It is up to us to put eagles back in our skies and in our hearts.

It is up to us to build something from almost nothing — to start the world we want because we can't wait for someone else to do it.

Like so many men who came before us, as the sun is setting, it is our job to build a fire in the dark.

Ironically, some ultra-conservatives accuse Donovan of leaving out nonmen and fatherhood in his book, in reproachful reference to his homosexuality. Maybe they're simply missing the erotic lesbian porn, or they can't stand the idea of a homosexual thinking about and striving for masculinity because it calls into question their own bogus masculinity. There reactions confirm – as we can observe in our western society – that homosexuality and masculinity are incompatible from a conservative perspective. For this reason, it should come as no surprise that homosexual men traditionally turned to the left-wing, progressive side since the conservative camp simply never accepted them. Ironically, the progressive left is so infested with feminism today that this side also denies masculinity to homosexuals, albeit for different reasons.

Nevertheless, I must clearly confirm that Donovan does not use a single syllable to mention fatherhood, which is undoubtedly an important aspect of masculinity! And even for a homosexual man, fatherhood is not unattainable, quite the opposite! Homosexual men often act more as recyclers of outcast children, taking them under their wings to give them a future.

At this point you have to realize how egregiously Donovan ignores this aspect, especially given his strong reference to the Greco-Roman world, where, according to today's view of history, it was considered pretty normal for men to raise male youths, which at the time even required close physical contact including sex, as it was believed that a boy growing into manhood needs love on all levels to carry on a man's knowledge and legacy, finalized in the transmission of semen. In that sense, deep love between student and mentor was considered essential for fruitful development and maturation into a man.

This is of course a view that contradicts later morality that arose through a literal interpretation of the Bible, especially since today any relationship between a pubescent boy and a man is legally equated with pre-adolescent pedophilia only serving the pathological satisfaction of an adult without mutual love and development. On the other hand, some indigenous peoples like the Etoro still practice similar relationships between pubescent boys and men by living out an intensive sperm culture, as they believe that male teens need the semen of other men to enter manhood. It is just the physical manifestation of the idea that a boy can only become a man through a man.

Especially among adolescent boys and young men, it can be observed how they subconsciously form homoerotic bonds with their peers, their "best buddies", which, depending on the situation, can lead to homosexual excitement or even actions as an expression of mutual affection and recognition as masculine. The conservative Western world demonizes such feelings because they do not understand their meaning; they do not realize that this increased affinity automatically occurs for a mate when he is perceived as similar, which is nothing other than an impression of love for one's masculine nature.

Therefore, the pathological rejection of such homoerotic and homosexual feelings represents a lack of one's own self-esteem as a man. Allowing these because no morality demonizes them does not mean, conversely, that the boys or men who "bond" with one another actually live the rest of their lives homosexually and do not find femininity equally arousing, more specifically the strong contrast between themselves and their sexual partners. One simply does not exclude the other, but rather complements it to form an overall stable nature as a man.

And here I come to my fundamental criticism of Donovan, how he pathetically excludes sexuality in becoming a man, thereby completely ignoring the importance of same-sex feelings in the shared pursuit of masculinity. Accordingly, he also misunderstands the meaning of brotherhood, which he does not discuss at all, since strong bonds between men can only arise through certain androphilic affections for one another. Rather, Donovan reduces male sexuality to a mere reproductive thing with "captured women". In doing so, he not only devalues women according to the Western patriarchal pattern, but also denies his own homosexuality, "following his own advice and transcending that identity and that sexuality", as he disparagingly puts it.