Of Cave Dwellers and Abandoned Ambition
The Decline of the Study and the Rise of the Man Cave: A Critique of Modern Masculine Spaces of Katabasis
The concept of the man cave has always been about men supposedly needing to retreat from women. However, this also implies a daily need for exaggerated solitude, a retreat from the world, reality, or even civilization. The rise of the man cave and the normalization of men’s hiding are mirrored by the decline of the study. This decline is not just a shift in preference but a loss to our society. We are poorer for it.
By which I do not mean the performative study scene of the posers and pretenders on YouTube or Twitter who invariably hold a cigar and whiskey glass, complaining about the world, yet doing nothing to solve problems while affecting the posture of the faux intellectual. No, I mean a real study where men go to work, think, and plan to eagerly engage society and civilization.
The idea of the study is not just for intellectuals. It is for men of agency and action, from the workman who plans his next day’s labors to the draftsman designing the next skyscraper. A study can be surrounded by books or it can be a place of crafting. Likewise, intellectual pursuits like theology and philosophy are a historic inheritance that belongs to everyone. Academics do not have a monopoly on thinking. A study does not need to be grandiose; a corner and a humble coffee table are enough. The point is to be a place to pursue something worthwhile, not escape from society or women.
