August, 2011

Where Are the Solutions?

by Jessica Bennett
The Conversation
August 31st, 2011

For a moment, let’s just assume we buy the theory that men are in decline: in school, in work, in relationships, and ultimately, in life. Over the past two weeks, Hymowitz has identified the problem, we’ve debated its merits, and we’ve looked at the philosophies behind it. Yet despite a 248-page book and a 2,400-word [...]

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A Final Few Words

by Kay Hymowitz
The Conversation
August 31st, 2011

Due to some hurricane-related power problems, I’ll have to limit myself to just a few random comments. Miedzian appears to believe that salaries should reflect some Platonic version of the importance, difficulty, and responsibility of a job. Sometimes they do, but not because a philosopher king got to determine things. It’s because of supply and [...]

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Between Individual Choice and Cultural Destiny

by Amanda Hess
The Conversation
August 26th, 2011

I’ve watched with interest as this discussion of the future of men and women has danced along the divide between individual choice and cultural destiny. In her lead essay, Hymowitz suggests that the decline of men could be a product of “our culture and its expectations” for them. Our society is “agnostic” toward the “future [...]

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Women’s Work Still Pays Less

by Myriam Miedzian
The Conversation
August 19th, 2011

Hymowitz claims that when Hess, Bennett, and I point out that women earn less and are underrepresented in business and politics we “are telling half truths that don’t do women any favors.” She then argues that the real reason women earn less is that they work fewer hours, work part time or not at all [...]

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The Decline of Men is a Women’s Issue

by Kay Hymowitz
The Conversation
August 16th, 2011

It’s still a man’s world: that’s the idea that connects the three responses to my essay “What’s Happening to Men?” Bennett, Hess, and Miedzian point to two related facts to support their position: women continue to earn less than men and to be MIA at the highest levels of business and politics. But by failing [...]

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Don’t Blame Women’s Workplace Successes for Men’s Problems

by Myriam Miedzian
Reaction Essay
August 15th, 2011

Myriam Miedzian considers the 1960s, the era that formed the parents of many of today’s underperforming men. For a generation of women, second-wave feminism opened the job market, while the 1960s “do your own thing” ethos meant educational and career success. For the same generation of men, education and career meant conformity; “do your own thing” meant having fun. Miedzian points to a wide variety of other cultural trends in a far-reaching response, but ultimately concludes that we have failed men in two ways—by placing sports and conflict ahead of study and communication, at least for them; and by culturally shutting them off from traditionally female traits, like nurture and care, and the careers associated with these traits.

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The Old Boys’ Club Lives On

by Amanda Hess
Reaction Essay
August 12th, 2011

Amanda Hess argues that not much has changed for men in recent years. Juvenile behavior among adult men is nothing new; it’s part and parcel of male privilege, and it has been that way for years. Likewise with men who underachieve in school yet go on to high-status careers, owing mostly to their networking with other men. The reason for male dominance? The Old Boys’ Club, which has never truly left us.

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Sure, Men Have It Rough. But Let’s Not Forget about the Women

by Jessica Bennett
Reaction Essay
August 10th, 2011

Jessica Bennett characterizes the decline of men as both “exaggerated” and sometimes “plain wrong.” Women have made great strides, but the pay gap persists across occupations, even after controlling for children and education. The recent recession has been difficult for men, but at least they’ve bounced back in the recovery; women haven’t. Elaborate concern about masculinity at best hides enduring inequality—and at worst blames women for a lengthy set of non-problems.

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