No, Ken Doll DOESN’T Make Metrosexual Cool
Maybe you’ve heard this… some people think that Ken (from Toy Story 3) makes being ‘metrosexual’ cool. Ummm… well… no. Being metrosexual isn’t cool. More importantly, being metrosexual isn’t virtuous, so therefore, it’s not manly.
What is metrosexual? From my research, there’s not one widely-agreed-upon definition. Personally, I think Wikipedia actually got it right for once… “Metrosexual… a man who has a strong concern for his appearance or a lifestyle that displays attributes stereotypically associated with homosexual men, although he is not homosexual.” Manicures, pedicures, facials, ridiculous hair treatments, eyebrow plucking, spray-on tanner, gossip magazines/sites… ugh. Short-tempered. Shallow and selfish – “Solid ride. Solid physique. Solid hair. Solid.”
Please note, there is a drastic difference between being a metrosexual and a gentleman. A gentleman is concerned with his appearance, but not overly concerned with it and never in a self-centered or conceited way. A gentleman is prudent in his decisions, temperate in his actions, courageous in all things and seeks justice for all. A gentleman lives an ordered life, not the disordered life of a metrosexual. A gentleman is authentically masculine while a metrosexual is effeminate. A gentleman praises others, while a metrosexual seeks praise as an end, in and of itself. A gentleman always respects a woman and fights to defend her. Sometimes, women are falsely drawn towards metrosexual men, often times because metros are more tender and understanding (all emotional)… see how Barbie feels about Ken initially in the video below. These women typically end up hurt and alone because those characteristics wear off eventually, leaving the woman in pain and alone.
Back to Ken… the dolldude obviously has issues… attachment to worldly possessions, personal appearance and a desire for shallow and empty “swagger”. “A whole room, just for trying on clothes.” Come on, Ken.
TrueMan up!
“Womanpriests”, “Pope Joan”… and a side of PC
Lately, I’ve come across several stories, websites, conversations, etc. about ‘womanpriests’. [Some of the websites 
claim to be in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. They aren’t. No matter their claims, they aren’t.] One story is about a movie that’s out, exclusively in Europe right now, about the legend of a female Pope that lived during the 9th century. This claim is unsubstantiated and completely fabricated. One story, which I saw posted on Facebook, spoke of a ‘womanpriest’ from the St. Louis area who is pregnant. “The first female Roman Catholic priest to be pregnant in history.” What is the obsession with women being priests?!?!
I think the obsession is the false understanding of freedom in our culture, mixed with a heavy dose of moral relativism, topped with a false sense of equality… served with a side of PC. In our culture, fairness has been turned into a “if they get one, I deserve one too” system. Society completely distorts the understanding of gender, gender roles, equality, fairness and the intention of God in regards to gender and sexuality. The world has turned everything into a competition and some people believe that in order to be considered ‘equal’, they must have the same opportunities as everyone else. Think about that – it doesn’t make sense.
Why is it, that as soon as a man is allowed (created) to do something, some women automatically insist that they should be allowed to do the same? The insistance includes many such things that are outside the scope of a woman’s role. See, when a man is ordained a priest in the Catholic Church, he becomes the spouse of Mother Church. Plain and simple. No apologies here… politically correct or not.
Being politically correct is not Catholic. It’s not charitable, it’s not what Jesus did, it’s not what we should do. Being politically correct asks us to waterdown our faith, to become “tolerant” of everything that’s going on around us – whether morally acceptable or not. No thanks.
As always, I’m not diggin’ on women. I’m not trying to deify men. What I’m saying is that we were each created for something great, as a man or as a woman. Those things can be (and most likely are) different.
Stand up for the dignity of each person. Respect life. Respect what God created you for. Stand up for Truth. Stand up against the notion of tolerance. Ruffle feathers, if that’s what it takes. Christ wasn’t a fairweather prophet… He didn’t take the position of “acceptance”… See, what Christ did (which is what we are supposed to model our lives after) is that He loved sinners too much to allow them to stay where they were.
TrueMan up!
Where are the Men? Part 2
In the last post, I mentioned how while attending a Saturday evening Vigil Mass at a local parish, I noticed that only 4 of 31 servant-leadership roles were filled by men. Of those 4 positions of service, 1 was a young boy altar server, 2 were Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and 1 was in the happy happy clap clap band. The problem is not the women, the problem is the men. Here’s why…
When men are absent from servant-leadership (in anything, not just at Mass) the ‘thing’ does not function properly. When a father is absent from his family, when a husband is absent from his wife, when a priest is absent from his parish, when a coach is absent from his team, when a boss is absent from his employees, when a commander is absent from his troops… the family, marriage, parish, team, company and unit do not function correctly. At Mass, specifically, we must correct the dysfunctions because they are widespread and have a large scope of influence. The way to correct the dysfunction is to encourage and challenge men to act in the way in which God created them to be. To grasp this picture, let’s look at the creation account in the Book of Genesis.
God created Adam. From Adam’s side, He created Eve. Adam was commanded by God to “shamar” the garden. Shamar is Hebrew for cultivate, protect, care for, etc. It was Adam’s job to cultivate the land, protect the garden, his wife and all of creation, but from the onset, Adam dropped the ball. When the serpent convinced Eve to eat of the fruit, where was Adam? Gone in another place in the garden? No. Was he over at some buddy’s house drinking a cold one, watching the big game? No. He was right beside her! [After all, she turned and handed him the fruit that she had just eaten from.] He was neglecting to protect the garden and his wife and failed to do what God created him to do. The Fall = Adam’s fault! When this sort of behavior (when men fail to cultivate, protect and care for) continues to prevail, the Church suffers greatly.
The choices Adam made are, in some way, the same decisions that many Catholic men today are making. Instead of cultivating the Church, protecting the Church and caring for the Church, men sit back and allow women to ‘do’. If you look at parishes and/or dioceses that are incredibly strong, that have great priests, that have large properly-functioning families and they have large numbers of seminarians, you’ll see that it is almost undoubtedly because men are involved as leaders!
The problem with men sitting back and allowing women (who are willing and ready to step in) to fill the gap is that the general population of men either don’t attend Mass or simply lose interest, although their backside is filling a spot in the pew. This sort of behavior teaches children that men don’t need faith and that faith is a ‘woman’s thing’. Many men believe that faith, religion, prayer, devotion, etc. is feminine and actually, anti-masculine. They couldn’t be further from the truth. As I have stated many times before, being manly means that a man is virtuous. Faith, Hope and Love, the Theological Virtues, are the real signs of manliness. In an upcoming post, I will continue with the thought of what happens when men and women don’t fulfill their roles and how it affects the Church as a whole, titled “The Church: By Women, For Women.”
TrueMan up!
GE Knows What’s Really Going On
Although the technology of a 4-Dimensional Ultrasound isn’t brand new, it’s relatively cutting-edge. I’ve seen a 4D ultrasound of my own children, it’s incredible. You can see facial features and expressions, you can make out every movement and can see the chest expanding as the lungs take in oxygen from the mother. In the discussion of embryo, zygote, fetus, blob, tissue mass, etc. this technology should end the discussion as to what’s in a woman’s womb. It’s a human being.
It’s plain to see that even a secular company like General Electric knows that a baby inside its mother’s womb is a living, breathing, moving, (did I mention living?) human being… and still, the laws in America allow for the murder of that child. It’s ridiculous to think that we have technology like this (as if common sense wasn’t enough) but still allow someone the ‘choice’ to murder their own child. Absolutely ridiculous.
If you can’t view the video, click HERE.
Men, sometimes abortion is portrayed as a woman’s-only issue. Not true. As always, we are called to provide and protect, which must start with the defense of the defenseless. The unborn need men to step up and fight for their rights, their well-being and their life. If you need ideas of how you can help, please email us directly at Info@TrueManhood.com.
TrueMan up!
The Female Version of Cultural Manliness
Have you seen the trailer for the upcoming [atrocity] “Sex and the City 2”? I’ve unfortunately seen the trailer 3 or 4 times now and
have been more and more disgusted by it every time. I can proudly say that I haven’t seen the first movie (although I know it did really well at the box office) and I never intend to watch it. The trailer, as well as the name of the movie/show, tells me plenty. What it tells me is that the characters in the movie are out for, what I’m going to refer to as, “Cultural Femininity”. For those who may not know, I use a term coined “Cultural Manliness” to describe the world’s view of manliness… that the more power, money, sex and stuff a male has, the more manly he is. On all levels, I tear this idea down, showing that it is riddled with emptiness, loneliness, despair and sorrow. The same goes for “Cultural Femininity”.
The trailer depicts the characters in the movie gallivanting around the world, searching for meaningless sex, pleasure and anything else that seems ‘fun’. The trailer attempts to glorify promiscuity, drunkenness, infidelity, homosexuality and the glamor and allure of money. A tag line used in the trailer says “Discover how much fun forbidden can be.” The trailer tells me that many people (women and men) will have their view of marriage ‘shaken up’ a bit… which is most definitely not needed in our culture. The four women in the movie are female versions of “cultural manliness”. In the same way that “cultural manliness” ends in emptiness, loneliness, despair and sorrow, so too does “cultural femininity.”
Movies like this make this behavior seem ‘normal’, as if ‘everyone is doing it’, and in fact, many people live like this. Movies like this degrade women, encourage all the poor behavior mentioned above and highly encourage men to be “culturally manly”. It really is a shame.
TrueMan up!
Supposed To Do
I just returned from a weekend trip to a private midwestern university where I gave a talk on manliness and Christian brotherhood. I mentioned the topic of Adam from the creation story in Genesis. In the story, Adam disregards the command that God gave to him to “shamar” the garden. From his neglect, sin entered the world. This, naturally, led to discussion about gender roles. During the Q&A session, a young man in the front row asked me “what do you mean when you say ‘what a man should do’ and ‘what a woman should do’?” I think it’s a great question and deserves some explanation and distinction here on the site.
When I say one of those statements (‘what a man (or woman) should d0’), what I mean is that men and women have been called to a specific role in humanity. (For instance, fatherhood, or motherhood.) The young man wanted to know if I thought that women shouldn’t work, or be in leadership or do anything outside of mothering children, cleaning and cooking. Obviously, I am not of that opinion. I can understand the question though, because our society tells us constantly that it’s either one, but not both.
Being called to a specific role in humanity means that a male or a female is embracing their nature. Men are naturally designed to protect, guard and care for. We are more rugged. Our bodies are made for laborious tasks. Women are naturally more nurturing, motherly and tender. These differences aren’t pointed out to say one is better than the other, only that they are different. John Paul II said many times, “Men and women were created equal in dignity, but different in role.” This is an important distinction.
For men to be TrueMen, we must embrace what is naturally placed on our hearts by God and follow the commands that God has given to us.
TrueMan up!
A Way for a Woman to Guard Her Heart
I was asked not too long ago what “guard your heart” really means. The answer isn’t cut and dry, especially because each of us has different experiences, different relationships, different baggage, etc. However, when asked this question, I attempted to answer with an analogy that I’d like to share with you now. I told the young woman the following:
(For the Ladies) Imagine that your heart is inside a giant mansion. Imagine that at the outskirts of the mansion there’s a guard tower
with an armed guard inside. Surrounding the mansion is a 15′-high electrified fence. Inside the fence are several Dobermans who haven’t eaten lately. On this side of the dogs is a large, triple-thick, rock wall with a gate that has a special code used to get in. Inside the rock wall is a large bullet-proof metal door with 7 deadbolts.
Now imagine that you’re early in a relationship with a man. Guarding your heart is prudently allowing the guard to take an extended leave of absence. The fence is still electrified, the dogs are still there, the gate is still down and the door is still locked – 7 times no less. The man gets a little closer to your heart, but still doesn’t have unlimited access. Little by little you reduce the security and over time, through prudent thinking and decision making, you begin to allow the man closer to your heart and allow him to have more access to you. He gazes into your heart from a distance… sort of like looking through the windows of the mansion… and from his gaze, he begins to learn about your heart. Seeing into the heart is different than having unabated access to the heart.
For many people, it may seem too hard to guard their heart. For many people, it may seem too late to guard their heart. If pain from relationships-gone-bad, lack of trust after a break up (or after every break up) and utter disappointment in relationships in general is fun for you, then keep up the common mistakes and lack of protection for your heart. If, however, you come to understand that your heart is worth guarding because you are a precious daughter of God and because you deserve only the best in life, then take the necessary steps to start guarding your heart now. If a man in your life is too close to your heart (or maybe inside the mansion), do what’s best for you and ask him to take a few steps back. It will be hard at first, and may even seem pointless, but in the long run, it will be a blessing. Trust me.
The analogy is based on the context of a relationship, but we should each be guarding our hearts from evil, sin and unclean outside influences as well.
Men, if you are too close to a woman’s heart, or inside the mansion, do the respectable, virtuous thing and take some steps backward. This is not to suppress your feelings, your love or your desire for her. This behavior is to show her that she’s worth the very best. At the right time, you take the proper steps to win over her heart fully. Once married, hearts become one in the Sacrament.
TrueMan up!
