Crossing into Manhood: A Men’s Studies Curriculum By Christopher ...

During the pioneer days, American men such as Daniel Boone were viewed as models of manhood. The nineteenth century saw a shift in the manhood ideal as the emphasis on “self” became focused on “self-improvement” (Keen, p. 107). Manhood became defined as “exercise, discipline, hard work, moderate habits, and true grit,” (Keen, p. 107), with Teddy Roosevelt manifesting the most admired virtues of the age. The self-made man exhibited such characteristics as a powerful ego, strong character, and a larger-than-life social persona. However, beneath this extroverted façade was a repressed emotional world of dark desires. Rarely could men give voice to the shadow sides of their psyches, but Samuel Clements did in his diaries, especially in later life.

The twentieth century experienced two world wars and the Depression, which seriously challenged and exposed the American psyche and gave rise to the psychological man (Keen, p. 108). The post war period was a time when Freud and the psychoanalytical movement arose and asserted a new ideal for manhood. Freud opened up a psychological world of libido and desires, “cruel mothers, seducing fathers, and children who murdered their parents … [where] incest was the rule and perversion the order of the day” (Keen, p. 109). Later, Freud’s protégé, Carl Jung complemented and offered a counter point as men sought to understand themselves and their dreams that arose from the unconscious. Consequently, “modern psychology has given men back their inwardness, their subjectivity, their feelings, and the permission to pay attention to the stories of their lives” (Keen, p. 110).

The postmodern era, which began around 1960, is characterized by the information revolution, materialistic consumption, diverse lifestyles, and a lack of commitment to any single ideology. According to Keen, Postmodern man is a quintessential consumer.