God knows I’m no lover of traditional masculinity. But still I understand its historical necessity and value. Nearly all advances in society have been a male prerogative. Men dug for coal in the bowels of the earth for energy provision. They did that to stoke complex systems of machinery which other men working at the extremes of knowledge had invented. They fought wars when security demanded it. They built buildings and bridges solving great technical problems on the way. They ploughed fields and slaughtered animals for food. The list goes on.

With all that it’s no wonder that male dominance has been so embedded and such a rock for feminists to move. And the truth is: left to women, human societies would still be in a backward state. That’s not an anti-feminist remark just an uncomfortable truth for those of us disinclined to traditional maleness.

The intellectual consensus holds that it’s different now; that with all the donkey work done the male can afford to be a little more refined and sophisticated, more “in touch with his feelings”. A man can be a better partner, a better parent. He can be better educated and multidimensional in his interests.

That’s the theory anyway. But I wonder. When you look around there are still a helluva lot of Neanderthal blokes doing as they always have. Fewer of them go down pits yes or go to war but the old mindset seems as alive as ever. On a bad day I consider that the feminist era is over (50s-90s) and that if anything we could be swinging back to the traditional archetypes of maleness. Our contemporary world seems to value competition and aggression highly. It even seems to serve women better these days to behave similarly. But then I think maybe not. Social evolution takes a while and isn’t uniform. A change in lifestyles can take several generations to really take hold. Despite historical necessity, the days of the domineering male, primitive or otherwise, are numbered. I hope.