For Masculine Reform

I'm catching up on recent ref21 conversations, and I couldnt' help but chime in on the subject raised by Phil's comment on Ivy League Expectations and Carl's addition regarding the Reformed church culture as it bears on women.  I especially want to pick up on Carl's comment that we must reject the John Wayne image of masculinity that is so often projected among Reformed men.  In general, I have often argued that whatever problem we have with feminism in American and evangelical culture, the greater problem by far is the unbiblical masculinity that has often produced it.  While I do not at all want to endorse the feministic message for women, I am sympathetic with the motives of many of the feminists -- namely, that they have simply despaired of men fulfilling their God-given role within the relationship.  So while so much effort goes to repudiating evangelical feminism -- and to a certain extent this is unavoidable given the force of today's polemic -- it is more important and more ultimately fruitful for us to repudiate bogus evangelical masculinity.