Those of us who are happily married can be thankful that we’re not experiencing some of the worst aspects of the current culture when it comes to relations between the sexes. However, we all have loved ones who probably are, to some extent. Academia and mainstream media have been thoroughly awash in antimasculine philosophy for many years now, denigrating fathers, husbands, men in general, and normal boyhood traits. Men have fought back in the blogosphere.
From Everything Must Go!:
It seems that the differences between men and women are real, and it really does matter how boys are raised and how girls are raised, and it is important how men and women socialize separately and with each other. Treating men and women identically (which is not necessary in order to treat them equally) in every way makes both miserable or angry. Showing favoritism towards women while or after insisting on equality fosters bitterness. Some of the traditions we have abandoned were doing a lot of good, and haven't been replaced by suitable substitutes – perhaps because, in some cases, none exist. Walls were removed and now we're finding out in a very painful way why some of those walls were there in the first place.Largely for political reasons, some people deny the differences between the sexes, to the detriment of both.
We can't survive as a healthy society if this is the norm for male-female interactions; when irresponsibility, incivility, and malignant narcissism are rewarded and their opposites punished. Not when it happens in gender relations, not when it happens as government policy in general. Many would say we already lost our societal health long ago.We must foster a culture that values both masculinity and femininity, motherhood and fatherhood, wives and husbands, men and women. (Crossposted to The Playful Walrus and The Opine Editorials)
And then we have reality.
ReplyDeleteFeminism boosts sexual satisfaction for both men and women, a new study suggests.
Busting stereotypes that peg feminists as man-haters, a new study shows that having a feminist partner is linked with healthier, more romantic heterosexual relationships.
I could consider myself a feminist, while many people who define themselves as feminist think I am not. I think a good term might 'romantic peer relationship' in terms of healthy behavior between and man and a woman. The romantic peer relationship is a term I first learned about from Gregory Popcak, who is a marriage therapist that focuses on Catholic couples. He also wrote a book titled, 'Holy Sex!'.
ReplyDeleteIn romantic peer relationships, a couple treats each other as equals even when in many ways a couple is not. For example pregnancy. Women carry the burden of being pregnant, giving birth, and breastfeeding. Men don't. Big difference, but we want to make the obligation to be equal for both parents even though they can't both be pregnant. Unless they're snails, some are hermaphrodites and can impregnant each other in one sexual act.
Anyways...
Women are tied to the child in ways men can never be, but it is important that the man to be able to provide for the child's and the woman's needs in an equitable manner rather then walk away.