Today, the view on men and women has significantly changed
from what is used to be several centuries ago. In Suzanne Venker’s article, “The
war on me,” she discusses how the power of feminism has come into action. She
describes how women have started to thrive and how men have started to decline
in society today. Moreover, she mentions how the percentage of successful
marriages with women has increased whereas the percentage with men has
gradually decreased. Venker states, “Believe it or not, modern women want to
get married. Trouble is, men don’t.” Personally, I think she makes a valid
statement about women desiring to marry, but I do not completely agree with her
statement relating to men. She is partly right about how some men nowadays
choose not to marry; however, there are many men in society today who value the
opportunity of marriage. Furthermore,
Venker mentions how women in the US are getting the majority of jobs and
earning many of college degrees. With this in hand, this provides more competition
for men because they want to provide for their families. But, with women rising
to the top, this puts a small damper on accomplishing this, as she mentions as
the essay progresses. I personally do not agree with majority of the stuff she
says because I think men currently still obtain many jobs and college degrees;
however, I will agree that the role of women has partially changed from what it
used to be in the past.
In Michael Kimmel’s article, “The mythical ‘war on men,” he rebuttals
against what Venker says. He starts his essay by describing a time when he once
heard a man state, “A black women stole my job.” First of all, he describes his
skepticism about the word “my.” What gives a man the right to say “his job?” He
doesn’t own it--- there’s not label on it; women still have just as much capability
of earning the job as men do. It would have been a more general statement if he
had said, “A black woman got the/a job,” he states. In addition, he describes
how there is not a competition between men and women, how there are many intimate
bonds between men and women, and how the two sexes are becoming more and more equal.
He says, “There’s no war between the sexes. Men and women can, and should, be
allies. And they are becoming more equal, and happier, every single day.”As one
can conclude, Kimmel’s essay clearly demonstrates an objection to Venker’s
essay. Contrary to Venker’s essay, I agree with everything Kimmel says.
I mostly agree with you, Brent. I think that Venker's article is somewhat insulting to men. It's almost as if she says that men have grown weak and discouraged as women have gained more power, don't you think? She attacks feminism, but at the same time, she inadvertently attacks men. I am also on your side in relation to Kimmel. I think Kimmel properly responds to Venker and puts her in her place. He removes the mysticism that Venker creates and puts the situation into real persepctive.
ReplyDeleteWell I think the issue is just really touchy and really I feel as if whenever anything is said about it, one side or the other ends up feeling attacked. That's the real problem honestly. There is such a harsh barrier between sensitivity and the lack of it here that everyone ends up looking awful.
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