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The End of Men? Women in Control? This Is News?

1 year ago
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Luisita Lopez Torregrosa
Luisita Lopez Torregrosa
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Every five years or so, give or take, a female socio-multiculti-gender savant with shining credentials and a large reputation for Big Thought delivers a footnote-laden tract on the end of masculinity that reels off endless debate and buzz.
This month The Atlantic magazine treats us to an eye-grabbing cover story apocalyptically titled "The End of Men" – without a question mark, so sure is the magazine and the article's author, Hanna Rosin, the co-editor of Slate's Double X, that they've got their hands on ground-breaking, irrefutable material.
Prodded by my feminist conscience and the chatter around the femme blogosphere, I picked up the article, which I printed, kept on a shelf, glanced at, put it back on the shelf, and finally read it all in one seating on Monday.
I wish I could say I gulped it down. Truth is, I had to flog myself to turn the pages and consume 5,000 words. It was a forced march, but I finished it.
Now what? Well, it was tedious, repetitious, too exhaustive and exhausting to raise the pulse.
Hanna Rosin, no slouch in intellectual circles, backs up her conclusions with tons of stats and studies.
The headline is this: in Rosin's world, men have become secondary (not to say wimps) and women are not only on the ascendant but are now in control – in control of everything.
Guys are just going to have to take a back seat because (1) we are the majority in the workforce for the first time in U.S. history; (2) we make up much of the managerial class; (3) we are better educated (more of us get college degrees); and we are better suited to the postindustrial society.
What's more, according to Rosin, "American parents are beginning to choose to have girls over boys. As they imagine the pride of watching a child grow and develop and succeed as an adult, it is more often a girl that they see in their mind's eye."
Yay! Go girls!
But wait a minute. Haven't we heard or read much of this before? How many times can we declare the rise of women and the concurrent decline of men? Here's a sampling: Susan Faludi in "Stiffed" (2000); Christina Hoff Sommers in "The War on Boys" (2001); and Newsweek on the "boy crisis" in 2006.
In The American Prospect two weeks ago, Ann Friedman took on Rosin, saying, "Rosin makes the same oversight as all of the other hand-wringing articles about the state of the American male. She thinks the problem is men; really, it's traditional gender stereotypes. The narrow, toxic definition of masculinity perpetuated by Rosin and others – that men are brawn not brains, doers not feelers, earners not nurturers – is actually to blame for the crisis.''
Friedman went on to pulverize much of Rosin's argument, deploying only a fraction of the number of words that it took Rosin to mount it. But in all fairness to Rosin, the burden of proof is on her.
Not that it's been brick and bats for her lately.
She and her article got a big boost on the "Colbert Report" last week. Colbert's mockery was soft and he was sweet to her when she, seemingly uncomfortable on television, made an appearance at his side. Click play below to watch:

The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Testoster-Ruin - Hanna Rosin
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

All the talk about "The End of Men" comes along with a much-read story about the gender-equality debate in Sweden, where women enjoy equal rights at work and men equal rights at home. Most fathers take parental leave, the finance minister calls himself a feminist, few commercials for cleaning products feature women as homemakers, preschool books are examined for gender stereotypes in animal characters, and men don't want to be identified by just their jobs, according to The New York Times.
But closer to home, and probably juicier, is the debate in the blogosphere over "gender apartheid online,'' which revolves around the growth of women-centric online magazines.
"I'm concerned that all we have gained after four decades are stand-alone feminist online magazines and Web sites and the 'right' to have separate women's sections embedded in other magazines,'' writes Ruth Rosen, a former newspaper columnist and professor at the University of California, Berkeley. "This is the women's pages of 1969 redux, even though these sections promote a broad array of serious subjects from a strong feminist perspective. Nor are all the editors of these online magazines men who have cast women as 'the other.' Many are feminists who, for whatever reasons, have created these special women's sections.''
Rosen names Salon's Broadsheet, Slate's Double X, Politics Daily's WomanUP, and The New York Times's Female Factor.
"The new media have re-segregated women's sections,'' Rosen says. "Most are tough, smart, incisive, analytic, and focus on events, trends or stories that the mainstream online news still ignores. The bad news is that they are not on the 'front page' where men might learn about women's lives.''
Well, that's not correct. For one thing, WomanUP stories appear on the home page of Politics Daily alongside the hard news and political analysis.
"Yeah, we have a 'special' section, but we are also in the majority here,'' says Melinda Henneberger, the editor-in-chief of Politics Daily, "and how many general news outlets can say that?"
Besides, we're kidding ourselves if we believe that those society-fashion-food-home pages were banished as relics of old, bad sexism. Nah! They were redesigned, renamed, retrofitted, and populated with male editors and reporters to complement female ranks.
Look at the great New York Times, among the most progressive and pro-feminist publications anywhere. It publishes in print and online four separate weekly sections devoted to trends, fashion, society, weddings, food, and homes.
Why? Women's issues, women's interests and women's pop culture sell. They sell ads, they draw viewers and readers, they spike the ratings, and, finally, why not?
Aren't we in control?
Filed Under: Woman Up, Culture
Tagged: Ann Friedman, Broadsheet, Christina Hoff Sommers, Colbert Report, Double X, Hanna Rosin, Newsweek, Ruth Rosen, Susan Faludi, The American Prospect, The Atlantic, WomanUp
More articles from Luisita Lopez Torregrosa »

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10 Comments

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gavinhfarewell

Yeah, honestly, kudos if it makes you feel all good and have fun patting yourselves on the shoulders for being in control - since you're the only ones who seem to care. BTW, since you're in charge does that mean you're picking up the bill when you take us out on a date?

January 31 2011 at 9:35 AM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to gavinhfarewell's comment
Re'L

Aww, please don't be butt-hurt. This article isn't about putting me down, it's about how men shouldn't put women down anymore because clearly women have more power than most men would care to admit. As for paying the tab, I've seen that happen LOTS of times. Are you living in the 1950s?

It's all a matter of agreement.

February 04 2011 at 10:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
sysaphus71

Hey if it makes you feel good ...have at it..Most men really don't care if you you believe you are in control..Men will do what they want,with or without fore thought.
I do not see why it is necessary to get neurotic about your status.If you can manage to do something you like and are good at it... do it...Who cares whose in control?

June 24 2010 at 5:32 PM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
exitar01

It could be me - mainly because I'm from a different generation than the author - but I don't get it. Why should it matter if women have the same chance of winning a political seat or get the CEO position or work while dad stays at home and takes care of the house and kids? Maybe if I were 25 years older it would matter but all of my life I've seen women get equal treatment. Is she qualified should be the one and only question.

June 23 2010 at 4:56 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
barnardb3

What would be said if there were a "Man Up" section comprised of leading male contributers? In all likelyhood, it would be called sexist, discriminatory and thought to be filled with 'caveman' type thought. But because it is called "Woman Up" comprised of leading female jouralnists, it said to be inovative, cutting edge and necessary. It was declared unlawful for men to surround themselves with male counterparts in the past. Why is it perfectly acceptable for women to do the same now?
Balance is one thing that should not be compromised.

June 23 2010 at 2:35 PM Report abuse +3 rate up rate down Reply
katme2006

The hand that rocks the cradle rules the nation. Perhaps women are the ones raising men (sons) who are causing the problems? Time to look in the mirror.

June 23 2010 at 11:43 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
katme2006

Is this news? No. It's feminist hype. Men are our fathers, brothers, sons and uncles- we love, respect them, admire them and will not bash them.

June 23 2010 at 11:41 AM Report abuse +4 rate up rate down Reply
katme2006

Is this news? No. It's feminist hype. Men are our fathers, brothers, sons and uncles- we love, respect them, admire them and will not bash them.

June 23 2010 at 11:41 AM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
sarabrian95

Great. Now, as the original article says we, the women will be ruling the wold, wielding political and economic powers, fighting wars, and doing all other odd things. And our husbands, or other men will be houseboys....
Ahhhhhhh.. God...i love that term...HOUSEBOY......"hey, houseboy..today you didn't make good food again. Oh God, why did i got married with this goof"...!!
Will that be the future of all men...??

June 23 2010 at 9:54 AM Report abuse -3 rate up rate down Reply
jmbcorex

Sooooooooo...what is it that we men keep screwing up...damn...i do not get it yet

June 22 2010 at 11:50 PM Report abuse +5 rate up rate down Reply

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