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I really like alpha males – Hercules is the latest and perhaps greatest example in my line-up. Johannes is another. But these male leaders are not only a dying, but now an unnecessary breed.
Evolution from an industrial to a knowledge economy realizes the day of Hercules – known for strength, dominance, and authority – as fleeting. “Men could become losers in a global economy that values mental power over might,” Business Week argues. The age of force is over.
Issues of dependence and independence, dominance and subordination are largely irrelevant to how emerging young women see themselves, Harvard psychologist Dan Kindlon argues in his book Alpha Girls. “Generation Y is the first generation that is reaping the full benefits of the women’s movement,” he says. “Women corporate leaders blend feminine qualities of leadership with classic male traits.”
Gen Y women have both masculinity and femininity, developing as the best of both worlds. We balance the typically female feeling part of ourselves with the typically male thinking parts. We are powerful hybrids integrating “the intuitive and rational, the tender and hardheaded, the self-sacrificing and self-serving.”
We utilize a “transformational approach that focuses on building a team. The team approach is less hierarchical than the traditional business model. A girl’s primary goal is not to win but to maintain relationships,” Kindlon says.
The way of the alpha girl is the rallying cry for Generation Y. We disdain complex rules and authoritarian structures.
In contrast, men and boys “base their reasoning on how established rules or laws should be applied, rather than on the feelings of those affected by their decisions,” Kindlon reports. “Male children learn to put winning ahead of personal relationships or growth, to feel comfortable with rules, boundaries, and procedures.”
Men and boys with such personality types are not naturally in tune with other people’s feelings, a key to success in the new economy. Leadership that marshals and directs is often observed by young women as part of the dinosaur age.
Gen Y women will lead the new generation to positive and meaningful change. The ascent of women in the workforce will be unprecedented in history, and promises to have far-reaching implications.
We already see more women than men attaining bachelor’s degrees. In 2005, nearly 59 percent of undergraduates were granted to women. By 2050, it is projected that the degree gap will grow drastically.
Jobs are no different. Business Week reports, that “from last November through this April, American women aged 20 and up gained nearly 300,000 jobs, and American men lost nearly 700,000 jobs.” Research also shows that women who are in management make companies more profitable, even among the Fortune 500.
Roles traditionally filled by men – that of lawyers, doctors and managers – are seeing an influx of women. Other male-dominated industries such as manufacturing and construction seem to be perpetually in downturn, while women are found concentrated in upcoming and thriving industries such as education and health-care.
As men are being hemorrhaged in blue-collar, white-collar, and gold-collar jobs, young women are picking up the slack, becoming both the providers and the glue for families.
The new economy is largely dominated by young women who have unique skills, not by men who have been taught to follow the rules.
“Men are less suited than women to the knowledge economy, which rewards supposedly female traits such as sensitivity, intuition, and a willingness to collaborate,” reports Peter Coy in Business Week. “Men have tended to do better in the hierarchies, following orders and relying on positional power.”
Young men then, seemingly devoid of the meaning and opportunities that once defined them, are left in a prolonged state of adolescence. And this limbo doesn’t bring out the best in young men, columnist Kay Hymowitz argues.
“Men feel threatened by female empowerment,” Hymowitz states in one theory, “and in their anxiety, they cling to outdated roles.”
Today’s young men are “following the line of Peter Pan, ‘I don’t want to grow up.’” Hymowitz argues. “Plus, who needs commitment when there is a fantasy football team league to dominate, the possibility that a gaming product better than the Xbox 360 could be on the horizon, and your live-in girlfriend will have sex with you whenever you want?”
Young men today “suffer from a proverbial fear of commitment,” and this may be the biggest problem – “a tendency to avoid not just marriage but any deep attachments,” leading to a life that is as empty of passion as it is of responsibility, Hymowitz says. For the contemporary guy, it’s “easy to fill your days without actually doing anything.”
The solution? Not a new career, but marriage. Marriage, she says, turns boys into men.
Kindlon agrees. Married men are more successful in work, getting promoted more often and receiving higher performance appraisals than single men. Married men are much less likely to engage in risky behaviors such as drinking heavily, driving dangerously, or using drugs. They are more likely to work regularly, help others more, and volunteer more. Married men also have better immune systems, and are half as likely not to commit suicide.
But women don’t need men like they need us.
“Marriage is generally more beneficial to men than women,” Kindlon reports. “Research found that women who stayed single in their lives seemed to have good mental health, while men who stayed single all their lives did not. Choosing to be single seems to be good for women but not so good for men.”
Role reversal.
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32 RESPONSES TO "WOMEN WILL LEAD THIS GENERATION. WHAT WILL MEN DO?"
Hahaha god thats funny.
That being said I am not sexist by any means, women are very capable and really, amazing.
Men are slightly more dominate than women and make better leaders most of the time. This is not to say women cannot be leaders, but they run the risk of well, being labeled masculine.
You man say men are not "in tune" with feelings or emotions but you would probably be surprised. We simply handle it differently than women
Men have pioneered the human race for thousands of years and using the womens rights movement of the the last 80 to attempt to stifle that fact is simply naive.
Can women contribute? Of course, they were terribly held back for most of humankind and can contribute just as well as a man. Saying otherwise is as stupid as a man claiming that a woman is not capable of doing X Y or Z. Frankly I believe the author knows this deep down inside.
The man described in the article is a stereotypical man. For the record I am a 23 year old professional that does not own an Xbox, play fantasy football or live a Peter Pan life. I work 50 hours a week and take care of myself in the little free time that I have.
Not to be rude, but if I had to wager a guess, I'd say there are some underlying issues that caused this article to be written. The author clearly has something to prove, which honestly would not be the case if she felt a true equal.
Reverse discrimination? Perhaps that explains it. . .
Ahhh, the irony of your post. The alpha female should thrive on complex rules and authoritarian structures, not sensitivity, intuition, and a willingness to collaborate that your "research" seemingly exalts. If only this topic were tackled by a male. . . perhaps the selective citation and self-indulgent non sequiturs wouldn't be so apparent.
Good luck in the work force -- I sure hope you're right and not just self-agrandizing (a truly male trait). In the meantime, I'm going to go kill my soon- to-be-obsolete self -- I don't stand a chance.
I AM OFFENDED! ANGRY MAN! TARZAN BEAT JANE! Tarzan NO understand REALITY of 21st Century! Make Tarzan mad!
Huh.
Equality of gender is a good thing. No one should be judged better or worse just because they have a Y chromosome or not. Sexism is just as bad as racism.
The problem I have with this post is the same as commenter Steve above had.
Sensitivity and intuition can be taken to extremes, and are so more and more often these days. Whether that is due to more women in more powerful roles or not is irrelevant.
American Gen Y is already far too PC. At some point, probably in the near future, there is going to be a massive backlash against that "soft culture."
Male or female doesn't matter. Coddling, whether it's done to children or employees, will destroy us.
Gender roles have so distorted how we view one another that we resort to good, better, best instead of really acknowledging the individual. Men and women are equal. Anything other than that makes no sense. But women are socialized to be one way and men another, and so we turn out differently. But beneath that emotionalism that is forced on a woman, when you truly meet an alpha female, is the heart of a warrior, who will chew you up and spit you out if you get in her way. She's not better; she's simply got aggressive human traits, and in reality we are finally seeing what a gender neutral workplace would look like.
I can't wait until my children, or their children, can shake off this societal gender grooming nonesense and embrace their humanity and human choices, and we can have sensitive boys and daring girls, and it be ok.
Though I appreciate the optimistic tone of your article, it fails to point out all the inequities with which women still have to put up in their daily lives. There is still inequity in sports - in high schools and colleges, there is still a wage gap, women still comprise a dismal amount of CEOs in this country, and predominantly take up occupations that pay less than traditionally male ones. We've made progress, but we still have a long way to go.
Ironically, the book that REALLY started the feminist movement and was the impetus for the formation of NOW was written in the early '50's by a MAN - Ashley Montagu (famous anthropologist). In "The Natural Superiority of Women" he outlines the genetic/physiological/psychological strengths and weaknesses of both genders (albeit sometimes with tongue in cheek) - and his conclusions are obvious by the title of his book. I believe its now out of print, but if you can get a copy, its a great read for anyone who wants to understand gender differences and why we are the way we are.
After reading this drek, I have come to the conclusion that feelings are very important, and the next time something doesn't go my way at work, I should just cry. That'll show those mean old men.
Have you ever worked in an office full of women? If so, you would realize that a womans success is typically derailed by other women. The alpha female gets eaten by the pack. Few actually make it through and fewer continue their career for a long uninterrupted period.
I'm as proud of the rise of women in the workplace as the next feminist, but plenty of men -- even young men -- handle the knowledge economy just fine, thanks. Alpha Males may have gone the way of Betamax, and women ARE indeed changing the workforce, but that doesn't mean that men are relics.
The "battle" between the sexes is as old as the human race. Nobody gets over it faster because of the "Women's Studies" classes so many of us are obligated to take that serve purely to hammer out the fact that women are vastly superior even though they've always been treated as inferior. The fact of the matter is that both sexes are equally good. It just so happens that sometimes they're good at different things.
“Men feel threatened by female empowerment." This is true, and it's true because men are competitive and motivated to be the best. That's why we like competitive sports. Obviously it's not true that every man is motivated, or that all women are un-ambitious. These are stereotypes that are sometimes accurate, and sometimes not.
Some of the males in our generation may be lacking in motivation. I'm not going to sit around and bemoan the fact that women are going to dominate us. Hey, the fact that some men aren't well-qualified for life just makes things easier for those of us who are willing to go out there and do what we need to do. Even make commitments. :)
Interesting about the marriage study. I see no mention of whether the ages of the participants were the same, because if the men who were married were older, they would of course be more likely to receive promotions, raises etc. simply because of their greater experience and time in the market. I'm always tempted to wonder if correlational studies are really a reverse relationship than the conclusion the researcher drew. Maybe in this case the men are married because they're not doing drugs rather than not doing drugs because they're married. :)
I have actually started reading this book because I believe that the advent of the alpha girl has occurred, but I think it will lead to more equality and not necessarily overpowering of the male workforce like some are inferring. I believe that the point, of the book, was that many of the masculine traits which allow men to advance more easily in the business world are being adopted by women and giving them an slight advantage because, as you said, they have the good masculine and feminine traits. As Torbjornrive said there are many men who are like this also, but the book was focused on the women so I can see why it can be seen as 'biased'.
Steve, I think when you say "What men are afraid of is the culture that has brought us sports without scores, praise for substandard work, and a desire to make everyone feel good about what they do even if it is not up to par" you are 100% correct but it isn't just men who are concerned about that, it is women to, I'm one of them. There are men who are intimidated of women, I know first hand, when I took Internal Combustion Engines in college I was told by my classmate that I "de-masculinized" him because I was showing him how do things when it was typically a male dominated course (I was the only girl in the course). I think those men are more common in non gender typical fields though.
I found this unecessarily full of hyperbole and extreme opinions.
I would have prefered a more balanced article. One that didn't make such absolute statements as "women don't need men like they need us". A more balanced statement would be "Women gasin certain advantages in marriage while men gain others."
The whole tone of the article makes me think less of Rebecca and her writing. It may gather a lot of attention (as blogs are supposed to do). But it certainly won't contribute much to the discussion.
As it was, I
I don't like to think of myself as either an optimist or a pessimist (the glass is twice as big as it needs to be, dammit!), but I definitely see your point. Of course, we won't become completely obsolete, but I don't think you were suggesting that.
I really liked the comment about women becoming more "hybrid" by adopting more stereotypically-male traits. I have noticed that myself (and I love it). At the same time, Gen Y men are also adopting feminine traits, and are also becoming more "hybrid".
Of course, the college degree gap clearly shows that men have catching up to do. And people raised on gender stereotypes are going to have a hard time, irrespective of their own gender.
I like to think of it as a pendulum. For a very long time, the pendulum arm was stuck far on one side. Now it's loose and swinging towards the middle. Since it has momentum, it's bound to overswing in the other direction. But I hope that, ultimately, it'll settle in the middle.
Memo to author: Men are not afraid of female empowerment.
What men are afraid of is the culture that has brought us sports without scores, praise for substandard work, and a desire to make everyone feel good about what they do even if it is not up to par.
Competition and achievement have been replaced with emotionalism. From my point of view, competition brings out the best in people, while emotionalism robs us of productivity and results.
Example: I should not have to have a feel good inclusion meeting with all 956 of the people who may be impacted by every little decision I make. And who are the ones in my world who call for meetings with 956 people in them? Women. End result - nothing gets done because Sally wasn't allowed to visible and form a committee to decide on what color the font should be on our emails.
Now, GenY boys may not want to grow up - I'll grant you that. I have hired and fired my share of these folks. That is because they were never taught to grow up. They were taught that they were special and were coddled by their copter parents, and it did not matter what the outcomes were - it was only the effort that counted. Well that is not the real world.
Perhaps the influx of women into new fields is just a result of more equality in hiring and the desire of more women to want those careers. It may also be cheaper to hire new grad women than to keep higher paid male employees with tenure.
And as for fearing commitment, that is really nothing new for men in general, but when you put the high divorce rate together with the very favorable treatment women get in family courts, you can see why the fear might be growing.
Get over yourself. If it is equality you have been fighting for all these years, then leave it at that - equality. But don;t pontificate on why women are better because they respect people's feelings. At the end of the day, feelings don't pay the bills - good and prompt business decisions do.
Well, as a young male who is proud and glad to have such traits as an emotional intelligence (that's why I'm my mom's favourite I like to think) - as well as very inclined to keep relationships from past friends going into the future - I think this article speaks a certain truth!
Though not all 'winning' males show a manliness you speak of, there are a certain breed of well-to-do males that show the supposed feminine side that I speak of, a more emotional and intuitive intelligence which I think you are referring to.
It's all about a subtle intelligence.
@ Connie - Exactly. Generation Y does not exist in a silo. The BW article you talk about (and there were several I linked to), discusses the current environment that is informing the culture that Gen Y is growing up in and will contribute to. That is why it is important.
And while I agree with you that it's great Hillary Clinton is a female rolde model, I would argue that Barack Obama is successful with young people precisely because he exhibits the new leadership style - often seen in alpha girls - while Hillary Clinton does not.
Despite being a woman, Hillary is focused purely on winning, not building and maintaining relationships. Clinton is of the old-school dinosaur mold, while Obama speaks to this new leadership style, that happens to be prevalant in Gen Y alpha girls as well.
As far as the notion that I'm not making an argument.. well, I can only say I don't think others would react so vigoursly if I weren't. ;)
Thanks for sharing your perspective!
@ Andy W - Many of my statistics also came from the book Alpha Girls which is meticulously researched - and not from the internet.
Anyway, I think you bring up an interesting point. Obviously, we can't generalize that all Gen Y men are the way Hymowitz desscribes, nor are all women the way that Kindlon describes.
Your comment on marriage is fairly typical of what I've read. But Gen Y women, particularly those still in school and coming of age are holding on less to the former point of needing both mates to be equal.
I appreciate you making me think a bit more! :)
I have a hard time seeing this as a Gen Y issue. The BusinessWeek article that you cited pretty heavily talks about job gains and losses for people over 20. That includes Gen Y, Gen X, Boomers and more. And the specific men referenced in the article are in their 40's and 50's.
And there is certainly info that points to an alternative view of how the generations view women in leadership positions - one that easily comes to my mind since I live in a late-voting primary state is the support Hillary Clinton is getting from Boomers (and older).
I think your article is interesting enough to comment on but it would be more powerful if you were actually making an argument rather than combining articles from a number of sources in one place.
The difficulty to confirm research and statistics found on the internet and the confusion between correlation and causation are really just pet peeves of mine, so let's ignore that so it doesn't detract from the discussion.
Now you say that Gen Y men believe in gender equality (which I'll agree, is mostly true). However, one of the authors you cite claims that young men are threatened by this equality and thus cling to outdated roles. Does this mean that Gen Y men don't actually believe in gender equality? The "outdated gender role" that they most likely would cling to would be that of the "alpha male", the strong driven leader, the sole provider of the family, but apparently we're avoiding that as well by being aimless, undriven drifters. But isn't the delaying of maturity a supposed typical feature of Gen Y in general? Of course, most of the evidence I've experienced is contrarian in nature - the Gen Y males I know (myself included) are typically driven, successful, and committed.
As far as marriage goes, I recently read a study (that I can neither cite nor confirm, hah!) that stated alpha personalities in general are more attracted to like-minded alpha individuals. However, relationships between 1 alpha individual and 1 non-alpha individual tend to be more successful and result in more happiness for both parties.
@ Andy W - The research is sound. I'm combining articles from a number of sources, yes, but that doesn't make the reserach less sound, or the statistics misleading just because they are all in one place now.
I don't feel that presenting the information makes it lopsided to Gen Y women. The research and articles that I've read overwhelmingly point to the idea that Gen Y women are thriving in the current environment and Gen Y men aren't. This doesn't make Gen Y women superior, but I do believe it's something to discuss and an important issue which is why I wrote about it, hoping to engage in meaningful dialogue.
Thanks for the comment!
Missed your response, I'm glad you don't feel that either gender can claim superiority, but the lopsided nature of your article makes it difficult for us to infer that.
Gramatically, and otherwise, it's guys and gals. Anyone over 18 should not be called a girl. (This is in the comments section, not the blog post.)
This is news precisely because it's a change in trend, from the past 1000 years. (Argueably, of course.)
"Reverse" descrimination hurts, doesn't it. Two wrongs don't make a right, but it's important to have the dialogue.
Personally, I wasn't offended ... at all.
Your mileage may vary.
Your article offends me. It is no better for women to start this "we are superior" rhetoric than when the men where doing it to us in the 1950s.
Men are graduating from college at lower levels because there is an anti-male bias in grading. William Draves and Julie Coates have been studying this issue for years. (www.smartboysbadgrades.com). Here's what they have to say on the subject:
"The Answers in Brief:
The underlying reason boys get worse grades and attend higher education in declining percentages is because boys have different biological and neurological characteristics than girls. This means that:
Generations learn differently. Boys learn differently than girls, and today’s boys also learn differently than previous generations of students.
Boys are actually ahead. Because of their neurology, boys are actually ahead in leading society into the new economic age of the 21st century.
Boys are punished for late homework. GPAs are lower because of behavior unrelated to learning and knowledge. Smart boys turn in homework late, and this is also explained by the boys’ hard wiring."
And if marriage is the solution, I have a question - how many of these highly educated women are going to want to marry these supposedly inferior uneducated men?
My husband and I went to journalism school together 15 years ago. Our approach to our careers has diverted since then - he stayed with journalism, I moved on to marketing. But although we have the same skill set and education, we approach our careers and leadership very differently. And guess what? We make about the same money and have achieved the same level of success. But we're Gen Xers and we grew up with the attitude that guys and girls are pretty much equal.
If what you say about Gen Y is true, I pity Gen Y women because your pool of potential life partners is pretty bleak. But then again, if you want men to value you, you need to value men.
I'm glad I'm not the only one incredibly offended by this article. If an article was written about how men were much better than women, the author would immediately be villified as a mysogynist pig. Yet, as usual in today's society, it is OK to male bash as much as you want.
I see nothing in your article that would actually CONVINCE me that what you say is true. You manage to cite a bunch of misleading statistics and quotes by authors who provide nothing in the way of concrete evidence to back up their claims of the impending doom of the male gender. Perhaps if you used some of those "rules and procedures" that you eviscerate men for cherising, your article might present a more cogent argument.
@ Gen Xpert - I certainly didn't mean to infer that Gen Y women are superior.
The prevailing paradigm that young Gen Y women look at the world through is one of equality, not through feminism or that they are inferior or superior, but that we're all equal. Gen Y men are the same, believing in equality of the genders.
I'm not surprised at the research you point to. The research that I read said the same thing; both women and men have strengths and weaknesses.
How marriage plays out with Gen Y will be extremely interesting to be sure. In the research I read, many Gen Y alpha girls want men who are at the same level as them. Others didn't care. It seems Gen Y women know what history has taught us for centuries; love is inexplicable.
I'm happy you and your husband are happy with your career paths. The point of my post was to present and synthesize many articles and books I had read on the topic about the future of Gen Y and the new economy.
Whether it's indicative of a positive or negative future, or how far the pendulum will swing back and forth can't be known right now. But I have faith in Generation Y - both the men and women - that we will change the world for the better.
That's it, I'm going to cut my penis off for real this time
Sergiy Grynko has given an analogy to the chronological progression of gender differences that I use all the time. To further it, once the pendulum middle has been reached, the momentum is going to be harder to stop than to just "let it ride". It may be difficult to accept, but I think women who have kids that happen to be male will be paramount with the realization and explanation of how in some areas males treated as second rate citizens, as are some women. I hope the internet shortens the equilibrium time with information exchange being so quick, especially at revealing false statistics and myths that fuel a lot of fires.
rick lynn
5012 Seaboard Ave.
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mayfieldga@bellsouth.net
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To Feminists regarding Male Crisis:
Something not understood could be much worse in the future
Please correct me where I am wrong, but I feel feminists truly believe women must undergo some forms of retaliation from some Males in various ways before they are finally accepted as equals in the world economy. I feel women and feminists believe persons whether they be Male or Female are more or less given equal mental, emotional, social, and academic support as a group. Thus those areas being equal, there only remains, according to present medical or genetic model thinking, one’s ability or effort in determining one’s place in the world economy.
Correct me if I am wrong. I feel feminists and women believe they simply must prove their credentials, experience, and knowledge to finally be accepted by men as equals. Then after this brief period in time, men and women will finally be able to respect each other on more even terms. I feel there is the belief that when this achieved the problems with the Male backlash will then slowly die off into history.
Now, with that said. I feel the issue of Males falling behind academically and economically is perhaps an oversight not foreseen by many persons both feminists and those outside that circle. I sincerely feel truly educated and very wise feminists do not desire a Male Crisis. They truly wish Males and Females were competing equally in the classroom. Wise feminists know as I know that Males are operating in a very physical, power oriented world. Wise Feminists know that unless there is equality in the classroom their hopes for a peaceful future will not come to fruition. They know that without equality in the classroom, Males will fall behind to a collective point where a Male backlash will not just continue but will grow more and more intense over time. This bodes very poorly for society and yes, women in the future.
Note this is a real problem for feminists everywhere, for they are only interested in equality, not superiority. I hope feminists are just as leery or doubtful as I am as to the outcome for equality given the reasons presently seen as causes for Females surging ahead academically and economically. The ideas presented are laziness or lack or willpower; differences in brain function or activity; lack of role models; lack of Male teachers or Male direction in the classroom; learning differences requiring different modes of instruction requiring more tactile instruction; or simply organic inferiority to learn information age skills. I hope those who have seen these suggestions are just as skeptical as I am as causes that can be adequately dealt with for society to achieve sufficient equality for Males and Females.
I feel long before we look in those directions, we need to do a real heart felt check into just how Male and Female children and adults are treated. I really believe that until those areas are examined fully, society will do itself and many Males a very grave disservice by looking into organic differences as the cause for the current, international Male Crisis. I feel unless my theory is given serious consideration, the Male Crisis will only get worse and hopes for an equal outcome for feminists will take a more terrible turn in the future.
I strongly suggest they look in multiple areas, but most of all look at the environmental differences in treatment I present in my learning theory. I will now present my learning theory for all to read, use, and copy either here in this article by
e-mail in this article or as a separate article for all to have by e-mail later. I hope my theory and its cognitive tools are given serious consideration. I feel it represents the only real hope for Male to attain equality in society. My learning theory will go to all on request by e-mail at mayfieldga@bellsouth.net or mayfieldga@netzero.net
I would like to go ahead and put my updated learning theory to explain just how learning is greatly affected by differential treatment. I will instead show one application that applys to Males falling behind and why it is occurring.
I know why Males are falling behind. It is not genetic or effort on the part of Males. It is not learning modes. I feel the differences in brain activity are due to socialized effects over time, not organic differences. I will put a short version of my learning theory below. The complete version will go to on request.
Why Males are Falling Behind Academically and Economically
Males are falling behind in greater numbers each year both academically and economically. Our society is still playing out the nineteenth century belief Males should be strong and Females should be protected. This belief allows much aggression toward Males to make them tough. Any sign of weakness or displaying work that is considered more feminine is a negative in the eyes of society that will only react with more aggression toward such Males. Only Males who have been taught from a young age to not value those physical areas sufficiently and who are valued more so for so-called feminine qualities such as patience, understanding, ease of nature, kindness, mildness, and goodness will be able to also develop other information age skills society still feels is feminine such as mental, emotional, social, and academic skills. You see, all of those skills require more patience, ease of nature, and "low average stress along with proper pace and intensity in approaching those mental areas". Since society's belief, Males should be strong allows much more aggression toward Males from day one, Males are operating with much higher average stress that makes learning information age skills much more difficult (and creates more active behavior). Also Males are not given (positive attention) mental, emotional, social, and academic support, knowledge and skills (unless by accident). Society in its ignorance considers such attention and support as coddling the Male child. Society still holds that Males should pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.
As a result, Males are not given the tools to develop vital mental, emotional, social, and academic areas. This greatly cuts down on their motivation to develop those skills. The combined effect of society only rewarding strength and power to face aggression; neglect in many social and academic areas; not rewarding but acting with more aggression toward Males who attempt to develop mildness, kindness, goodness, and care for others; not caring to reward and in some to many areas even showing more aggression toward Males who display mental, social, and academic knowledge and skills are hurting many Males. Over a period of years, this is leaving many Males grossly unable to compete in the information age. Instead, over those years many Males have sought out and developed over time those qualities that will provide them with a measure of love, honor, respect, and protection from society’s aggression. In this case, we have the power images, body building, and other imagery the Male is seeking to provide them with feelings of self-worth. You see, persons experience feelings of self-worth based on the love, honor, respect, and support they receive from society. Males having been led completely away from those more valuable information age assets from an early age are turning toward those areas society will encourage, reward, and respect in Males. Over a period of years, this leaves Males far behind Females in mental, emotional, social, and academic knowledge and skills. Therefore, this is creating the ever-growing international Male Crisis that will only get worse for Males and then get much worse for Females when Males begin to react in collective ways against women and society. Society will continual maintaining this mistreatment of Males until that critical point is reached.
The truth is in today’s world, little boys need just as much coddling as the girls and just as much mental, emotional, social, and academic support as the girls. While neglect of Male children and boys may have proved useful in the more physical nineteenth century, it is working opposite of need in the information age where it requires much more accumulated mental, emotional, social and academic skills acquired over time. In these areas, Males are being seriously shortchanged.
Yes, it is true girls mature faster than boys for the simple reason that mental, emotional, social, and academic support are seen as coddling the boys. Society has long believed in boys pulling themselves by their bootstraps in those areas. This is leaving many Males far behind girls in many social and academic areas. The increased aggression Males receive from day one, creates three bad things for Males academically, mentally, emotionally, and socially: 1. It creates higher average layers of mental frictions (redefined from higher average stress) which inhibit thinking, learning, and motivation in mental areas. 2. These higher layers of mental frictions also create improper pace and intensity in approaching mental work (apply too much effort when approaching new material) and higher tension that hurts motivation to learn. 3. It creates the Male ego or defensive cushion that the Male develops from an early age to protect them from the aggressions they receive from society. This Male ego or defensive cushion has the negative consequences of further alienating the Male from “any” various mental, emotional, social, and academic supports they “might just” receive from society. When Males hear firm or hard words from others like teachers or others their minds are thinking defense and not thinking about learning and enjoying the learning process.
The combination of high layers of mental frictions and defensive cushion are working to create an impediment to learning that accumulates in harm over time for men. In society today, men are given love, honor, respect, and support or the essentials of their self-worth only on the “condition of sufficient” achievement, money, power, status or image. They must fight through the still present, nineteenth century confrontations allowed by society upon them from an early age to achieve those benefits and feelings of self-worth. Society has now created through prejudice and stereotyping, a form of Gender Cast System through mistreatment of Males and over support of Females where there is early training for Males to perform more menial or physical tasks while women are being prepared for white collar positions.
It is incorrect to view the Male Crisis on role models. The lack of role models is the result of the problem, not the cause. If you had a bag full of sand with a hole in the bottom, you would “not” say there is less sand in the bag; you would say there is a hole in the bottom of the bag. Indeed, we should fix the hole in the bag by providing Males with tools to develop long-term, mental/emotional stability so they can better compete mentally and emotionally in the information age. One professional was attempting to find more role models for Male children. He boasted that a Male child’s esteem goes up when they have one positive role model. What he was unknowingly saying was that Males have such little attention that when they do receive that attention, they are very grateful. This creates the large rise in esteem. The fight for attention could be creating misbehavior in Male children.
Today, many men are becoming angry because they losing more than jobs and status, they are losing out on those things they are seeking most of all, love, honor, respect, support, the essentials of self-worth. The little bites they receive in the various media and the workplace accumulate over time and create much anger that touches on and erodes their feelings of self-worth. As a person loses feelings of self-worth they also lose regard for consequences. If men fall behind more collectively, they may begin to retaliate more collectively, thus ending the present shield of over-protection for women. This will mean much more abuse and crimes against women. It will do well for all parents, teachers, employers to those in various media to be more kind to others, including Males.
For women, due to the nineteenth century belief women should be protected and still in effect today, this has created much overprotection and even indulgence for many women. It is creating very low layers of mental frictions collectively for women. This makes thinking, learning, and motivation mental areas much easier. This protection and continuous attention from day one create a high speed expressway that allows for much continuous, mental, emotional, social and academic support and advancement in many areas over time (years). These two continual supports from society over time create nearly everything a person needs today to succeed in the information age.
For women, due to the nineteenth century belief women should be protected and still in effect today, this has created much overprotection and even indulgence for many women. It is creating very low layers of mental frictions collectively for women. This makes thinking, learning, and motivation mental areas much easier. This protection and continuous attention from day one create a high speed expressway that allows for much mental, emotional, social and academic advancement in many areas over time. These two continual supports from society over time create nearly everything a person needs today to succeed in the information age. Since women are given through overprotection, even indulgence, the benefits of love, honor, respect, and continual support, all of the benefits of self-worth from an early age without qualification (simply for being girls), they are working with much more continual support and interaction to accumulate more continual mental, emotional, social, and academic knowledge and skills that can be transformed easily into money, power, status, and image. Even after this, society’s protection, continued support and view toward beauty and charm continually helps them in the information age.
Women are now surging ahead academically and economically due to this overprotection and men are puzzled as to why they are falling behind in those areas. If you remove the old money from older men, the girls are making more. The current beliefs held by both men and women today is that Males learn differently and/or men are simply lazy and do not try hard enough. These false beliefs only add to the growing Male Crisis. The men who believe this and who do not have information to the contrary may believe they are somehow mentally inferior or just not working hard enough. Somehow, humans, men included, tend to reflect the treatment they receive in their lives upon others and do not know or are not allowed by society to say how differential treatment is hurting them. This may lead Males to give up in developing various mental, emotional, social, and academic skills over time. They may limit their interest and desires to smaller windows of fulfillment within their social connections. They will continue to dress up for display, their Male defensive cushion to at least present a plausible image when dealing in areas where they are not as competent. Worse for these Males, they may advance their beliefs and feelings onto their sons from an early age, thus enabling the continuation of the harmful belief of inferiority in the information age.
As for women, they having been told the same teaching that persons are naturally better in some areas or simply work harder. They may truly feel they are simply more intelligent or have worked harder to achieve what they have achieved. In our world, again women like men often reflect their environment and treatment upon others and so do not appreciate difference in treatment. Also, in our world of insecurities, it is no wonder when women achieve, to boost their insecurity, as affects everyone, they will believe this achievement is due to more intelligence or greater effort on their part and not due to any environmental variables.
There is another growing phenomena, this involves the driving of Males from the work place. Part of the reason is there are fewer jobs left for Males in the industrial and other blue collar related areas and more job openings in more white collar areas. But even so, there are other reasons for this change in society. One reason is the nineteenth century belief Males should be strong has left many Males years behind in various mental, emotional, social, and academic areas of learning. This has created a large pool of Male employees who are not able to adapt to information age needs. Another reason is that as more Females enter positions of power and collective control, they are more apt to keep Female employees and lay off Male employees (there is no equal opportunity protection for Males). There is another more complex reason why Females are keeping their jobs and Males are losing their jobs. The nineteenth century belief Females should be protected works in the work place also. It places more constrictions on how jobs, intimidation, force for output, and general respect and care is given to Females. However, society’s allowed aggressions upon Male employees allows much more harsh treatment of Males in terms of verbal abuse, intimidation, job assignments, and lack of respect in general. This difference in treatment over time places the Male in a much more precarious position in deciding whether to continually put up with such mental/emotional abuse or quit or be fired for finally drawing a line at some point. Even when Females face similar treatment on the job, the over all treatment of respect and care usually support them so they are able to carry on and remain employed.
I suspect these reasons are now being played out in society as Business Week said that in the last six months, “From last November through this April, American women aged 20 and up gained nearly 300,000 jobs, according to the household survey of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). At the same time, American men lost nearly 700,000 jobs. You might even say American men are in recession, and American women are not.”
By showing Males and Females how our environments greatly affect thinking and learning, students will have much more respect for themselves and for others. By providing students with tools to approach their lives differently to continually improve their abilities, students will then have a continuous hope of developing in time, many if not all of the qualities they admire in others. Students will then have a continuous hope of changing and becoming better, newer persons with each passing day.
We need to begin teaching Male and Female children and adults how our individual environments greatly affect skills and abilities over time. We need to show Males and Females how differences in treatment do exist in the information age and have hurt Males over time. By providing this understanding, both Males and Females will begin to have much more appreciation for the other in terms of their differences in environment. Males will recognize how their environments are creating their difficulties and remove from their shoulders the false belief they are somehow genetically inferior or simply not working hard enough. Females will perhaps also recognize both how differential treatment has hurt the Male and speak with greater care and understanding rather than the current society allowed verbal, silent abuse, and patronization they presently give to those they feel they have an advantage over. By providing this understanding will the two groups be able to exist in more harmony and maintain better relationships.
To reduce and eliminate this problem and help Males have a more equal footing, parents, teachers, administrators, and all forms of media need to be taught that this critical point and its many areas of Male aggression will begin to increase to a “much higher level” than presently seen. We need to begin teaching parents, teachers, and others who teach and model to children that the extra aggression they have given Males is hurting the Male children’s ability to grow mentally, emotionally, socially, and academically over time. They need to be taught how to treat those students and other Males in society with as much respect and care as they presently provide Female students. This is the only way to help Males begin to catch up in all of the many social areas they are presently lagging. This new way of thinking will be very difficult for the Male parent, teacher, administrator, or other professional for they have been raised with the old, more aggressive ways for many years and have come to rely on their feelings of self-worth based upon their money, power, status, and image. They have also experienced years of aggression, which has been woven into their mind and spirit to create their defensive posture or Male ego that is now more or less imprinted into their personality. Such a spirit will almost invariably imprint this same posture or spirit into the Male children they are raising.
For many Males it will require much cognitive understanding of the problem and a willingness to begin treating Male children with the same respect and give the same positive attention to the Male children as they do with Female children. For women, this means not using Male children as emotional scapegoats as society has allowed them to do in the past. Also women need to begin realizing that using adult Males as emotional scapegoats (with current feelings of protection by society) when they have power over them in some way is a very hazardous way to approach Males. You know, with continuous indulgence so directly related to mental, emotional, social, and academic knowledge and skills over time, society would practically have to treat Female and Male children the same in many areas to achieve equality between genders. I see Males and society losing in the end, but this end may be pushed off much farther into the future provided there is much more understanding and action in this area over time. This problem will only get worse unless action is taken now.
1. I fear followers of the medical or genetic models will begin to build a case for genetic learning differences and/or body mass requiring more activity and/or tactile learning. Note that nice middle class Males do not have this problem. Also the view of differences in brain activity are more due to large differences in differential mental, emotional, social, physical, and educational reinforcement over time, nor organic differences.
2. I also fear the use of Male classrooms with more discipline and more time on task will only lead to more stereotyping Males to perform more physical or menial labor to match the growing cast system being portrayed in the media against Males today.
We must learn to realize that our current, single/multiple intelligence models were simply accepted out of hand years ago and held on to by many who were in control and apparently felt satisfied enough with their own life. Such ones could not see the tremendous disadvantage and damage such narrow, short-sighted beliefs would have on others, even among some persons who are closely related to them.
I tell those who would still cling to the myth of permanence in ability they are killing their students whereas my theory offers two large, cognitive tools to continually improve ability and hope for children and adults. They are free to choose the myth of permanence in ability or my theory that provides hope and improvement.
The Male Crisis is but one application of my Learning Theory. My Learning Theory provides two large tools we can teach to students and adults to continually improve thinking, learning, motivation to learn, and most importantly, mental/emotional health for all students and adults. My complete Learning Theory and its Cognitive tools are free to all by e-mail – mayfieldga@bellsouth.net Feel free to make copies of all files.
This would apply to GenY women. Winter is coming for them as well.
http://www.dogwalkblog.com/2008/08/17/be-patient-with-geny-winter-is-com...
If you continue to pave paradise, you shouldn't wonder why you live in a sterile world. Nature has balance for a reason. Males and females are needed equally for the species to thrive.
@Jeff makes a good point. When offices are all female, they will work against each other to derail each other. Women are every bit as competitive among other women as men are among other men. It is only when we have a mix of the sexes that women work to "maintain" relationships. @Rebecca Really, live long enough to experience it before using "facts" and studies to support a claim of superiority.
I encourage you to look just a little bit deeper about why GenY "men" do not want to grow up. I encourage you to start by looking at who raised them. I may be entirely off base by virtue of having nothing but the experience of age, but you may find that the GenY men were raised by a generation of males emasculated by the Women's Lib movement of the 1970s and the emboldened women of the same period.
Just a thought.
There too exists a chemical/biological aspect in equalizing the genders.
Various studies are indicating that unregulated chemicals released into the environment are causing males to take on feminine characteristics. Males are slowly “disappearing” and morphing into females.
Some experts are blaming birth control for water contamination. Birth control pills, like batteries and baby bottles, have become the latest item to become a focus of environmental and health concerns. Scientists debate the effects of synthetic hormones that are flushed into waterways.
After 50 years from extensive use of synthetic hormones in the pill for birth control the biological cycle of hormones got closed. Today we find synthetic estrogen everywhere in the food we eat and in all products produced by using contamined drinking water.
In the way how estrogen contamined drinking water and food converted in daily alimentation of women and men. The opposite polarization of their different gender and their mutual sexual attraction is going lost. Men becoming more female and women more masculine!
read more in: http://lhessiando.wordpress.com/2009/01/02/men-becoming-more-female-and-...
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