The NY Times – along with other media outlets – has been delving further and further into the debate about changing gender roles and what their effect has been on our society. Unsurprisingly, this is usually approached from a feminist point of view.
In the “Room for Debate” blog in its opinion category, the Times has published the opinions of a number of people, mostly women, concerning the empowerment of American women and emasculation of their husbands. Out of seven essays, five view the change positively, one seems a bit cautious, and another, written by Ralph Richard Banks, is skeptical of the new trend.
Despite the generally triumphant tone and victory forever chord struck by several of the female writers, there are some slight expressions of unease about the fact that it appears that not all men are very happy with the new setup.
Stephanie Coontz, a history teacher at radical leftist Evergreen University in Olympia, WA., writes:
There are lots of people or trends we might want to blame for our economic stresses. But women and the women’s movement should not be included in that list, and most men know it.
There is obviously some insecurity over the idea that some men may not “know it.”
As usual, the essays dwell largely on housework, where it is seen as a universal good that men are doing more of it. That more and more husbands are less educated than wives is held out to be good by each writer except for Banks, who warns that what has happened to black families – where this disparity is highest – could soon become the norm throughout the country.
It is good to see some discussion of these issues reach the mainstream, but it is also important to realize that this is – at least in part – a reactionary response to growing men’s awareness. For example, Kathleen Gerson, a Professor of Arts and Science at NYU, writes: “Whatever term we choose, it’s clear that the gender revolution is here to stay.” Declarations of eternal victory are rather typical of new regimes, and one should not take their projections of confidence seriously.
If there is anything we should try to keep in mind, it is that the subjugation of the American male is not a permanent condition. We can overturn the new, feminist order, and we should be making every effort to do so.
