Comments on: Women Today: More Power Than Pleasure

By: Dr. Wendy Walsh

Dr. Wendy Walsh — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:36:34 +0000

I hear you Brett. As a minority you must have to deal with some real feelings of isolation. It’s hard enough to raise kids alone, but without the “village” (made up mostly of women) it must be especially hard. Don’t be afraid to join traditionally female “mom groups” — play groups, web based local mom communities, etc. I’m sure some of those moms would be super happy to have you in their ranks! Thanks for the feedback. I may just blog about this sometime. And, THANKS FOR WHAT YOU ARE DOING FOR YOUR KIDS.

By: Brett Highsmith

Brett Highsmith — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:56:39 +0000

As a single father who carries all the responsibilties of the household (and keeps said household clean, to boot), I kind of resent being lumped into categories like this. It feels like a real slap in the face. I don’t expect to be patted on the back or anything, but a drop of appreciation would be nice. And women have a huge demographic of like-minded partners in gender and huge support networks to back them up when they don’t feel as though they’re getting their due. Where’s mine?

Oh, well…”get over it” is, I suppose, my only answer. Must be nice to be on the opposite side there.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:40:10 +0000

Interesting Quandry Dr. Walsh. Without scientific monitoring or significant Government Social Engineering, I’m going to assume that Media will likely drive the next generation Male. Unfortunately, that role model doesn’t seem very palatable for healthy relationships. For a large part, media portrays men as TV watching, (Sports primarily), slackering slobs who can’t survive without a woman and are really only interested in sex. I hate to believe that my half of the gene pool is represented only by our control over the remote.

Is there something fundamental in biology that makes women much more likely to be concerned with hospital corners on the sheets, making sure clothes make it to the hamper and are washed regularly, meals are somewhat more balanced than a bologna sandwich and beeer or is it simply reaction by the male to the predominant stereotype?

For many years, the military served as the great purveyor of Social Engineering, but as the military has sloughed off that role (partly due to the volunteer military), our society lacks a significant disciplinarian organization. Schools don’t do it, they have become too focused on the Self-Esteem of the students and forget that they are training competitors in a global intellectual competition. Homes don’t do it, as you state, less than 30% of children are raised with a stay at home parent. The ancient model of having children raised by grandparents while mom gathered and dad hunted has also died as grandparents (if still married) live in a different state and are busily golfing.

So the question becomes: Where is the role model for the next generation male? Does Society really want men to become concerned with loading the dishwasher and folding the laundry? Does Society (and women) really want to fade to homogeneity between the genders? Is Society content to raise men who are more concerned with controlling the remote than creating or exploring?