Gender Issues

I just finished a slightly-outdated book called "The Myth of Male Power" by Dr. Warren Farrel. It's a call of sorts for an answer to the feminist movement. He doesn't think a masculist movement would be the ideal situation. Instead he calls for a gender transition movement (which to me sounds like transgender, rather than gender equality, but it was the early 90s. I don't think transfolk had much visibility then). Most of the book is rejecting feminist 'myths' which he does well, but he doesn't tell the whole story either. I think he's assuming that most of his readers are feminist scholars, rather than his ideal audience of men.

I agree with him on his main premises. I think women, in their search for liberation, have in reality been shirking the responsibility that comes with liberation. He splits history into Stage I, the survival phase and Stage II, the post-industrialization phase. In Stage I, gender roles were more efficient for society, to have one gender who nurtures life while the other gender protects and supports it.

However, with industrialization, the necessity of this system faded. Women realized that they were just as capable of being the supporter of life (during peacetime) as men were, though society still upheld the role of the man as protector during wartime. This gives woman the advantages of being economically independent while still creating progeny for the next generation.

But because we're still socializing men to be killers, and socializing women to choose killers as partners, men have not been able to achieve the same independence as women. Men are stuck in Stage I, while women are in Stage II, and expect Stage II men. And because our public power systems are dominated by men, society still functions with the expectation of a Stage I society. Thus, jails, suicide rates, more dangerous work environments, and homelessness are still mostly male issues, and women are still not allowed to register for the draft, or are not usually allowed to serve on the front lines if they are enlisted.

The author encourages men to become as active as women in demanding equal rights. Right now, government programs and funding strongly favor women, and in some cases, even discriminate against men. That is not equality. By becoming socially and emotionally more independent (not from one's partner, but with), men can learn to function in a Stage II society. By becoming more vocal about perceived inequality, unfairness and injustice, men will be able to balance the gender equality movement.

Men have to move on from being the 'disposable sex' that fit society well back when food, shelter and water were a struggle and become equal partners, or whatever works best for the family unit and society, in a world where there is comfort and time aplenty for some reflection and enjoyment. Men and women no longer have to sacrifice themselves for the future of the species.