SPACE

Space is a very important aspect within the hypertext Make me a Man by Sonya Rapoport. Her analysis about male behaviour along the history and according to different cultures locates us in many different places and at many different times.

Each country has its own culture and its own way of understanding life, but surprisingly most of the countries share the same stereotype of manhood, although some of them more radically than others.

One of the cultures the author more frequently talks about is the one which belongs to the Sambian tribe in New Guinea, were the tradition obliges children at the age of 7 to be separated from their mothers in order to be turned into men. The child is then subjected to a series of rituals to get rid of any “female pollution”.

“Separate from females. Be a separate person. Get male stuff in your body so you can be masculine and strong”. (G. Herdt, 1982 Rituals of Manhood).

The hypertext also locates us in Chechnya, were boys are disciplined by making them warriors. “He will gain the sense of freedom “to be a man” through the instrumentality of war” (George F. Mosse, 1996 The Image of Man).

S. Rapoport also informs us of how the Zairean rebels from the Congo use a legend to lure boys to be warriors.

“War is a test of masculinity” (William Graham Sumner, 1911 War and other Essays).

She also makes reference to Germany during the Nazi Activism, were violence was embedded in the political culture, praising thus, male virtues toughness.

The hypertext also takes us to United States when she mentions Superman, who was a hero invented after the World War II as a representation of America, as powerful and invincible.

Sonya Rapoport also mentions the Birth Control (1970) in India.

“Birth control would bring unbridled gratification. Every woman of childbearing age should have a child about once in two years” ( Mary Scharlieb, The Control of Parenthood, London 1920).

By quoting many important personalities of our World history, the hypertext is also approaching us to the way of thinking of the country and period to which these personalities belonged. For instance, Hippocrates (ca.460 BC – ca.370 BC) is quoted in the text, therefore we could think that probably his point of view is quite similar to that one of his contemporaries during some time within his lifetime in Greece. “If a woman is going to have a male child, she has a healthy complexion”, Hippocrates.

The same happens with other important personalities such as Martin Luther (Germany, 1483-1546). “The authority of the husband I the glory of God”, and Ernest Hemingway (USA, 1899-1961). “Great men have daughters because they are unwilling to spend their vital essence”.