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Justice for Men & Boys 
Back in the early 1950s, when western economies were based on mining, steelmaking, heavy manufacturing, women knew that male labour was essential if they were going to have a family. They were happy to get married and remain loyal to a provider/protector. By the mid 1950s, the service economy overtook manufacturing for the first time. ‘Work’ was so easy that women could do it, without stress and burnout! This is when feminism whispered in their ear that they didn’t need men.
Of course, once women enter the workforce, several things will happen. There will be downwards pressure on wages. There will be upwards pressure on asset prices, like houses. (The workplace will also become feminized, risk-averse, and over-regulated towards women’s ‘safety’, a pernicious preoccupation which has effects throughout society, particularly through politics and law.)
Inevitably, the only real ‘winners’ in this game have been Governments, who have effectively doubled their income tax take…so that they can spend it on special programs to induce women into education and employment (by quota, if necessary), and welfare/housing support for the women who get left behind.
In his work on Sexual Economics, Roy F Baumeister indicated that the entire system is predicated on men exchanging their labour in return for sex. https://assets.csom.umn.edu/assets/71503.pdf
If men can’t get a job…well, you get the picture. The draconian ‘sexual harassment’ legislation of the current era doesn’t help matters either. In a few hours time, there will be the England v Spain final of the Women’s Football Euros. Let’s hope that it doesn’t claim a victim like Luis Rubiales after the England v Spain final of the Women’s World Cup.
But, in the wider world, all of the temporary ‘advantages’ gained by women working themselves to death like men always did have become eroded, leaving women upset and confused, as they feel that they should always be ‘winning’. To quote the Cosmopolitan article: “Housing costs, stagnating pay, and the feeling that things won’t change are making the fantasy of a (rich)# husband more appealing.”
[# the rich in parenthesis is entirely the choice of Cosmopolitan magazine, the article writer does not attempt to hide the mercenary preferences of its readership]
The fantasy of a (rich) husband has been the plot of every ‘romance’ novel ever written, abridged versions of which were shoehorned into every woman’s magazine ever published, between the advertisements for the clothes, fashions, shoes and perfumes which would help women land the luckless chap.
Plus ca change, plus la meme chose…
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And this gives the other side. Though this story wombles into the hype of “AI” the early personal part illustrates that little has changed for men. The hollowing-out of middle-class jobs like mine has left me lonely and terrified For Geoff Ho’s “lived experience” is that he labours to support his wife and children, that is the core of his feelings of being of no “use”. This is such an important point because feeling “useless” to others is the main driver of suicidal ideation and therefore suicide in males. The reference to the 80s is a reminder that there was a lot of research into male unemployment in the early 80s, just because there were a lot of unemployed men to research (I too had two 6 month bouts of being the “one in ten”). They found depression and suicidal ideation because at the core of male psychology is the idea of being use full. This isn’t the case for women who are not at all bothered by being dependent, but are much more affected by lack of attention and support from others. Hence it is that fewer men “attempt” suicide but sadly most are successful but though many more women attempt suicide a fraction succeed, because its accepted most female attempts are a “cry for help”. Now is it the case that this psychology is in our natures, or specific to our society? Just as women always seek a provider to protect and cherish them men have doing exactly that “wired” in.
The interesting thing about tax is that in fact men are still by far the biggest contributors specially if one adds in self employed and small businesses. And women of course the main beneficiaries, even more so if you add in the employees of government !
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This is much food for thought. I, too, had two periods of unemployment. One was beyond my control, as the labs closed, after being employed there for thirteen years. In the second instance, I quit after ten years, as I was sick and tired of my projects (on which I’d expended blood, sweat and tears) being given away to female quota ‘scientists’. My wife said that she couldn’t understand why I was so bothered about this, as, quote – “You’re still being paid, aren’t you?”
I guess I wanted to teach HER a lesson as well, in taking me for granted.
But, bottom line, I was much more in charge of the second process. Yet, I felt the full weight of society’s expectations on my shoulders. And BOTH times are safely filed away in the ‘worst experiences of my life’ file.
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A thoughtful piece. I’m a child-free 70-year-old – there is only one thing I wish was different It reminded me of Melanie Phillips’ description of feminism as a form of perpetual adolescence. As she says this woman has coasted through life with an academic career, it made me laugh when a holiday’s low point was apparently that the dishwasher didn’t work, somewhat typically in Eng. Lit. Growing older and reflecting it is striking that the conclusion is really that her “freedom” had costs.
“So do I recommend we refuse to have children, as the South Korean 4B movement – avoiding heterosexual marriage, dating, sex or childbirth – suggests? No. Having children, the most important job of all, puts you at the centre of a politics of hope and engagement with the future.”
Yet it is indeed her feminist sisterhood, the product of bitter mothers as she points out, that constantly bombards young women (not least in the “i”) with tales of the importance freedom, having dishwashers and producing romantic novels, and avoiding the trials and joys of the family life her brothers had. “This caused a rift between me and many close to me, as they were swept up in the chain of life and all its joys and problems.”
However not likely to convert her “sistas” as they look forward to life as a perpetual teenager producing important novels, opinion columns or poetry (but not dishwashers or anything else actually useful) and thinking its “all about me” and a bit later “where did all the good men go?” Interesting that she points to feminists later in life who try to correct their regrets by latching onto other families or “god children”.
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