Are we looking at The End of Men?

For nearly as long as civilization has existed, patriarchy—enforced through the rights of the firstborn son—has been the organizing principle, with few exceptions. Men in ancient Greece tied off their left testicle in an effort to produce male heirs; women have killed themselves (or been killed) for failing to bear sons. […] Now the centuries-old preference for sons is eroding—or even reversing. […] Even [Ronald] Ericsson, the stubborn old goat, can sigh and mark the passing of an era. “Did male dominance exist? Of course it existed. But it seems to be gone now. And the era of the firstborn son is totally gone.”

Women, it seems, are awesome.

The end of the era of the firstborn son in many countries is astounding.  Even rigid patriarchies (like South Korea) are over it.  But the article points to the fact that in the US, things are going one step further. 

When parents visiting fertility clinics in the US first got the ability to choose the sex of a baby, feminists feared for the future of women.  There was no need for that fear, it seems.  Having girl babies is the option of choice by a wide margin.  (In some clinics, it’s as high as 2-to-1.  And with a new sperm-selection method currently in clinical trials, girls account for 75% of the requests.)

And, not from this article, but adopting a girl baby costs about $2,000 more than a boy baby. (source)

Girls are in demand!

The postindustrial economy is indifferent to men’s size and strength. The attributes that are most valuable today—social intelligence, open communication, the ability to sit still and focus—are, at a minimum, not predominantly male.

• Earlier this year, for the first time in American history, the balance of the workforce tipped toward women, who now hold a majority of the nation’s jobs.
• For every two men who will receive a B.A. this year, three women will do the same.
• Of the 15 job categories projected to grow the most in the next decade in the U.S., all but two are occupied primarily by women.
• Women now hold 51.4 percent of managerial and professional jobs—up from 26.1 percent in 1980.
• Yes, near the top of the pyramid (Fortune 500 CEOs) women are not there yet.  But they’re climbing: last year, female CEOs out-earned their male counterparts by 43 percent, on average, and received bigger raises.

Overall, the feeling I get from the article is that in a changing world and workforce, men are proving unable to adapt.  Women have faced a need to adapt for decades, and adapt they did.  Against all kinds of social pressure, women did things like go to work, get an education, work as  single parent, work while married,  work with children at home, etc.

Men?  Even though they are losing their grip on control of the workforce, on getting an education (which is a prerequisite for so many jobs these days), etc, they seem to lack the drive or determination to do the things necessary to take back what they’ve lost, or at least keep pace.  So now they’re falling behind.

(And sometimes it makes them sad…)

In recent years, male support groups have sprung up throughout the Rust Belt and in other places where the postindustrial economy has turned traditional family roles upside down. Some groups help men cope with unemployment, and others help them reconnect with their alienated families. Mustafaa El-Scari, a teacher and social worker, leads some of these groups in Kansas City. El-Scari has studied the sociology of men and boys set adrift, and he considers it his special gift to get them to open up and reflect on their new condition.

“Who’s doing what?” he asks them. “What is our role? Everyone’s telling us we’re supposed to be the head of a nuclear family, so you feel like you got robbed. It’s toxic, and poisonous, and it’s setting us up for failure.” He writes on the board: $85,000. “This is her salary.” Then: $12,000. “This is your salary. Who’s the damn man? Who’s the man now?” A murmur rises. “That’s right. She’s the man.”

The men in that room, almost without exception, were casualties of the end of the manufacturing era. Most of them had continued to work with their hands even as demand for manual labor was declining. Since 2000, manufacturing has lost almost 6 million jobs, more than a third of its total workforce, and has taken in few young workers. The housing bubble masked this new reality for a while, creating work in construction and related industries. Many of the men I spoke with had worked as electricians or builders; one had been a successful real-estate agent. Now those jobs are gone too.

Men, it seems, are not able to adapt. In school, they have a harder time committing to education, even when they are in dire need of certain education to get a new/better job.  They are not as good as women at seeking out study groups, asking for help when they need it. As the article says, “Guys high-five each other when they get a C, while girls beat themselves up over a B-minus. Guys play video games in each other’s rooms, while girls crowd the study hall.”

One senior college student told the reporter, “men are the new ball and chain.”

In the professional world, men are not adapting either.  As noted earlier, of the 15 job markets  projected to grow the most in the next decade, women dominate all but two.  Theoretically, there is no reason men should not be able to do these jobs.  Teaching and nursing schools have tried HARD to recruit more men in recent years, and it’s just not working.  Teaching used to be a male-dominated profession, and then women took it over and men never challenged to take it back, or equalize the percentages.  Men seem unwilling or unable to compete in non-brawn jobs, and thus they are a dwindling force in this increasingly non-brawn society.

The article ends by referencing a Dodge commercial that aired during the Superbowl.

Of all the days in the year, one might think, Super Bowl Sunday should be the one most dedicated to the cinematic celebration of macho. The men in Super Bowl ads should be throwing balls and racing motorcycles and doing whatever it is men imagine they could do all day if only women were not around to restrain them.

Instead, four men stare into the camera, unsmiling, not moving except for tiny blinks and sways. They look like they’ve been tranquilized, like they can barely hold themselves up against the breeze. Their lips do not move, but a voice-over explains their predicament—how they’ve been beaten silent by the demands of tedious employers and enviro-fascists and women. Especially women. “I will put the seat down, I will separate the recycling, I will carry your lip balm.” This last one—lip balm—is expressed with the mildest spit of emotion, the only hint of the suppressed rage against the dominatrix. Then the commercial abruptly cuts to the fantasy, a Dodge Charger vrooming toward the camera punctuated by bold all caps: MAN’S LAST STAND. But the motto is unconvincing. After that display of muteness and passivity, you can only imagine a woman—one with shiny lips—steering the beast.

I post this not to really have much of an opinion on it, but simply because it made me think…  And also as a way to say, “Hi guys!  I’m here!”