Chauvinism A Two Way Street?

Man, oh et Man no

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November 18, 2009 21:11

Only a lefty paper like EYE WEEKLY could get all the symptoms correct about modern man’s tendency to avoid the traditional responsibilities of manhood (“Too few good men,” by Edward Keenan, Cover Story, Nov. 12) while failing to blame the key perpetrator, which is feminism.

Don’t get me wrong; feminism was great in many ways, but it was also destructive to both men and women. Boys schooled in the ’70s and ’80s — including me — were encouraged to be nothing in life, unlike our fathers who were taught that they were going to be the heads of a family and breadwinners of a household.

Men were groomed to accept that they weren’t needed to fulfill traditional roles in society, so many men have decided to take advantage of that and do what feminism promoted and live how they want to live. And while much of feminism was positive, many women with satisfying careers are left wondering why they are in their forties and still can’t find a man that can take care of them or lament the children they never had. I’ve heard a few women ask, “Where are all the men?” That’s easy: they are in a bar, having a beer, waiting for a woman to hit on them. Miles Horton

Yay, Edward Keenan, for this article. I’m so glad a man wrote this because if I — a never-married, thirtysomething, home-owning female single parent — said anything similar I would be called a bitter, man-hating bitch. I’m not bitter; I’m busy getting on with life. One or two immature, irresponsible men in my life could be a coincidence, but when the numbers start to add up, you begin to see a pattern that has nothing to do with your own poor choices. I wonder if this is not the cause in the rise of the “cougar” — if you have to date a commitment-phobic man-child, he might as well be a hard-bodied 22 instead of a balding, pot-bellied 45.
Elaine May