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SEX ROLES; THE FAMILY AND
CIVILIZATION Clearly defined and practiced sex roles serve as the
cement for the very foundation of any civilization. Successful civilizations
historically have been made up of individuals who form strong family units which serve to train and discipline each new
generation in how to carry on that civilization. Ideally, such a system should
be an ever-enlarging and improving circle. When the ideal is not met, most
likely a breakdown occurred somewhere in the family education relationships. Though every individual is a unique Ego,
it is quite apparent there are two basic kinds—male and female. God’s reason
for establishing this particular form of polarity may not
be fully understood by man, but the fact of sex is incontrovertible.
It is how individuals define and practice these sex
roles that has become controversial. When a nation’s men are masculine and are
comfortable with their masculinity, and when its women are feminine and are
comfortable with their femininity, then they can blend well as couples and
best form the most effective child-rearing unions to ensure maintenance of
successful civilizations. Disrupt the natural blending of their respective
roles, and the very foundations of the civilization will soon weaken and
crack. Clearly defined and practiced sex roles
in a traditional family structure can and have sustained groups of people
through a multitude of external pressures. The Jews, whose family structure
is well known, are a prime example. They have remained unified as a “people”
despite world-wide diffusion and persecution for
three millennia. A lesser known but
equally concrete example is that of the Ukrainians of Central Europe, whose
folk dance troupe tours the world. This troupe is representative of a sub-culture which has endured external social and political
upheaval for hundreds of years yet has maintained a unique, relatively
positive cultural identity. While watching the agile performers and listening
to their music one can delight to the sights and sounds of a people who
emphasize in every dance routine and in every costume the roles of the sexes. The American people carved a successful
civilization out of a raw continent on the basis of
secure family units which in turn were built from clearly defined sex roles.
However, in less than 200 years, signs of cracks in the civilization’s
foundation have emerged. Most Americans still support the family unit and the
clearly defined polarity of sex; but a loud minority is enlarging the cracks
and threatening the foundation. It is true that economic and social
injustices have been done to women, but the solutions to such problems are
better found within the framework of a family system than by trying to rend this natural system apart with the charge that it is
the cause of the injustices. In the proven family system
the man is the provider, sustainer and master of his home while the woman is
the center about which the entire family orbits, including the head of the
house. Without the masculine role’s sustenance, the feminine center would
fail the orbiting members; and without the feminine teaching center, the
young would fly off in chaotic patterns. Nature has endowed the male with physical
attributes which better suit him to the provider’s
role. In order to best practice the masculine functions, a boy must be taught to become a responsible head of a family.
Conversely, a girl must be taught to be the center
of a household—to be its inner strength and the focal point for the distribution
of the provider’s benefits. The importance of proper training of children to
practice their sex roles cannot be overemphasized. On November 22, 1972, the National
Education Association, which is the largest teacher organization in the
country, began a nationwide crusade to “reduce the negative effects of sex
role stereotypes foisted on little boys and girls by society from the playpen
on.” This campaign, it was
announced, is to be aimed at the attitudes of parents and teachers as
well as textbooks, television and other teaching aids. Among the listed goals
was to “seek ways to free women from illogical social expectations
that deny self-fulfillment.” The major target is elementary and secondary
school books which usually “treat boys as aggressive heroes who grow up to be
doctors or lawyers and girls as passive sidekicks who grow up to be mothers.” In addition, an executive with NEA said,
“men also pay the price of sex role stereotypes as they have been forced
through admonition and example into ‘masculine’ roles and behaviors which rob
them of the full range of human emotion and experience.” The Stelle Group, as it sets about
implementing the proven principles espoused by the
Brotherhoods, is also striving to eliminate the many “negative” sex
role stereotypes. Our boys will not feel “sissified” if they do not adhere to
a brawny, lumberjack image, and our girls will not grow up believing that
limp-wristed helplessness and coquettishness is
what makes a lady. However, it is expected
that both men and women obtain “self-fulfillment” and enjoy “the full range
of human emotion and experience” by practicing clearly defined sex roles. The
actions of “unisex” and “women’s liberation” which have stirred much ado in
recent years are superfluous in the natural scheme of things. Concepts of feminism”
such as are portrayed by the television commercial where the female drives
her car to pick up the male as the male dries his hair, would not have grown
so out of proportion had men not emasculated themselves in the first place.
The family‑education system is so arranged that when the masculine role
is not firmly assumed it causes imbalance and
deterioration of everyone. For example, a young
married couple, now divorced, were struggling with the daily business
of living and raising a family. For certain psychological
reasons, the head of the house had an immature attitude toward business
dealings. He disliked money collecting and the tedium of budgeting. He
shirked the tasks generally associated with the head of the house, feeling
content merely to provide physical labor. The wife of the household was forced outside her role into the area of business in
order to collect what her husband’s labor provided. She took to her new role
well, but soon lost respect for her husband. The children were
confused by the sex-role changes even before the divorce was
initiated. In a properly functioning family there is an ebb and flow of activities, energies,
duties and thoughts between the sexes. The male is physiologically and
psychologically suited to be more aggressive and stronger in all areas of
this exchange while the female is likewise suited to be receptive and
regenerative, thus completing a polarity circuit. For example, even in the
simple act of bringing home a surprise bouquet of flowers a man typifies his
role. He initiated an activity. His wife received the flowers joyfully and
promptly made them into a pleasing arrangement shared by the entire
household, completing the cycle. The Stelle Group is concerned with laying
the proper foundation for a future civilization; therefore establishing the
roles of the sexes for family stability is paramount to our purpose. ∆ |
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