Enough with male-bashing

When I posted my hypothesis on why men's lives are more difficult nowadays last year I received so much traffic that it fried my bandwith (a situation I later remedied), and the post generated over five dozen comments and about as many emails. Therefore I'm not surprised that Rebecca Hagelin's article, Readers "Blow Off Steam" Over Male-Bashing (h/t Raven), has generated a lot of support.

Hagelin, the author of Home Invasion: Protecting Your Family in a Culture that's Gone Stark Raving Mad also has a website for her book, where she's still receiving feedback for her book. Read it.

Men certainly are getting short-changed.

For starters, our society does not respect men. The military history channel, the Discovery channel, and the TCM classic movies (forgot to mention the Food Network!) are about the only cable channels where men are portrayed in a positive light. NOT ONE broadcast TV network shows men as praisworthy, or worthy of emulation.

Hundreds of articles in magazines, newspapers and the internet say the most deplorable things about men, which men are supposed to accept. Wusses are praised while the world's best-known pornographer shows off his pneumatic bimbos (which will get sent away as soon as they get too old for the viagragenarian).

Men are supposed to be supportive and sensitive while a culture of pornography rips into the social fabric and our souls.

The double standard to which men are held manifests itself most horribly when couples divorce. Men end up alone and very frequently broke, simply because the corts believe any old story the soon-to-be ex-wife makes up. Even in "amicable" divorces the custody of the children go to the woman, so men miss out on most of their children's lives.

(And please, don't come telling me that men don't feel as deeply as women. THEY DO. Ponder that.)

We are raising an entire generation bent on self-destruction: Girls are encouraged to lead promiscuos lives from an early age (h/t SC&A) and to use boys.

The notion of disposable men has gained so much ground that women think they don't need men to raise children. They are grievously mistaken. Their offspring are paying the price.

So please, if you're a woman, the next time you're about to start complaining about men, stop the impulse to go into a male-bashing rant, and look inside yourself and ask, "And what part have I played in this?"

Because if you do, you might not like the answer. But you might get to the truth.

Update, 2 June I stand corrected: Commenter Nathania Johnson listed a nice list of TV programs where men are men.

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