I first took notice of this thread reading another book: Men on Strike. Men on Strike details the disturbing trend of avoiding marriage, relationships, job seeking and literal dropping out by men on all fronts. The book details reasons why men are avoiding divorce where all of their earthly belongings are up for grabs. They are avoiding college where the possibility of bad grades, extreme debt and considerable mischief make them feel that the investment is not worth it.
This telling of the current state of manhood is at least told with a tone of empathy and regret for the men enduring the current state of affairs. The End of Men and the Rise of Women is another story entirely in terms of tone. There is an air of rancor that insinuates that men are so deserving of this role evolution that they should be grateful to still be allowed on the planet.
The book is a collection of stories illustrative of the plight of men in post-industrial society. The provocative chapter Hearts of Steel describes the current role reversal where women “hook up” with men for the purpose of sexual gratification with no intention of having a lasting relationship. The women really don’t want to connect because that might impede their upward career climb. This is especially true as men continue to fail to exhibit similar mobility. These women choose solitude with male and female friends and postpone long term commitment and childrearing.
The Seesaw Marriage is another chapter that describes couples who opt for either partner to assume the breadwinner role as the other assumes a beneficial role. “This is how the new seesaw marriage operates. Couples are not choosing justice and fairness as measured by some external yardstick of gender equality. What they are after is individual self-fulfillment and each partner can have a shot at it at different points in the marriage.”
Ms. Rosin posits that the future depends on whether men can rebound and flourish in adequate numIbers in the new worldwide information economy. One would wonder whether most industrial economies can continue with the loss of significant numbers of participants. I also wonder whether contemporary families are robust enough to withstand this gender-based turbulence long enough to recover before there is wholesale damage to the family as we know it.
Join me for Part II where I look at collateral damage to men, women and families as this evolution continues.
Join me for Part II where I look at collateral damage to men, women and families as this evolution continues.
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