'Unlike femininity, relaxed masculinity is at bottom empty, a limp nullity. While the female body is full of internal potentiality, the male is internally barren. Manhood at the most basic level can be validated and expressed only in action.'
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Masculinity is seen as empty without action, while femininity has internal potential.
- In plain terms
- Men need action to prove themselves; women have inherent potential.
- What can you take from it?
- Action defines masculinity more than being.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What validates manhood?
- Can men have potential?
Another view
The view is stereotypical and ignores diverse male experiences.
More from George Gilder
'This is what sexual liberation chiefly accomplishes-it liberates young women to pursue married men.'
Permalink to quote #12 'The welfare culture tells the man he is not a necessary part of the family; he feels dispensable, his wife knows he is dispensable, his children sense it.'
Permalink to quote #11 'The first priority of any serious program against poverty is to strengthen the male role in poor families.'
Permalink to quote #10
Related quotes
Men were only made into 'men' with great difficulty even in primitive society: the male is not naturally 'a man' any more than the woman. He has to be propped …
Wyndham LewisWyndham Lewis quote #7 '[T]he boy's father has to do his part. He needs to mirror and affirm his son's maleness. He can play rough-and-tumble games with his son, in ways that are dec…
James DobsonJames Dobson quote #8 Feminine passion is to masculine as an epic is to an epigram.
Karl KrausKarl Kraus quote #24