Hopeful Stories for Scottish Men
Centre for Confidence and Well-Being, September 11th 2009
The story of Scottish men in overall and specific terms is familiar and dispiriting. The lower levels of life expectancy, poorer health record, ‘the Scottish effect’ and a whole host of other factors. In parts of Scotland the life chances of men are the worst of anywhere in Western Europe, and on a par with some parts of the former Soviet Union, and seemingly shaped by a seeming bleakness and lack of hope.
Things on one level are actually worse than ‘the official story’ tells it. The public debate and discourse on men and masculinities is shaped by a whole set of pathologising images about men and portraying them in negative terms. This is on the one hand part of a Western phenomenon post-feminism which has characterised masculine values as problematic, patriarchal and war-mongering: the ‘toxic masculinity’ debate which damages society, men and women. North of the border this has a ‘Scottish effect’ of its own whereby a society which hasn’t exactly been overflowing with the influence of feminism has bought into the critique of men and crisis of male role models and developed a whole set of negative stories.
The Long Revolution of Scottish Society
It is important to look at the journey(s) Scottish society has undertaken in the last hundred plus years. Going back to late Victorian Scotland this was an economy and society which honoured and acknowledged the role of men, male role models and different types of masculinity from the shipworkers and welders in heavy industry to the engineers and colonisers of the Empire and shapers of ‘the Kirriemuir career’ lad o’pairts. This Scotland wasn’t an ideal place, as one of the richest countries in the world, it was bitterly divided and unequal, with some of the grimmest housing and living conditions for the poor anywhere in the developed world.
Men had a central place and purpose in this world which has subsequently been lost. The dominant accounts of Scottish men have become nearly entirely negative which exasperate and accentuate the real problems, challenges and difficulties men face. These stories are shaped by the powerful tale of the shift from a society created in the image of those massive toiling industries of the West of Scotland to one which has gone through brutal deindustrialisation and then coming out the other side into a more service based economy and one with many people (and many men) permanently excluded from the labour market.
These tales are filled with men as ‘walking wounded’, as the victims of processes they cannot control or more powerful than them: capitalism, the general forces of economic development, bosses, bureaucrats and of course, women, who won’t put up with their ‘peely wally’ prevarications and doubts. These are often men who see themselves or once saw themselves as working class heroes, local heroes, champions who were going to change the world, and then reality or cynicism hit in. A central text along with McIlvanney is James Kelman’s ‘A Disaffection’, which explored the existential crisis all this produced in the lonely man, a mixture of a Sinatra song and Taggart set to the background of Thatcherism and Glasgow as a ‘raintown’.
The alternatives to this seem to be thin on the ground. The ‘new man’ never really took root in Scotland in the 1980s, and the anti-sexist man, well, don’t make me laugh! Instead, there is a small gathering of the emasculated, feminised man who takes care of his body and his looks, and sees celebrities such as David Beckham as his role model. This ‘tartan himbo’ can be found in parts of the arts and culture world and gay circles, but is hardly an alternative relevant to most men.
Most of Scottish men live between these two worlds, and yet we don’t have a set of stories and role models to offer us insight, direction and hope. There are thousands upon thousands of men trying to live their lives honestly, learning how to be decent, lead relationships of respect and love, and support families and friends, and yet this Scotland seems to exist without a language or role models.
The ‘Plastic Proletarian’ Outlook and The Problem with Stuart and Tam
One factor which crowds out the emergence of new stories is the power of the ‘plastic proletarian’ outlook. Thus, lots of men who see or invoke the idea of being a working class hero are actually now quite comfortably off and would in any calculation be middle class. However, in a society once predominantly working class which has gone through immense change there is a cachet in emphasising your street cred: we all know the high paid lawyers and accountants who still see themselves as a bit of a geezer and boy. This delusion can be maintained by action, or calling yourself a ‘socialist’ or general cynicism. There is also a media ‘lovey culture’ of invoking this culture seen in many of the parochial programmes from BBC Scotland’s Comedy Unit and ‘River City’.
I think this self-deception aids a powerful notion of denial across our country. According to some accounts we are meant to be sorted as a society and less hung up on racism, sexism and homophobia. Yet the truth could not be further removed and particularly so in Scotland.
We now have lots of men who know how to get through their equality and diversity training and yet don’t see it as problematic to announce views that are frankly shocking when amongst friends. At the top of our public institutions, the BBC, STV, many of the corporates, I know men who think nothing of saying to someone they know, ‘what a poof’, or talk about female colleagues as ‘rough sexy’, or giving someone they fancy ‘one’.
This may even shock some people, as we have made progress in Scotland considering where we came from. Homosexuality was something not discussed in public until Wendy Alexander announced the abolition of Section 28 and remember that hoo-ha!
This brings me to the strange case of Stuart and Tam and the role of football – meaning Stuart Cosgrove and Tam Cowan and their BBC Scotland ‘Off the Ball’ programme. I adore football and love the atmosphere and camaraderie of Scotland games, the romantic story of my own team Dundee United, and the beauty of the ‘wee’ teams. Yet something has gone way wrong with the place of football in our society; too much serious emotion, attention and investment is given over to what is only a game.
According to Simon Kupper in ‘Why England Lose’ per head Scotland is the third most fanatical place about football in the world – behind Cyprus and Iceland (and we are not sure about the Cyprus statistics!).
Part of ‘the football thing’ is the absence of other collective stories connecting us and binding us: socialism, religion, trade unions, work. And it provides an easy way for many men to talk to their brothers and to make common cause with strangers.
Yet something odious lurks in the heart of it as seen in Stuart and Tam. When they launch into their love-in on footie what it releases – in two intelligent men – is a whole host of other emotions they cannot contain or edit. At Saturday midday – they find it appropriate to be sexist, homophobic or talk positively about pornography.
This brings me to the ‘adult children’ which I don’t think Stuart is but plays with and Tam undoubtedly is. There are a generation of men usually fortysomething and under who think it is fine to play at being adolescents, stupid and immature, and this thus allows them to say the most outrageous things: be sexist, offensive and prejudiced. This stultified development seems in part about the absence of role models.
The Tartan Triptych: Stories, Songs and Heroes
Where does all this leave us? A society where men drop dead, go on about football ‘til they drop, and has ‘no gods and precious few heroes’. Thankfully it isn’t as black and white as that.
Serious research on Scottish men is needed. In the last twenty years there has only been one major study of masculinity: Daniel Wight’s ‘Workers Not Wasters’ published in 1993 – a study of men in a Central Scotland former coal town. The gender inequalities between men and women and the fact that the frequently cited ‘Shettleston man’ lives eleven years less than ‘Shettleston woman’ have been barely analysed in any depth.
We have to ask where are the stories of hope and change among Scottish men, as they most definitely are out there? One public example of a hopeful story is provided by the example of the Proclaimers. They have gone from in the late 1980s making their reputation singing political songs that I think in retrospect over-stated the sense of unity we had against Thatcher; they also sang personal songs but they were very definitely a secondary bow.
As Craig and Charlie have grown older they have begun to shift emphasis – still singing political songs on occasion but exploring what it means to be a man growing up. I first became aware of it on their ‘Born Innocent’ 2003 album and their current ‘Notes and Rhymes’ album shows this is a journey they are still on. They sing about the importance of their fathers, about being dads, bringing up your kids, explaining the world to them (or trying to), and that most wonderful of musical subjects, the power of love and loving.
The great thing is Craig and Charlie are not on their own here. Other Scottish singer-songwriters are addressing the same issues. Michael Marra is another example; James Yorkston from the Fife ‘Fence Collective’ another.
Songs in short about being Scottish (and the best of being Scottish) and being human and humane. Not a bad start to beginning to create a set of powerful, potent stories of hope, joy, reflection and dreaming about what it means to be a Scottish man.
What we need from these songs and stories is to begin inhabiting songs and stories of hope which aid us in living, loving and lifting each other up. Finding role models and heroes amongst us, ordinary Scots men telling stories and doing things, bringing their kids up with decency, working out what modern relationships, commitment and love are about, and putting football in its rightful place. Putting the ‘plastic proletarians’ in the bin and challenging the ‘adult children’ to grow up and take some responsibility. I count some of my best friends as men trying to live their lives doing all of this and more.