In a similar way, our experiences of our fathers and father-figures in our lives activate the masculine archetypes in our psyches when we are young boys and girls. As a result, ego-consciousness in all boys and girls develops in the human psyche over against the masculine archetypal images in our psyches.
For Ong, the distinctively masculine sense of identity that boys and men need to develop involves strengthening their ego-consciousness.
In a similar way, the distinctively feminine sense of identity that girls and women need to develop involves strengthening their ego-consciousness.
Now we come to the trickiest part of Ong's analysis.
For Ong, boys and men need to develop a distinctively masculine sense of identity as a way to differentiate themselves (i.e., their ego-consciousness) within their psyches from the powerful feminine forces in their psyches.
For Ong, the goal of developing a distinctively masculine sense of identity is to enable boys and men to feel that they are not, respectively, girls and women.
Optimally, a distinctively masculine sense of identity should equal a sense of NOT being feminine.
However, as we all know, including Wade, the spirit of NOT being feminine often deteriorates into being ANTI feminine. Wade and other women have pointed out this tendency.
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