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

The enclosure of men became the first step in the transformation of masculine identity in the modern age. Men’s bodies were enclosed; therefore, their minds had to be enclosed as well in order to accommodate a new masculine mystique.

Kimbrell (1995) identified four archetypes of what he called the “masculine mystique,” a term he coined for the “dysfunctional and reductionistic modern mythology about the nature of men” (p. xiv). This masculine mystique not only brought men into the modern crisis they are experiencing, but also it prevented them from doing something about their victimization, which has resulted in the “near-fatal undermining of their gender” (p. xiv). Kimbrell identified and discussed four archetypes of the masculine mystique: the machine man, the competition man, the profit man, and the power man.

The machine man is described as the robotic, mechanistic male who is not the result of hardwiring in the brain, but of the centuries-long enculturation process of men for the specific economic and social imperatives of the industrial system. “Efficiency is the primary virtue of the modern male robopath” (Kimbrell, 1995, p. 62). The efficiency-driven man’s overworked, mechanized life is responsible for two characteristics of the masculine mystique—lack of emotion and lack of caring. The result is that the machine man is crippled in his ability “to be a full and present, reflective and emotional human being for himself, his spouse, children, or friends” (Kimbrell, p. 64). Further negative results are that the machine man is “incapable of authentic emotional bonding with family, friends, or community” (Kimbrell, p. 64) and is unable to show care and concern for others or even for his own physical and mental health.

Kimbrell noted that the competition man is equally as dysfunctional as the machine man except in the workplace where he “thrives as an autonomous economic combatant” (Kimbrell, p. 83). The result is that the competition man has problems sharing honest thoughts or emotions as well as an inability to balance cooperation with competition. The most negative effect on the competition man is that “it profoundly undermines male friendship and bonding” (Kimbrell, p. 83).