5.6 Research Reflexivity
6.1.1 The Perceived Crisis of Feminism
Faith discourses around how masculinities are configured in the MMC are to be investigated within several socio-economic and political forces within what this men’s movement understand to be crisis perceptions towards gender change73 in the South African context. Feminism is one of such a force that has given rise to immense masculinity politics. In this case, what emanates from most discourses of masculinity in crisis is a portrayal of men as unfulfilled, insecure and threatened by women’s rise towards asserting their independence through gender justice and equality. It is important therefore to highlight how the Mighty Men within the MMC responded to such perceptions of crisis evident in their faith discourses. Buchan and most participants indicated a belief that men’s sense of masculinity was being eroded and that men felt emasculated. For example, Buchan contends:
We are Mighty Men of God in a time and era where everything else is falling apart, where nothing is substantial and where there is nothing and no one a young man can look up to. Young men are desperately seeking
73 Gender change is seen as a highly complex process and it occurs within individuals, within groups and within institutions (Morrell 2001b).
role models and mentors (2012:18).
Suggesting that men are experiencing crisis in the area of masculine authority, Buchan emphatically confirms traditionalist/masculinist positions stating:
It is time for authority. We have to take authority. We have got the authority, his name is Jesus. You say to your children, “I am the high priest. Not mum, me! (2008, Dying to Live, Conference DVD, Disk #1).
Not taking into consideration what kind of “authority” Jesus gives, it seems obvious from Buchan’s faith discourse that the MMC does not exist by accident. The MMC is a force against ‘other forces’ (ostensibly, feminism), that seems to threaten the existence of
‘godly manhood,’ hence Buchan further argues:
If asked why the Mighty Men phenomenon has become such an incredible force to be reckoned with in the world, I can only say that it is because men are starting to take their rightful positions again in the home, in the business, in politics, in sport in culture (2012:99).
To argue that the MMC is a force towards restoring Christian masculinity is to affirm that feminism is eroding ‘godly manhood’ hence, crisis in masculinity. Underlining the use of the word “again” in Buchan’s statements indicates an awareness that Christian men have lost “their rightful position” and therefore for men to be ‘Mighty’ they “have to take back authority.” It is because of this Mighty Men should warn their children that dad is the high priest and not mum. Such faith discourses can only make sense in a context where men perceive women as the cause of the crisis, and a threat to authentic masculinity.
It can therefore be argued that the only way that Christian men have “lost their rightful position in the home,” in the business, in politics and in sport is through feminist advances for gender equality between men and women, a movement that seeks to empower women as equal partners with men. Might this be a reason why Buchan (2012) asserts that “We are Mighty Men of God in a time and era where everything else is falling apart, where nothing is substantial?” This would then suggest that feminism is creating more havoc than good, leading to this era that men’s masculinity is being eroded. This observation confirms Buchan’s conversation with Devi Sankaree Govender in a
documentary programme—Carte Blanche.74 In this interview session with Govender, Buchan strongly affirms the goals of the MMC stating:
Man’s masculinity in the world today, in this 21st Century, is being eroded and broken down. And young men – some young men – don’t know what a man is supposed to be! There are no role models, no mentors to look up to. What is a man supposed to do? How is he supposed to act? My wife is my best friend, and she is feminine just like you Davi…if you don’t mind me saying so. And so what we did was – I believe, not we, but the Lord –restored masculinity. They are men! you have got to stand and be counted! You have got to represent your family, your business, your company. Stop walking around like a whipped dog with his tail between his legs. That’s no use to anybody (A show interview with Buchan, By Govender, 18th January 2009).
Buchan’s emphasising that his wife is ‘feminine’ just as Devi- Sankaree Govender is, intends to show that men “should’ be men and in no way should women stand to compete with men because men are to represent their family. As such Christian men must “Stop walking around like a whipped dog with his tail between his legs.”
Similar concerns were likewise raised among the Promise Keepers (an Evangelical men’s movement) in the United States who persistently perceived such ‘crises’ in masculinity.
For example, Howard Hendricks (1994:50) argues that “there is a terrifying void of affirming maleness in our society.” Such faith discourse affirms scholarly observations at a more general level. For example, Whitehead (2002:48) shows that feminism has contributed to the undermining of patriarchy and the male paradigm of control. Men are therefore considering that feminism somehow threatens the ‘social fabric’ and, not least, them as men (Whitehead 2002:7). As a result, this process seems to have aggravated a crisis of gender order and power relations with the historic collapse of the legitimacy of patriarchal power through the movement for the emancipation of women (Whitehead and Barrett 2001:45). Such perceptions towards crisis have forced most men to not only reconsider previously held beliefs about male roles and dominant masculinities but it has also inadvertently left men with a crisis of confidence (Whitehead and Barrett 2001 and Whitehead 2002).
74 The website (http://www.beta.mnet.co.za/carteblanche/Article.aspx?Id=3523) contains details of the entire shown with interview between Davi Sankaree Govender and Buchan.
Perceptions of masculinity being in crisis were also evident in most responses among the Mighty Men whose concerns were that men are lacking in many areas and are not living up to their expectations as men. This is often blamed on feminism. Consider how some of the Mighty Men responded unaware of their inclination to perceptions of crises in masculinity:
Extract 1:
I argue...we lack, we lack in many areas. We lack in areas of responsibility, we are not mighty in that...we are not the man God wants. Ah! You know...Jees men, women have become heads of families, and we are losing the might in us. Aah women have ...Aah Why? You know you go to the whole political manoeuvring of the whole situation as previous disadvantaged gender. But, but, leaving that aside, we are also losing the mighty in us. A man is meant to be the hunter, the strong person in the community. So we are not taking our place or position in that perspective and just being real and mighty that even women will look up to us and say, these are men. But, instead, they push us down because they can see we are not doing anything that is mighty and real as being a man. So, they are thinking, okay, I can do this myself, in fact I can be much better than men are, they are taking the lead (Mighty Man #7, interview 21 February 2011).
Extract 2:
Yah, I think concerning taking their responsibility. Men, they are not really active enough. They are laid back. They send… In fact the leadership has been changed to, has been sent to females. Men are too busy with things that are not the main thing ….
So yah, in that way, I am discouraged to say that men are not taking their responsibility. I have been in some churches where I see women taking leadership roles, and as a result, those men are not happy and they are not doing anything (Mighty Man transcript #2, interview 17 January 2011).
There is no doubt that Christian men are not living up to ideals of expected ‘godly manhood’ in the light of the above responses. Such remarks confirm perceptions of crises in masculinity. First, according to the Mighty Man #7, men have ‘lost’ their place and position as real and ‘mighty men’ by relinquishing headship and leadership to women who “push men down” (Extract 1). Women are taking headship in the families and leadership roles in church (and in fact doing it better than men) (Extract 1 and 2) supposes weakness among Christian men who are no longer ‘mighty men.’ The perception of crisis is therefore evident in the fact that men are ‘not real’ and have lost their ‘might,’ and as Mighty Man #7 states: “we are not the man God wants.” The thinking in this perceived crisis among the Mighty Men is clear: God intended men to lead and women to take a back seat, the opposite being ‘against’ the ordered nature of
things ‘as was established by God.’ For this reason, feminist endeavours to empower women are considered a “whole political manoeuvring of the whole situation” (Mighty Man #7) to empower the so called “previously disadvantaged gender” (referring to women). This highlights Whitehead’s (2002:59) argument who shows that what the crisis of masculinity thesis does do, is reveal to us the importance of understanding men and masculinities as discursive; that is, dominant, subordinated and political ways of talking and thinking about men in multiple cultural settings. Furthermore, the views expressed highlight the essentialist understanding of gender roles – men were “created” to be leaders.
Within this Charismatic, Evangelical religious sub-cultural setting, it was evident that Christian men were made weak by feminist gains. Another respondent elaborated further by arguing:
Extract 3:
Men are becoming softer and softer and we are giving into the ways of the world. I think guys are not taking their stand as they should be in the household. We are succumbing to pressures of the world, and we are not doing our duty to our family. You know as Angus said, men need to take their rightful place back (Mighty Man #1, interview 10 January 2011).
It is apparent that the above remark is representative of the idea that soft men are not the ideal of Christian understanding of godly manhood. Soft men are imaged to be weak and as such are seen as emasculated and the need for re-masculinisation: “men need to take their rightful place” was often emphasised. Our image of ideal Christian manhood is therefore shaped by concepts through which Christian masculinities are to be defined.
Notice the use of, a ‘real man,’ a ‘mighty man’ or still a ‘godly man’ as one who is able to lead (take their stand) be responsible and discharge duties of his position (head their families), and also not succumb “into the ways of the world.” Significant to take note of in Mighty Man #1 is his use of “pressure of the world.” Within Charismatic, Evangelical Christianity, feminism forms part of this pressure which must be avoided at every cost.
David Clines (1995:214) cites Catharine Stimpson and posits that in order to be masculine, one is “to have a particular psychological identity, social role, cultural script, and sense of the sacred.” Conversely, sociologists in the field of masculinity have warned
against psychologising hegemonic masculinity, male identity and male subjectivity while theorising gender. Whitehead (2002:308) in this case contends that to over-psychologise gives an impression that masculinity is something that individuals empirically possess.
Whitehead (2002) argues therefore that this misleads us into overemphasising biology, underestimating the role of social structures that constrain how men and women act, and forgetting that our current notions of masculinity and femininity are tied to modernity and capitalism. This requires a certain “gender performance” which forms the discussion in the next section.