@hawkeye10,
Quote: So either men and women are not equal, or some constraint has been applied to men at the very same time that one was removed from women.
What absolute nonsense!
For a person who constantly blames all evils on those (shudder) "feminists", you fall so easily into the trap of male-myth making. The notion that all advances made by women work to the disadvantage of men is truly absurd. Behind that view lurks a paranoia that contemporary women are systematically robbing men of their potency--in the boardroom and in the bedroom. These are male fears of inadequacy (and yes, we know you have them), and male myth-making works them into a frenzy, and then sends a message that men have to try to stem this tide of female power in order to regain control. Because now we have the prospect of men being excluded entirely, marginalized, rendered irrelevent....we face THE END OF MEN.
Good grief, and men have always thought that women were the more emotionally hysterical sex
Hawkeye, male whining about their alleged victimization at the hands of women, and whimpering about being the collateral damage of women's march to equality, is really puerile.
Cultures evolve, gender roles shift, the rules change, so what's the big deal? What on earth are you afraid of? Things won't be the way they used to be? Men won't be as "manly" as before? When it comes right down to it, what are you really afraid you will lose?
The goal of equality is to improve the situation for
everyone, not just women. If a woman earns more money these days, or simply brings some money into the home, the entire family has a better income, the children have more, there is more consumer spending and the economy benefits. What difference does it make if her paycheck is fatter than her husband's? What is hurt by that? The male ego? His loss of his role as the hunter who returns with a carcass to slap down on the table? And, if society now has the full benefits of capable men and women, of all its talented adults, working in all areas of life, and at all levels of government, doesn't that benefit everyone? How on earth are men being disadvantaged by anything as a result of removing those sexist barriers that women had to face in the past, and still face to a lesser degree?
If the male psyche is really unable to adapt to cultural changes, and gender role changes, perhaps men should become obsolete as part of the evolutionary process. I give them considerably more credit than that. If they want to play video games in the dorm, while their female counterparts are studying hard, they won't be the ones getting into grad school. If they can't throw their laundry into the washer, and learn to cook some meals, they're acting like big babies who expect mommy to still be taking care of them, and being a baby isn't exactly macho or particularly appealing. If they'd rather watch internet porn than improve their foreplay techniques and love-making skills, then their wives and girlfriends might look to other men for excitement.
Giving women more options does mean men might have to work harder to get and keep what they want to have. More players on the field ups the level of competition, but it also makes for more interesting play. Men can't just coast by on some sense of inherent male entitlement anymore. They've got to invest time and energy into something, they've got to work harder, because, if they don't, they won't be able to keep their equal footing with women. and the fault will be their own.
So I think the basic premise of this thread is really a bogus argument. Men aren't being shoved aside, they aren't being constrained, they aren't being emasculated, it is not the end of the world as we know it. Women are not ascending in dominance, they are not running the show, and they have no desire to run the show--they want collaboration and cooperation, they want partnerships, they want equality. The whole notion of a war between the sexes is another male myth. In wars someone always loses. Women are interested in achieving, not in conquests. I really don't think that women feel they are engaged in a war with men, I don't think they ever felt that way. The enemy isn't men, it's sexism. And sexism, like racism, and every other form of prejudice and discrimination, doesn't just hold women back, it holds the entire society back. As the vestiges of sexism disappear, everyone benefits.
So, instead of whining about men being victimized by the progress of women (which is really still in its infancy), why aren't you rejoicing about the changes we've seen? Aren't they really to the long term benefit of everyone?
That's been the point of your thread.
During the war, women worked in factories; when the men came home, they were booted out, even though they might have been widowed in that very same war and had families to feed, too.