Steve Watters has recently given a nod to an article on "child-men," a piece that highlights the supposed arrested development of young single men today. There's just one problem. Steve has fallen for a ruse.
The author of the piece in question fits a notorious demographic--female journalists who live in metropolitan areas and who write on fashion and culture. Her name is Kay S. Hymowitz and she lives in New York. This disclosure is sufficient warning for any red-state male that might hazard to read beyond her byline. Yes, I engaged in overgeneralization. So be it. How long should we continue to hang on every word of the East Coast literati? The conventional wisdom these people have to offer on social issues (especially on gender matters) is just that--conventional wisdom.
Ms. Hymowitz's piece contains the usual hallmarks of that peculiar literary style propagated by the skirt-wearing, Manolo pumping, nail polish crowd of Upper East Side ...
1. Use of banal neologisms to pigeonhole men (e.g., "child-man" which can be compared to "metrosexual," "retrosexual," and "ubersexual")
2. An obsession with fictional characters (usually in chick media) to illustrate a negligible point (such as the tiresome references to "Sex in the City"). In Hymowitz's piece, we are force-fed a shovel load of allusions to negligible pop tripe that reveals nothing but the level of vapidity found in mainstream media.
3. Mindless, kneejerk gynocentrism that is more predictable than a Fisher-Price See-N-Say toy.
It is on this last point that I wish to make some additional observations. Other astute commentators have already pointed out what annoys me about Hymowitz. First, there is the tendency to categorize male pastimes as "immature" while giving a pass to female pastimes of equally dubious merit--chief among them being shopping for overpriced shoes, clothing, and dust-collecting knick-knacks. Second, there is the amazing ability by Hymowitz and her spin sisters to screen out any unconformable truths about today's young women. I've said it before; I'll say it again. Many women have an entitlement mentality that demands equality workplace (including career opportunities in traditionally male occupations) but inequality in dating, romance, and the family budget (asking the man to pay for for the dates and bring home the larger paycheck). These women are blind to the cumulative effects of a race to the top for the eligible male. Many women are also caught up in their own pursuit of pleasure throughout their youth and ignore the call of matrimony up until the point the ovum count starts to go south. Many women have been siren-songed by a cadre of "relationship experts" promoting the Sisterhood of Victims and they cannot fathom the notion that women might "need some work" in the relationship department themselves. And then there is the matter of divorce--we need not rehash any elementary truths about who often cashes in on who.
Steve Watters later followed up with a comment on his post: "I get the sense that many of you were offended by something you found in the excerpt without reading through the actual article. I'd be curious how many of you would defend the lifestyles Hymowitz describes over the course of the article." My response is: "Nothing to look at here, ladies and gentlemen. Move right along." We can't have the passing drivers rubber-necking too closely at Hymowitz's wrecked Winnebago.
Another bad cop
2 years ago
5 comments:
Vox commented about that article, too.
Thanks for the link, Triton. I think there should be a term to identify the collective consciousness of female lifestyle journalists in metropolitan areas ... something comparable to the "Orange Line" moniker for the Beltway Libertarians.
The "child-man" is a reaction. Women have changed their behavior, and the world around us has changed, so it should not be surprising that some men have changed as a result.
Men can now lead full, successful lives without ever owning a home, getting married, and having children. And since so many have been raised without a father happily married to their mother, they don't have that model to follow. They do, however, see their fathers, uncles, brothers, cousins, co-workers, and friends who are either unhappily married, or deeply scarred emotionally and financially from divorce.
Many women are tied up in higher education and their careers, and are not seeking to be wives who stay home and raise children. Also, many women are jumping into bed with men almost immediately after meeting them. Society no longer shames people for sex outside of marriage.
Home ownership is more expensive, and for some careers, an ability to quickly relocate aids advancement. It is also harder to move if you are married and have kids.
So these men have adapted to that. Marriage-minded Christian women should avoid these men, who will seek sex but do not want to build a nest, get married, and have children. Likewise, marriage-minded Christian men should avoid women who will gladly use him to pay her way for a night out, but will not marry him - at least not until she's had her fill of bidding him goodnight and then calling over a child-man for a "no-strings" encounter.
When you read comments on Boundless you can see that a lot of the "conservative Christian women" posting there are feminist. They applaud the social changes of the 1960s and despise traditional marriage with the father as the breadwinner and the mother as the homemaker. No wonder they have no problems with misandric articles like this one.
Strange many of these girls can't find husbands, isn't it?
It's always fun when feminists regardless of religion try to use shaming tactics.
Allot of interesting times coming...below is a link discussing how Homeland Security will use Pasters and other church leaders to pacify the crowds during forced relocations, needles and so forth.
The shaming tactics used by women and many churches are a mere warm-up to the shaming and other tactics used for implantable chips and worse. Just because a bunch of women or a pastor may tell you to get a chip or follow FEMA orders doesn't mean you have to - God gave you free will and a brain too.
Most churches are not what they used to be - from the man-wanna-be feminist women in them to what they *REALLY* stand for and *WHOM* they actually serve.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2006/240506femaplan.htm
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