Monday, September 17, 2012

Is this real masculinity?

The description of Gilder's theory of conservative sociobiology in the Clatterbaugh reading is, frankly, a load of tripe in my opinion. The idea that men are naturally "antisocial" and must adopt masculine principles in order to fit into society makes absolutely no sense. Gilder acts as if there is no emotional or intellectual incentive for a man to be part of a family or society at large other than to spread his genes. He is basically saying that men have absolutely nothing to contribute to society. And I find his view of the woman's role offensive as well. That a woman's purpose in life is to domesticate a man? Excuse me, I have better things to do with my time than to run around trying to find a husband to domesticate, so that I can save society while he gives up his precious sexual liberty, the poor man. This is just such a weird idea, I can't believe it ever caught on. And I actually do believe that biology plays a crucial part in social functions. But this is just way over the top, and insulting to all humans. Gilder takes biological fact and twists it into some strange conception of society that sounds more like Orwellian science fiction than real life. Blaming the problems of society on the rise of feminism is a pretty weak argument. His claim that men "drop out [of the workforce] virtually in proportion to women" is actually quite interesting, as there has been a rise of female employment. However, in the current economic downturn, it is women who have been hit the hardest, because the large majority of women are employed in the public sector, which is the first sector to have jobs cut. I hope that Gilder had many daughters who rebelled against him and went on to become very professionally successful in life.

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