Incoming...Man Down

                                                              

              First, I want to affirm that I have not read the book Man Down: Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt That Women are Better Cops, Gamblers, Spies, World Leaders, Beer Tasters, Hedge Fund Managers and Just About Everything Else By Dan Abrams. I just want to address the overall premise of it. Secondly, I want to reiterate that I would be established at the forefront of any feminist movement, but not to suggest I support radicalism in any sense. I read a quote all too relevant to this. “The anti-male philosophy of radical feminism has filtered into the culture at large is incontestable; indeed, this attitude has become so pervasive that we hardly notice it any longer". Whether I align with Charlotte Hay’s ideologies is a separate issue. I have to agree with that statement. I think that women can execute professionally and succeed as well as a man and should be compensated the same amount in their paycheck. I’m all for women deciding to have families on their own (as opposed to Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin), all for women having complete control over their bodies, to make their own decisions regarding them under privacy protection and I recognize the ongoing battle of sexism in this country. Many woman exhibit traits that some men do not and vice versa, as far as assigned social gender identity roles and that’s the point...individuality, personal characteristics and balance. I’m not a fan of this mantra that women are better than men or the other way around. I’m not a cheerleader for stereotypes articulating males are good in math and females are good with reading comprehension or any other somewhat demeaning "statistics" that are put forth. I’m shocked that is asserted. In fact, the most detrimental and worst thing you could be, is in the box society puts you in. To be packed snuggly in your assigned gender role with corresponding pink or blue foam packing peanuts…which is analogous to other “boxes” potentially set up for us to be packed in, either pertaining to class, creativity, intelligence, sexuality, religion, nationality, race etc. There are women who can build a mean house and a man who picks out killer throw pillows. When you watch talk shows or sitcoms they always portray the husband as a bumbling idiot and the wife as a savior. This is no better than and comparable to (minus the violence) showing the wife always in the kitchen with an apron and the husband raising his fist insinuating he’s going to launch her out of the stratosphere. They always show men trying to watch a game and the wife rolling her eyes. On the talk shows if the man said he thinks he’s better at something the crowd will boo, reverse it and the crowd goes wild. It is damaging enough that double standards run rampant, let us not contribute to it.

There exists examples, justifications, and accounts why sundry statistics are just that. Some women might excel at managing a budget possibly because she’s a single mother solely responsible for children and the finances or she has a degree in accounting, who knows!?! This is not always the case and completely irrelevant. Maybe men might get hit by lightening at a greater rate because their wives sent them out there to fix something or get something or maybe he jumped in the way of danger to protect his wife. It doesn’t matter. Dan Abrams says men are just being “dim bulbs” and their bravado got them in trouble which may be true, however, it’s not lost on me that bravado could save my ass. It’s more likely, a woman will sacrifice herself for her children; a man will sacrifice himself for his whole family or possibly someone else’s. There is an agglomeration of women that are shameful mothers and fathers who are raising children on their own that put others to shame. Some young women now, need to concentrate on being better versions of themselves,  the younger generations who don’t seem to take an interest in all that women had fought for a substantial amount of time to be able to assume form of a CEO or to attain to become president. Not just learning how to submerse your head in bleach, the art of tanning, the skill of finding a good plastic surgeon and fight over a romantic interest. A good number of young men should learn how to treat women with respect and not keep them on a score card deducting points for a girl being a “GRENADE”. It’s been said women have more of a pain threshold over men. Whatever the case may be, I’ve seen some individuals cry over a baby gash on their leg and others walk around with bullet holes, regardless of gender. The United States ranks lower as far as the amount of women in government and it’s been alleged that having more women in government causes it to be less corrupt. .whether that is the case or not, there should be a balance, a yin and yang in all scenarios.

 I’m sure you’ve read that the yin yang symbolizes contradicting forces that are interdependent upon one another in the natural world. They only exist in relation to each other, meaning without each other they don’t exist at all. There are varying degrees of this, many shades, but the principle in nature is always trying to achieve a state of equilibrium, homeostasis is critical to life. It’s a paradox in a sense that it seems in order to give women equal footing they have to push ahead to rise above by pushing men to the side and eventually down. In the same sense that an opponent tries to take out another opponent out of the competition when what should really happen is for the competitors be based on their performance equally and whoever wins…is the winner. We don’t need to keep breeding prejudices, it’s a slippery slope. For sometime men had been accused and convicted of sexual assault and related crimes just based on the woman’s testimony. Men have a presumption of being guilty more so than a woman. Women have a 50% more likely chance of beating a murder conviction. Men are 5x more likely to face the death penalty. There were policies that a man could not sit next to an unaccompanied child on a plane, out of perception that men were prone to be potential child abusers. This presumption that men are more inclined to be dangerous has lead to a disproportionate number of women in fields of nursing ,child care, end of life care, nursing homes, elementary education, and secretarial positions. An unfortunate comparison to the years men were disproportionate in everything else. You don’t have to give credit to an individual or gender or race by putting another down. Didn’t we learn that in elementary school not to bully someone or sabotage someone to make ourselves feel or look better? Women have needed to fight the good fight over the years, as well as minorities and this certainly does nothing to help the fight for people of vastly different lifestyles and sexualities. Misogyny has been all too apparent, let’s not increase the misandry and add that to the ever growing pile of phobias that perpetuate the ever increasing divide amongst us.The overall goal is to work AWAY from discrimination. I’m sure we’ve all felt depending on the situation which friend would best be suited to our time in need when we’ve needed one. It’s the same principle that it depends on individual qualities. I prefer individuals that are not male or female, black or white, gay or straight for the job or predicament, but the better qualified, the best suited and better at not being a jackass.

 

“As far as I'm concerned, being any gender is a drag.”- Patti Smith