If we are to come to grips with the extent and the power of the pressures brought to bear on our sons, we must understand that masculine socialization, throughout history and in almost all cultures throughout the world, is inextricably bound up with war. The process of “masculinization” is one potent enough to take my sweet son Alexander, who loves makeup and dresses, whose favorite identity is a magic fairy, and deliver him, a decade or so later, into a state in which he will be prepared to kill and be killed.
