In its “Ideas” section online, Time recently posted “Men Are
Obsolete,” adapted from Hannah Rosin’s opening statement at last November’s
Munk
Debate, itself entitled “Resolved: Men Are Obsolete.” Rosin is the author
of The End of Men, a once-sensationalistic
title which echoes those of other books in recent years like Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned
Men into Boys and Are Men Necessary? All this tiresome talk about
men being obsolete and unnecessary – can we stop pretending that it is a
serious argument or that the idea is even provocative anymore?
The Munk Debates, held in Toronto, are a biannual series of
conversations among notable figures about major issues like the economy and
foreign policy. How such a tongue-in-cheek non-topic as “Men Are Obsolete”
squeaked by, I don’t know – especially considering that even Rosin herself
acknowledged this in her statement: “Are men literally obsolete? Of course not,
and if we had to prove that we could never win.”
As Leslie Loftis points out in her devastating takedown
of the event at The Federalist, the
iconoclastic Camille Paglia, on the “Con” side of the debate, was the only
participant whose argument
had any intellectual weight and who attempted to address the issue seriously;
the others, simply playing for laughs, floated condescending quips to a largely
female audience that was so flattered into agreeing with the idea that woman
have won the War of the Sexes that there was a 28% swing from Con to Pro in the
audience opinion on the topic, according to polling – the biggest swing in Munk
history.
Dowd, for example, the author of the aforementioned Are
Men Necessary?, smirked:
“So now that women don’t need men to reproduce and refinance, the question is,
will we keep you around? And the answer is, ‘You know we need you in the way we
need ice cream — you’ll be more ornamental.’” Adolescent taunts like that
accomplish nothing except to prompt men to wonder if Maureen Dowd is necessary.
Rosin, for her part, pointed to Toronto’s mayor and substance-abusing
clown Rob Ford, and to disgraced former politician and poster boy of the
genitalia selfie, Anthony Wiener, as “shining examples of modern manhood.” Really?
Would I be taken seriously if my argument hinged on holding up former Teen Mom-turned porn star Farrah
Abraham and gold-digging prostitute Ashley Dupré
as “shining examples of modern womanhood”? I would be pelted off the stage with
tomatoes, and rightfully so.
Part of her argument was that “it’s the end of men because
men are failing in schools and women are succeeding... Many boys
start falling behind as early as first grade, and they fail to catch up. Many
men, meanwhile, still see school as a waste of time, a girl thing.” If “many
men” see school – and I’m assuming she means higher education – as a waste of
time, that’s because these days it largely is, for reasons that have nothing to
do with men being lazy or unable to adapt. And if young boys are falling behind
and losing interest in school (and they are), then it is because our current feminized
educational system favors girls and is hostile to boys’ nature.
Though women like Rosin and Dowd unhelpfully want to couch
them in terms of condescending jokes, there are serious gender relation issues
today that radical feminism has exacerbated, not resolved, on both sides of the gender fence. Anyone
paying attention to what real men and women are saying – not just smug elitists
like Dowd and Rosin – can hear that there is very real anger and frustration
and a divide between them like the Red Sea. If women have “won” anything it is a
Pyrrhic victory.
Men aren’t going anywhere, and they’ve had enough of being
dismissed. We’re all in this together, so let’s put an end to the insults and
flippancy, drop the notion that the War Between the Sexes is one that can ever be
“won” by either side, and start making sincere, respectful efforts to bring men
and women back toward a shaky harmony.
(This article originally appeared here on Acculturated, 1/14/14)