's that gender-specific qualifier, "for boys," that makes me pause. In the author's Amazon Q&A section, Conn Iggulden states, "You only have to push a boy on a swing to see how much enjoys the thrill of danger. It's hard-wired." It's a statement that smacks of biological determinism, and when placed alongside his complaints about raising a risk-adverse generation, suggests that the intent behind the book was not just about preserving vanishing folk wisdom, but an attempt to resurrect a mythicized version of traditional "rugged" masculinity, "snips and snails and puppy dog tails" versus "sugar and spice."
Which is bullshit, quite frankly. Bullshit which stems from reactionary discontent with modern liberal society and the gradual erosion of traditional gender roles. It's the same impulse that launched countless self-indulgent whines about "Daddy issues" and has created a thriving industry purposed to sell synthetic -- and quite depressing -- iterations of manliness to rubes convinced that they're missing out on something vital. I can empathize with those feeling a hunger of wholeness, but the idea that gender roles or a sense of personal identity can be purchased like a tin of shoe polish is wrongheaded for so many reasons.
While I've made an active effort to forget most of what I learned from my father on the subject of "what it is to be a man," there is one thing that has stuck with me. In reference to the manly-man gastronomic polemic Real Men Don't Eat Quiche, my father stated "Real men eat whatever the fuck they feel like." It's similar in sentiment to the Bard's "to thy own self be true," though with the additional benefit of some casual profanity, and if one changes "real men" to the gender-neutral "real individuals" it still applies in force.
You only have to push a child on a swing to see how much he or she enjoys the thrill of danger. It's hard-wired into children, period. Or not. Some kids are thrillseekers and others are cautious. It's a matter of temperament, not of sex, though the encouragement or discouragement of such traits is often shaped by the semi-transparent hand of gender role socialization (which is a damn shame). Rather than thinking that something has been lost because of the socio-cultural shifts regarding gender, it's more productive -- not to mention better for the theoretical child in question -- to embrace the wider vistas of self-expression and opportunity that have been opened.
So I think I'll pass on picking up The Dangerous Book for Boys. It would be a redundant purchase, anyhow, considering that I already have a few volumes of this, handed down to me by my mother, at my disposal:
That's the first half of the contents page for the third volume of The Book of Knowledge, 1951 edition. Part encyclopedia, part almanac, part DIY handbook -- it's the real deal, as opposed to a post-facto nostalgic recreation. Check out the range of subjects covered, all targeted toward the eight-to-twelve year olds of six decades ago. Something has been lost in the past half-century, but it has fuck all to do with presence of absence of a Y chromosome.
Mechanical Servants - Study Up! (from the Min X Match 12", 1980; collected on several bootleg minimal synth compilations) - A little bit of digging about the Mechanical Servants reveals that they were a female minimal synth duo that hailed from New York and their 1980 EP was released as a private pressing, though copies of the record can be found for quite reasonable prices (under $20) on eBay and elsewhere.
London Underground - Train of Thought (from a 1981 single; collected on the Atomic Shockwaves v. 13 compilation) - This one sounds a little like an early Killing Joke track...if said track was being broadcast by a failing automated low-power transmitter half a decade after a global thermonuclear exchange.
Yeah, I'm in a minimal synth/postpunk mood tonight. What of it?
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