Of Boys and Men : Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It (9781800750555) by Reeves Richard V

Author:Reeves, Richard V.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc

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The final and most serious mistake made by conservatives is their assumption that the only way to help boys and men is to restore traditional gender roles, which means reversing some of the gains made by women in terms of economic independence. In this zero-sum world, if women are doing better, that must be why men are doing worse. This is not a fringe opinion. Almost two out of five Republican men (38%) agree with the statement that “the gains women have made in society have come at the expense of men.”35

In a fascinating study conducted before the 2016 election, Dan Cassino, a professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University, added an unusual question to a survey of voting intentions: “Do you earn more, less, or about the same as your spouse?” Half the respondents got the question early in the survey, before being asked about voting, and the other half got it after declaring their voting intention. The question was intended to prime men “to think about potential threats to their gender roles,” Cassino writes.36 The results were striking. Men asked the question about spousal earnings early in the survey were much more likely to say they would vote for Donald Trump than Hillary Clinton. This was a small poll of around seven hundred registered voters. But Cassino’s experiment hints at the potential for politicians to activate and exploit male anxiety about the loss of status.

The argument made by many conservative intellectuals is that if men lose their traditional role, they will become detached from society, or start to act out. The “monster power” Bannon observed gets channeled into antisocial behavior. This is not a new concern. Conservatives have been worrying about the dangers posed to men by the women’s movement for decades. In his 1992 book, Men and Marriage (an update of his 1973 book Sexual Suicide), conservative intellectual George Gilder argued that feminism would render men redundant.37 Once women were able to be “both provider and procreator,” he warned, the need for marriage to a man would decline, leaving them as either “outlaws” or “exiles.” Younger readers may be unfamiliar with Gilder’s work. But among feminists of a certain age, his name provokes a strong reaction. Gilder went on to influence Ronald Reagan’s economic policies and was proud to have been named Male Chauvinist Pig of the Year by both Time magazine and the National Organization of Women.38 There is much to dislike about Gilder’s worldview. But here’s the thing. He wasn’t completely wrong.

Like most of the anthropologists I cited back in chapter 7 (including Margaret Mead, Melvin Konner, David Gilmore, and Sherry Ortner), Gilder saw the fragility of the male role. “Unlike a woman, a man has no civilized role or agenda inscribed in his body,” he wrote. “The man’s role in the family is thus reversible; the woman’s is unimpeachable and continues even if the man departs. . . . A man without a woman has a deep inner sense of dispensability.”39 Writing along

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