44 Scotland Street: A serious case of male fright Episode 18 A serious case of male fright IRENE was getting into her stride. A few more paragraphs were devoted to Milne and his desire to create an Arcadia by creating a world of childhood that was secure and timeless. In the books, she decided, Christopher Robin was not subjected to what Milne suffered at school - bullying, threats and violence. These staples of English private education - Scotland had its own particular problems - had produced generations of repressed and unhappy boys, taken from their mothers and their homes and put into a world in which the denial of feeling was the norm. Coerced into submission, these boys were ideal material to staff the sprawling enterprise that was the British Empire. Who else could bear the isolation of distant postings, the deprivation of female companionship that was the lot of colonial officials and army officers, the acceptance of authority and hardship? But some of these boys would, as adults, pick up a pen and then...and then it all came out. Kipling. Maugham. Dahl. "So," wrote Irene, "Milne created an Arcadia, but in this Arcadia he was destined, by virtue of his early experience, to reveal the pathologies that had blighted his own childhood and childhoods like his. Consequently in the characters who are Christopher Robin's companions - that stuffed bear and so on - we see embodied all the sequelae of the emotional deprivation and repression of the author's own childhood. Take Pooh for instance. He is described, and depicted by the artist, as physically battered. This is because physical abuse at the hands of all-powerful adults was the lot of Edwardian children. The bear is now reduced to pathetic dependence on the boy, and must accept the boy's authority in all matters. This is the continued infantalization that results from a childhood spent in fear of authority figures. There was more, and by the time that Stuart's football game was finished, Irene had covered both sides of an A4 sheet of paper with her dissection of Milne and of the problems of the Hundred Acre Wood. She was pleased with what she had written: parts of it might be slightly obtuse, but that would serve to inspire other members of the book club to raise the intellectual level of their own contributions which were, almost without exception, considerably below that of Irene's observations. That was the problem with book groups, thought Irene: one had to put up with people who simply were not up to one's own standards. The trouble with living in society was society ...If only one did not have to put up with the weaker brethren who could be so...so trying. Still, she resolved, those to whom the gift of insight is given had to shoulder the burden as best we can and take a lead. There should be more of us in the Scottish Parliament, of course, thought Irene; the trouble with that body was we weren't there in sufficient numbers to guide them in their deliberations. With the encounter at Celtic Park over - resolved in favour of the West of Scotland rather than the East - Stuart rose from his chair and came to peer over Irene's shoulder. "Writing?" he asked. Irene glanced down at her satisfactorily-filled paper. Some remarks for the book group. Stuart nodded. Perhaps I should join a book group. Irene raised an eyebrow. I don't think there are many for men. At least not round here. "Odd, that," mused Stuart. I wonder why? Irene knew the answer. "Male fright," she said. Stuart frowned. Male fright? Irene explained. "Men are fearful of intellectual intimacy," she explained. They're more comfortable when they are making a series of statements or propositions - putting them out to people. They don't really talk to one another - not in the way that women do. "I see," said Stuart. "Yes," said Irene. And that's something I really want Bertie to avoid. I want him to be able to talk to others as a woman can. Stuart said nothing. He was staring at his wife. "So," continued Irene, "I'm keen for him to be able to see the world through female eyes." Stuart tensed. I'm surprised you don't make him wear a dress. Irene shot him a withering glance. There's no need to be facetious, Stuart. It ill becomes you. "I'm not being facetious," he countered. I'm deadly serious. Stuart hesitated before continuing. Do you want him to grow up rejecting masculine identity? Irene spun round. "That," she said, "is a typically shallow and, if I may say so, offensive comment. But now that you ask, the answer is: what is wrong with a rejection of masculinity? Is there anything intrinsically good in being masculine After this, for a moment neither said anything. Then Stuart spoke. There's a difference, surely, between accepting something and setting out to ensure that it happens. I would always accept Bertie however he turned out. But that is a very long way from setting out to put him off from being masculine. You shouldn't set out to manipulate these things. Irene rose to her feet. Oh no? And what do you think society does at the moment? Do you think there's no pressure, no manipulating of people to confirm to a created notion of masculinity when it comes to these things? What planet are you on, Stuart? Stuart moved away, struggling to control himself. He stared out of the window as he replied. I suggest we don't let this argument go nuclear. I'm sorry if I spoke out of turn. Let's not fight. "All right," said Irene. I have no desire to quarrel with you, Stuart. All I ask is that you don't make offensive remarks. I have Bertie's best interests at heart, as you well know. All that I am trying to do is to make sure that our son grows up adapted to the gender-neutral world that is being constructed around us. That means that a lot of old-fashioned ideas are going to have to be scrapped. Just don't stand in that way of that - that's all I ask. Stuart decided to change the subject. His birthday - he's very excited about it. What shall we get him? Irene folded the piece of paper on which she had written her speech. "I've already bought him his present," she said. Then raising a finger, she continued, "And I don't want any back talk from you when I show it to you."