Embossing: Our theme for October
What influenced you most as a child? Sunday walks with your mum and dad? Conversations with your grandparents? The neighbours' family with their rebellious children? Your school friend? Your teacher? Hours spent playing outside?
One of my most memorable childhood experiences lies far back in time. Once a year, my brother and I would go to motocross races with our father. Wrapped up warm by our mother and supplied with sandwiches, he would take us by the hand and we would trudge through the mud in our wellies. Smoke, noise, spectacle – I loved it. And I was so close to my dad that I wanted to crawl inside him.
What shapes a person? Their family? Their environment? Their genes – or the experiences they have as a child? How much does our upbringing influence our decisions and actions? And is it possible to break free from the influences of our upbringing? Author Seraina Sattler explores these questions in her dossier entitled «Prägung» (Upbringing). With surprising insights. For example, I now know why siblings can be shaped very differently – despite having the same parents. Fascinating.
He is considered a pioneer of the Swiss men's movement, fighting for a change in roles and against old ways of thinking: Markus Theunert. «If I work 100 per cent, I am a 100 per cent man; if I work 50 per cent, I am half a man. This is a centuries-old legacy – it cannot be overturned in a single generation,» he once told SRF's «Rundschau» programme.
My colleague Evelin Hartmann interviewed the father of a 12-year-old daughter. They discussed toxic masculinity («Growing up is becoming increasingly complicated»), typical male characteristics («There is no single psychological trait that men have and women do not») and fitness centres. «A muscular male body is, so to speak, the last bastion to which boys can retreat. There, they can still «just be men» without having to go to the school social worker.» I highly recommend the interview with Markus Theunert.
Yours sincerely,
Nik Niethammer
