Feminism is so passe. It's the boys who need help

[redfyre]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/ar...-help-now.html

By Sandra Parsons
"Growing up in the Sixties and Seventies, no one ever asked me how many children I wanted or at what age I thought I would marry. In those heady decades when feminism came of age, we schoolgirls never daydreamed about wedding dresses or sighed over babies.

Instead, we focused on our careers. If we said we wanted to be nurses, air hostesses or secretaries, we were pretty sharply advised to think about becoming doctors, linguists or businesswomen instead.

The idea that we were less equal than boys was so unthinkable it simply never entered our heads. We were the product of the brave new world fought for by the likes of Gloria Steinem and Germaine Greer, and we took our equality absolutely for granted.
No difference: The recent 'slut walk' marches have done little to further the cause of feminism

No difference: The recent 'slut walk' marches have done little to further the cause of feminism

Throughout my career, I’ve had equal opportunities to men and I’ve seized them. Some men haven’t liked that, it’s true — but, to be honest, neither have some women.

So now when I read about the ‘new feminism’, as bandied about this week by the publishers of a new book, How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran, I find myself wondering: what new feminism?

In the Western world, the feminist argument has been definitively won — and all the silly and, frankly, somewhat pathetic ‘slut walks’ in the world won’t refute that.

As far as I can tell, the new feminism aims to make men share more of the childcare. And, of course, it’s true that children prevent many women from going further in their careers. But it’s also true that it’s usually the woman’s choice. The maternal instinct is so powerful that most mothers want to do a larger share of the childcare.

They also want equal opportunities for their own children. Which brings me to why feminism is almost passé: as any mother of a son will tell you, it’s boys who are suffering most from inequality these days.

For years, girls have outstripped boys at school and at university, and more women than men are entering formerly male-dominated professions such as medicine and law. The latest figures show that girls do better than boys at GCSE and in further education — 20 per cent more girls go on to university than boys, and are more likely to get a good degree.

Nothing will convince me that boys are inherently more stupid than girls. No, the reason boys are lagging behind girls is because they’re the ones who are being discriminated against. It is they who are being kept back by the system.

For a start, boys thrive on structured teaching, discipline, competition and sport — the very things absent from our schools. They need male teachers as role models, in a country where very few men go into education. They need lots of sport to accommodate and channel their aggression, in schools which offer only two hours’ sport a week. And they need courses that haven’t been feminised and that are based on do-or-die exams rather than endless coursework.

Watch a group of nine-year-old girls playing netball and you’ll find them chatting to their opponents and making friends. The feminine instinct is to find common ground. Watch a group of boys the same age on the football or rugby pitch and the contrast couldn’t be starker. They don’t talk. They just want to win.

Boys need to compete, and we need to foster that instinct, for without it they will neither achieve nor thrive.

Somehow or other, we’ve created a topsy-turvy world where girls outperform boys academically, but still somehow think it liberating to remove all their body hair, inject themselves with Botox and aspire to be footballers’ wives. Boys, meanwhile, feel resentful both of their second-class status and of the women they perceive somehow to have outwitted them in the game of life.

For truly emancipated women, the ‘new’ feminism should be about ensuring that our sons are equal to our daughters. To condemn them to the second-rate status we once endured would be the ultimate betrayal.

VIEWS ??

[_CougarHunting_]

Reversing the role the female being the bread winner and the male not being the bread winner. It happen's. If the person want's said higher paying job bad enough go for it. I, will always up hold common sense as a value far more higher then a college educated adult. A person with on the job knowledge has more sense as to what's going on then the person who just picked up a book from there college professor and graduated to a certain job standing position. Don't get me wrong but I, have met some pretty dumb college educated people. I, feel not threatened by any one as I, am self employed and have no fear of a women wanting to work in my field which is less then likely being able to also preform the grunt work.

[lunamor]

Originally Posted by _CougarHunting_

I, have met some pretty dumb college educated people

If colleges were the only places to find dumb people, the world would have fewer of them than it actually has.

Let's face it, dumb people are everywhere, and if some dummies are also college graduates, I'm sure that they were probably dumb long before going to university - so let's not blame colleges, although many *do* contribute to the phenomenon.

[cherryaa]

Originally Posted by _CougarHunting_

I, feel not threatened by any one as I, am self employed and have no fear of a women wanting to work in my field which is less then likely being able to also preform the grunt work.

If by that you mean your job is safer from women because its also physical? then watch out cougarhunting! I saw a program on TV last week where three women had gone off to fell trees as loggers in Northern Canada. Its supposed to be one of the most dangerous and physical jobs in the world. Two of the three lasted the course and did it.

[violet]

Originally Posted by redfyre

Boys need to compete, and we need to foster that instinct, for without it they will neither achieve nor thrive.

Is it really so cut n dry as all that? Are all boys competitive and all girls cooporative? I agree that feminism should be about equality and not preferential treatment to one gender, but creating a one size fits all educational system or stuffing people into roles by gender, age or any other arbitrary category is always going to be problematic.

[_CougarHunting_]

That's not what I, meant it as safer. There is risk's in what I, do. When I, mean by physical I, mean by use of brawn and surviving the enviroment condition's the mental stress as well.
I've never seen the program you have mentioned but then the people on Ice Road Trucker's have more ball's then most driving a big rig across the frozen north and there are women in it. A few. Cutting wood not as dangerous as driving an 18 wheeler on ice.

[cherryaa]

I suppose my point is that there will always be some women who manage to do traditionally "male" jobs, just as there are men who are excellent in professions generally assumed to play to women's strengths.

I'm afraid I have absolutely no point of reference to have an opinion as to which extremely dangerous, and in my eyes, difficult and unpleasant job might be the most dangerous. So I'll leave that to you !

[_CougarHunting_]

♦ Danger Danger ♦ k :P ♦ Danger Danger ♦

[cooper504]

I need all the help I can get!

[cherryaa]

Well in that case you shall have it, my sweet.

Shall we start with the basics?

‪How to Tie Your Shoes‬‏ - YouTube

We can progress slowly from there .............

Where are you from?