Reader “Shree” posts the following comments from our recent conversation on the state of White Male Victimology:
“Have you seen this?
Two University of Pennsylvania economists have completed a study showing that over the past four decades the happiness gap between whites and African Americans has been significantly reduced.
That’s good news indeed and Julia Baird is right to offer it as proof that the civil rights movement has made an appreciable difference in the lives of African Americans. Link here.
But, as she notes, the picture is not quite as clear as it first appears. While African American women have enjoyed the greatest increase in their personal happiness, African American men did not have any increase at all.
Why is it that the civil rights movement, in practice, seems to have been biased against men? Why is it that the movement did not save African American males?
More here…”
http://stuartschneiderman.blogspot.com/2010/08/has-feminism-made-women-happier.html
Indeed, the above blogpost “snippet” raises all manner of very uncomfortable questions on a number of levels and on all sides, questions that simply have not been honestly considered to say nothing of resolved.
The first question is of course, why are White Women, the putative beneficiaries of the Second Wave, so very unhappy, per the UPenn study? If you’re of a mind to read social issue blogs, chances are you’ve heard of this study; I certainly have, and it is always interesting to see the reaction of hardcore feminist ideologues attempt to vilify the authors of said study, who just happen to be two White Women economists. Could it be, that there was never any real comparison to be drawn or made, between the Women’s movement, and the Civil Rights movement? Could it be that, while White Women had legitimate concerns, they never approached the degree of urgency and severity, that those who were African American faced? Could it just be, that the brave new world of liberated Womanhood, wasn’t all the Sisterhood that it would be-indeed, far from it?
Then, of course, comes the even more uncomfortable question:
Given that the UPenn study clearly shows that African American Women are clearly more happier overall than are White Women, yet African American Men have NOT benefitted much at all from the Civil Rights era, could it be possible that Black Women benefitted from being, in essence, a “double minority”? And, why is there virtually nothing said about this, most notably, how little Black Men have gained over the past four-plus decades?
With so many social issues, wrapped up undoubtedly with economic ones, playing out across our national landscape, and with President Obama’s “referendum’ on his tenure comes ever close into clear focus in the 2010 midterm elections, these are real questions that I feel simply cannot go on being ignored much longer.
It will be very interesting to see what happens.
Comment & reply, holla.
The Obsidian
