MANIFEST: A Sado/masochistic Mythography of Masculinities

Abstract

“MANIFEST: A Sado/masochistic Mythography of Masculinities” explores intersections of gender and divinity in a mythographic realm designated as the “Sado/masochistic terrain,” a framework useful to analyze power dynamics integral to discussions about masculinities. Aspects of Sado/masochistic relationships exhibited between divine and mortal beings, in guru/disciple relationships, and amongst consenting adults in bondage subcultures speak to the displays of power and surrender, which are vital components to the construction of gender. Using depth psychological approaches alongside feminist critique, divine masculine exemplars such as Shiva, Dionysus, Legba, and Osiris are analyzed as representations of redemptive masculinity, an idea put forward as an antidote to traditional oppressive forms of tyranny that have been generally labeled “patriarchy.” Redemptive masculinity is illustrated by alchemical motifs, and a concept put forward as the “hermaphroditic principle,” illuminated by Jungian notions of the Cosmic Man, Rebis/Hermaphrodite, and sacred marriage. The premise in MANIFEST is to re-imagine masculinities by recovering and putting into play the alchemical processes so amenable to depth psychological approaches, and to track the remnants of those themes through sacred texts, literature, as well as historical and contemporary social manifestations. This discourse also observes how negative views of masculinities have developed, how they are continually subject to socio-religious influences, and how they are perpetuated not only by oppressive “patriarchal” systems, but also by feminist backlash and complicit behaviors that often remain unacknowledged. Subjected to this set of dominating influences, the male body and psyche are governed such that they must conform to sadistic demonstrations of masculinities or risk alienation, emasculation, and erasure. In an attempt to redress the systematic denigration of the masculine, MANIFEST establishes the term “femanist” with a vision of re-integrating redemptive masculinities into feminist discourse. The motif of the redemptive masculine, illustrated by sacred and secular exemplars, manifests as a necessary and authentic version of masculinities, which has been in the throes of existential crisis for some time.