The Man‐Made World
There is no reason why these special instincts should not be gratified so long as it does no harm to the more important social processes; but it is distinctly desirable that we should understand their nature.
The reason why we have the present overwhelming mass of
“sporting events,” from the ball game to the prize fight, is because our civilization is so overwhelmingly masculine. We shall criticize them more justly when we see that all this mass of indulgence is in the first place a form of sex‐expression, and in the second place a survival of instincts older than the oldest savagery.
Besides our games and sports we have a large field of “amusements”
also worth examining. We not only enjoy doing things, but we enjoy
seeing them done by others. In these highly specialized days most of our amusement consists in paying two dollars to sit three hours and see other people do things.
This in its largest sense is wholly human. We, as social creatures, can enjoy a thousand forms of expression quite beyond the personal. The birds must each sing his own song; the crickets chirp in millionfold performance; but human being feels the deep thrill of joy in their special singers, actors, dancers, as well as in their own personal attempts. That we should find pleasure in watching one another is humanly natural, but what it is we watch, the kind of pleasure and
the kind of performance, opens a wide field of choice.
We know, for instance, something of the crude excesses of aboriginal Australian dances; we know more of the gross license of old Rome;
we know the breadth of the jokes in medieval times, and the childish brutality of the bull‐ring and the cockpit. We know, in a word, that amusements vary; that they form a ready gauge of character and culture; that they have a strong educational influence for good or bad. What we have not hitherto observed is the predominant masculine influence on our amusements. If we recall once more the
statement with regard to entertaining anecdotes, “There are thirty good stories in the world, and twenty‐nine of them cannot be told to women,” we get a glaring sidelight on the masculine specialization in jokes.
“Women have no sense of humor” has been frequently said, when
“Women have not a masculine sense of humor” would be truer. If women had thirty “good stories” twenty‐nine of which could not be
told to men, it is possible that men, if they heard some of the twenty-49
The Man‐Made World
nine, would not find them funny. The overweight of one sex has told in our amusements as everywhere else.
Because men are further developed in humanity than women are as
yet, they have built and organized great places of amusement; because they carried into their humanity their unchecked
masculinity, they have made these amusements to correspond.
Dramatic expression, is in its true sense, not only a human distinction, but one of our noblest arts. It is allied with the highest emotions; is religious, educational, patriotic, covering the whole range of human feeling. Through it we should be able continually to express, in audible, visible forms, alive and moving, whatever phase of life we most enjoyed or wished to see. There was a time when the drama led life; lifted, taught, inspired, enlightened. Now its main function is to amuse. Under the demand for amusement, it has cheapened and coarsened, and now the thousand vaudevilles and picture shows give us the broken fragments of a degraded art of which our one main demand is that it shall make us laugh.
There are many causes at work here; and while this study seeks to show in various fields one cause, it does not claim that cause is the only one. Our economic conditions have enormous weight upon our
amusements, as on all other human phenomena; but even under economic pressure the reactions of men and women are often dissimilar. Tired men and women both need amusement, the
relaxation and restful change of irresponsible gayety. The great majority of women, who work longer hours than any other class, need it desperately and never get it. Amusement, entertainment, recreation, should be open to us all, enjoyed by all. This is a human need, and not a distinction of either sex. Like most human things it is not only largely monopolized by men, but masculized throughout.
Many forms of amusement are for men only; more for men mostly;
all are for men if they choose to go.
The entrance of women upon the stage, and their increased
attendance at theatres has somewhat modified the nature of the performance; even the “refined vaudeville” now begins to show the
influence of women. It would be no great advantage to have this department of human life feminized; the improvement desired is to
have it less masculized; to reduce the excessive influence of one, and to bring out those broad human interests and pleasures which men
and women can equally participate in and enjoy.