{"id":28559,"date":"2024-05-12T08:19:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-12T08:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themeravigliamagazine.com\/?p=28559"},"modified":"2024-06-10T13:47:36","modified_gmt":"2024-06-10T13:47:36","slug":"bring-back-manly-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themeravigliamagazine.com\/en\/bring-back-manly-men\/","title":{"rendered":"BRING BACK MANLY MEN"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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BRING BACK MANLY MEN<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Heroes cry, men don't\n<\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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MAY 2024 - GAZE <\/a><\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Ph. Jordi Bello Tabbi - Event Horizon<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\"It's exhausting trying to be enough of a man for everyone.\"
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Justin Baldoni<\/h6><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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When I accepted my homosexuality, I thought I had come to terms with the expectation that society would have of me as a man: being part of the male community, yes, but of a minority that did not exactly fit the ideal of a virile man. Not that being homosexual is synonymous with femininity, but it certainly does not fit into the narrative of the “traditional” man, so dear to the more conservative fringes of Italian and foreign politics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Yet \u2013 when Vogue USA released the first cover with a single man, singer Harry Styles, in traditionally feminine clothes in December 2020 \u2013 the comment, which went viral, by American activist Candace Owens “Bring back manly men”, reopened a wound in me that I thought had healed. As if there was always something ready to make you “less of a man” and someone always ready to point it out to you. When you are born biologically a man, you are unknowingly catapulted into a survival game, <\/span>Hunger<\/span><\/i> Games-style, in which only the strongest, bravest and most cunning will be socially accepted as a Man, with a capital H. In this tribal struggle for supremacy, there is no room for missteps, second thoughts or falls of any kind. But the problem, as in any war, is the “vanquished”.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRedefining the codes of a new masculinity<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRedefining the codes of a new masculinity<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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While researching the subject, I came across a video by actor and director Justin Baldoni, who in a Ted Talk entitled “<\/span>Why I’m done trying to be man enough<\/span><\/i>” explains how masculinity has become a cage for the very men who “created” it, and the frustration that a man feels in front of a community,\u00a0 hers, which has not been educated to accept weakness, fear and insecurities and, consequently, to talk about them openly.<\/span><\/p>

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“It’s exhausting trying to be enough of a man for everybody, all the time,” says the actor \u2013 a straight, fatherly, athletic and pleasant-looking man \u2013<\/strong> “I’ve pretended to be a man I’m not all my life, I’ve pretended to be strong when I felt weak and to be confident when I wasn’t.”\u00a0 Therefore, it is not only the less involved parts of the community who suffer, but also those who can be considered a proud representative.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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But why is being a man so exhausting? Why does the male gender still force itself to live in this trench “sentimentality”, which makes it a prisoner and a jailer at the same time? One of the most fitting prodromes comes to me from high school memories, during a lesson in Greek literature: in the eighth book of Homer’s Odyssey, Ulysses, a shrewd and morally as well as physically solid hero, on hearing the aedo song about his deeds, weeps, and in doing so covers his face with a cloak, because “<\/span>he was ashamed, in front of the Phaeacians, to shed tears under his eyelashes<\/span><\/i>“.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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The verses of the Homeric songs are full of weeping heroes: Achilles, Priam, Hector and Agamemnon, all shed tears and for the most disparate reasons, and no one was ever ashamed to cry and show it openly. But Ulysses on this occasion is different, hearing about his actions and misfortunes creates in him a momentary loss of control of reason and corporeality, and, since this is not the way of behaving of a man, he is ashamed of it.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ph. Jordi Bello Tabbi - Event Horizon<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Ph. Jordi Bello Tabbi - Event Horizon<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Belonging to the category, therefore, no longer has only biological presuppositions, but behavioral ones, a scale of ideals and values shared with the entire gender. Being a man means rejecting everything that is feminine or seen as such, showing oneself to be strong, vigorous, capable of keeping the instincts of body and mind at bay: a man does not care about frivolities, but rather acts, he is a leader, a knight and a hero.<\/span><\/p>

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In the turmoil of the twenty-first century, the narrative conveyed by the mass media seems to resist the scratching of stereotypes related to the figure of the “macho men”. As the world ventures out to discover water on Mars or engages in the search for new ways to deal with the plastic particle crisis, we still rely on male figures such as the invincible superheroes of the Marvel world or the gruff mechanics like Lip Gallagher in Shameless, who carry the weight of the world on their shoulders without ever asking for help.<\/span><\/p>

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Indeed, in the recent success of “Baby Reindeer” on Netflix, the protagonist Donny ends up succumbing, at least in part, to the charm of a violent and problematic stalker, as he seems capable of awakening in him those virile characteristics that he believed dormant.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ph. Jordi Bello Tabbi - Event Horizon<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Ph. Jordi Bello Tabbi - Event Horizon<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Despite this monopoly of the image of men \u2013 where “<\/span>bigger is better<\/span><\/i>” \u2013 fashion, especially in recent years, has tried to give society a new reinterpretation of the male figure, less smoky and virile. In particular, thanks to the work of designers such as Alessandro Michele and Pier Paolo Piccioli<\/strong>, who have contributed, with their creations and the casting of the fashion shows, to redefine the codes of a new masculinity, abandoning twentieth-century rigidity and rediscovering its vulnerability and lightness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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In a constant interweaving of ideas and symbols, a landscape of contrasting voices emerges, amplified above all by social media, which stand as a challenge to ingrained preconceptions about strength and masculinity as the only male attributes. In this pressing dialogue, a fertile ground for reflection and change emerges, in which the diversity of perspectives opens the way to a more authentic and inclusive understanding of being human. A striking example of this new wave of change is Christian Shearhod, known as Mr. S on TikTok, on whom he tells \u2013 to his 1.3 million followers \u2013 through short and ironic videos, his being a father and educator, teaching not only his own son, but entire new generations of parents, the importance of accepting and valuing what makes us authentically happy. Whether it’s about being heard or wearing pink.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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by<\/span> Manuel Giovanale<\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Images taken from the work Event Horizon\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Photography Jordi A. Bello Tabbi
@jordibt
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Styling Giuseppe Troncone, Sara Ingenito
@gggiuseppeee__________ @saraingenito_
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Models Alex Barbieri, Francesco Curatolo
@sono_marea @tulipa.no\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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