The War on Men

                Venker and Kimmel write two opposing articles on the battle of the sexes. Venker’s article centers around the negative effects of feminism, which triggered a response from Kimmel, who completely disagrees with her argument. I must say I agree with Kimmel as I find Venker’s argument somewhat illogical and inaccurate. 

Venker argues that the “battle of the sexes is alive and well.” She attacks feminism and claims that it is the main reason behind for this battle. She thinks that the stringent push for feminine power has knocked men down and put them in a corner. As a result, she believes there has been a dynamic created of “women good/men bad,” and it has negatively affected men. Her article deduces that men are now turning angry and resentful of women because women demand so much of them. She basically says that men have many goals, desires, etc., but “modern women won’t let them” pursue them.

 I think that Venker’s argument is somewhat insulting to men. She attacks feminism, but at the same time, she insults men by making them come off as sulking and discouraged. Her argument makes me feel as if she is saying that mans’ weak response to this feminism has fueled the battle of the sexes and made the situation worse.

I agree with Kimmel’s rebuttal to Venker’s article. He says that Venker has the completely wrong outlook on feminism. He believes that feminism has actually “reversed the equation that Venker offers” and encouraged a better relationship between the sexes. His argument is that feminism encouraged women to be bad, so they sought pleasures and to escape the norm. In comparison, men were encouraged to be good, so they were pushed to “step up as equal parents, colleagues and coworkers.”  

Kimmel’s argument is summed up by how he says, “men are quietly adapting to a very new landscape.” He argues that men are learning to adjust to modern women, and therefore the battle of the sexes does not exist. As a result, men and women “are becoming more equal, and happier, every single day.”