Feedback - Restoring Testosterone

Feedback: Restoring Testosterone - POV by Barb Sumner Burstyn.

From Evan Keil Ms. Burstyn,
I want to thank you for your recent article entitled "Restoring Testosterone". While I disagree with many of the qualifications of being "a man", I am pleased at any time that a person recognizes their own prejudices and takes any step to reconcile them with the world at large. You have done just that.

More importantly, you did so in a balanced way. You did not place blame on any one group, nor did you accept sole responsibility, but simply stated a recognized error in judgment. I sincerely wish that more people on either the side of radical feminism or radical masculism could perform such a sobering act.

The fact is that both men and women suffer from perceived stereotypes, and their struggle against those stereotypes can too often become inflated to a struggle against the entirety of the opposite gender. Both sides of this battle over illusory injustices become so entrenched within their beliefs of solitary persecution that they begin to actually enforce the beliefs of the other side.

I've seen this at work on a men's activism site to which I belong. Your article was linked there as an example of someone doing "the right thing". Unfortunately, half of the men on the site have reacted with anything from scepticism over your honesty to outright accusations of feminist agendas relying on swaying public opinion. Those who express their gratitude for your article, however short it may be, have been met with hostility from both the other men on the site and from radical feminists who use the opportunity to make horrible speeches comparing us, as men, to child-pornographers.

It is comforting to me that someone, yourself in this case, can recognize something in herself which is a problem, something that contributed to an unbalanced world view, and act upon it in a positive manner. It is inspiring. It reaffirms my faith in humanity. I thank you for it.

The problems of sexism, on either side, are deeply rooted and trained into society at a the great cost of solidarity. As you have stated, both genders are responsible. It is a complicated issue, and for many a passionate one. For whatever reasons, passion includes blindness and blind faith. To that end, passion can be a detriment. There are very, very passionate people on both sides of this issue.

That said, let me extend my apologies, however unrequired they may be, for any attacks that are made against you for this article. Radical feminists and masculists alike are currently swarming around your article like angry bees, trying to find a place to light and sting. I pray that you do not get stung, and more importantly that the poison of their words does not taint your clarity. People are passionate. They are blind. As has been said before, "They know not what they do." Thanks again for writing this article. I look forward to reading more.

Evan Keil

Credere è di vedere - By believing, one sees.

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