Men’s Lib- great article in Newsweek Magazine

The cover story in the current issue of Newsweek magazine, is entitled “Why We Need To Reimagine Masculinity” and raises several interesting points which are very pertinent to our class discussions. While the writer notes that many scholars and researchers have been bemoaning the decline or disappearance of masculinity, the article notes that man simply must man-up, embrace “girly-jobs and dirty diapers” and become the New Macho. Apparently men have been losing out to women in the race for college degrees and beyond, as well as have a MUCH harder time dealing with the recession and job loss/shortage of jobs. The article mentions that unlike women, men are not as versatile when it comes to exploring different avenues of work and have not broken into ‘feminine’ professions such as nursing, as much as women have into ‘masculine’ professions, like construction. This is particularly interesting because there are a great number of male students in LAGCC who are enrolled or are planning to apply to the nursing program. What do you guys think? Is it more masculine to be unemployed or to have a steady income from a babysitting job?

            This last question aptly leads into the second issue the article extensively discusses, the issue of child rearing and how in many other countries-Sweden, Germany and Japan, to name a few- government and employers encourage and make it possible for ALL their employees to take maternity/paternity leave. Unfortunately, U.S. is lagging behind; a similar initiative passed in California was only embraced by 26% men, less than half of the 73% of women who took advantage of it. Are American men too macho and too traditionalistic to embrace change?

            The article then goes on to relate both issues to the outdated concept of ‘battle of the sexes’ and pointing out that if men consider making some changes and recognize that issues such as child care, affect not only women, but all children and the men themselves. Several readers responded to this article, and most of them, who happen to be male respondents, are very ticked off by these suggestions, claiming women are much more privileged. What do you think? Consider the male privileges, complied by Deutsch, which we discussed in class last week.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/20/why-we-need-to-reimagine-masculinity.html