'Meaning of a man'

Submitted by Mastodon on Fri, 2013-03-22 06:51

Article here. Excerpt:

'I recently read a magazine article that explored the problems modern men face, which, despite all the hoopla, aren’t as serious as, say, the problems men faced during the Great Depression or World War II.

The headline asked, “What makes a real man anyway?” The writer suggested that things are going terribly wrong, so men need more therapy and medication. That’s certainly original thinking. While some social critics blame the feminist movement for our disorientation, I have doubts about that theory. If anything, we’re to blame for the problems women face.

Nevertheless, I’m worried about young men, because they don’t seem to be motivated by anything but money, power, sex, and partying. There has to be more to a man’s life than that. (OK, maybe iPhones, sports cars and video games instead.)'

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Comments

Part of it is undoubtedly generational: I have yet to meet a Silent Generation member who seems to grasp life as it is today for anyone under 50. But this has perhaps more to do with "Future Shock" as experienced by older ppl, the kind of thing Alvin Toffler said would happen. To some degree thus, the author can be forgiven. After all, when I'm his age, who knows what sort of head-shaking and finger-wagging I won't myself be doing? (Hey, don't I already do this, just in re men's issues and those durned feminists?)

Nonetheless, like a lot of ppl, it's clear he is filled with nymphotropic ideas and biases abt men. Well, those are the consequences of living in a society that gives ppl two major options re their POV around men: The "traditional" one wherein men are a good thing provided they prove their utility to women, children, employer, and nation (ie, as cannon fodder), or the "modern" one which paints men as latent or actual good-for-nothing rapist/murderers who if you're lucky will instead play video games and not rape your daughters. Take your pick. This guy is living in a world of Option One. The men he is complaining abt live in a world of Option Two. 1950, meet 2013.

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Submitted by Matt on Sat, 2013-03-23 03:46

If anything, we’re to blame for the problems women face.

Oh dear. Everybody is interconnected. We all impact on others via our actions and behaviours. Why single out men for blame and women for sympathy, especially in an article that is supposed to be about men?

As someone who regards women as adults with choices and agency of their own, I fail to see why I should be blamed for women's problems, especially when many of these (for example the gender wage gap) are caused primarily by women's own choices.

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Submitted by sirprince on Sat, 2013-03-23 13:05