The article for which I have my September 15 deadline is hard because it’s about masculinity. Masculinity is impossible to write about because it is one of the most belabored topics in the humanities. Anything of even the slightest interest and depth that could have been said on this subject was said back in the 1980s, and people mostly keep repeating whatever was said back then. Even thinking about thinking about (sic) masculinity bores me to tears. Which is exactly why I chose to contribute to a volume on masculinity. I like a challenge, and this topic is like trying to milk a male goat. Something will eventually trickle out, but nobody will want to consume it.
So here is what I came up with: neoliberalism doesn’t give a hoot about your gender identity, sexuality, or how traditional or non-traditional your masculinity is. To the contrary, it offers up complete sexual freedom, liberated from any form of judgment or constraint, as a consolation prize for robbing you of economic stability. You can be gender fluid all you want, as long as you accept never being economically mobile in return. So maybe let’s stop prattling endlessly about masculinities and turn our attention to the issue of class.
I don’t use the words “prattling endlessly” in the article, but this is the gist. And there’s a lot of Chirbes in the article. I’m sure everybody on here is sick of Chirbes so I won’t repeat those parts.
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