"Gopnik's piece sent me back to John Ruskin, whom he cites as "the greatest of architectural critics." In "The Stones of Venice," Ruskin insists that buildings record not just the ideals of those who commissioned them but also the conditions of those who built them. The East Wing was grafted onto an original structure that was built in part by enslaved people. Its neoclassical form proclaimed republican ideals; its production betrayed them."
"Patriarchal masculinity isolates men emotionally and leaves them relationally insecure. The very tools that they need to mature-emotional literacy, empathy, connection-are forfeited in exchange for a ticket to "manhood." Without these tools, boys and men turn their pain outward, kicking the proverbial dog. We need a healthier and more secure model of masculinity. Today's feminism seems to want this model to be genderless."
Trump's demolition of Roosevelt's East Wing violates democratic process, and the White House itself was built in part by enslaved people. The building's neoclassical form proclaimed republican ideals while its construction exposed a contradiction between symbolism and practice. The destruction of the East Wing is crude, but the dissonance between democratic rhetoric and historical reality is longstanding. Patriarchal masculinity isolates men emotionally and deprives them of emotional literacy, empathy, and connection, which are necessary for maturation. Without those tools, boys and men channel pain outward. A healthier, more secure model of masculinity is needed that supports men's well-being without erasing male identity.
Read at The New Yorker
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