Let’s get Hanna’s motivations clear right from the get-go, shall we? Hanna Rosin is not interested in equality. She is interested in dominance. Female dominance. Nothing more, and nothing less. From the author’s own website:
I come from a long line of matriarchs, women who either ruled over their husbands, or ran away from them. My mother is an intimidating figure. She has always served as the neighborhood watchdog, taking on bullies and running the co-op board with an iron fist. If you met her, it would be obvious why I was open to possibility of female dominance, because she embodied it long before it became the defining trend of our era.
Hanna acknowledges that female dominance is a central part of her understanding of how the world works, and that female dominance has become the defining trend of our era. Well, kudos to Hanna for at least being honest.
Hanna has been on a crusade to prove female dominance for some time now. In her original article, published at the Atlantic, she mused that “[f]or years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the end point? What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women?”.
What if female dominance is inevitable?
Her recent article at Time Magazine lays out five reasons men are slated to be the oppressed sex – five ways in which men are complete and utter failures:
Men are failing in the workplace
The traditional household is vanishing
Men are increasingly subjected to violence from female partners
Working and middle-class fathers have become non-existent
Men have become feminized
Let’s take these one by one:
Men are failing in the workplace?
And what workplace would that be? The one that keeps our infrastructure up and running?
Statistically speaking, 100% of power plant operators, distributors and dispatchers are men.
- 91% of the nation’s electrical engineers are men.
- 97.6% of electrical power line installers and maintenance workers are men.
- 95.5% of water and liquid waste treatment plant and system operators are men.
- 95.9% of aircraft pilots and flight engineers are men.
- 98.4% of aircraft mechanics and service technicians are men.
- 91.9% of computer network architects, who design and implement all our computer based communications systems are men.
- 94.2% of radio and telecommunications equipment installers and repair technicians are men.
- 93.4% of garbage collectors are men.
- 78.2% of all workers in production, transportation and material moving occupations are men
- 82.4% of all industrial production managers are men
- 97.5% of all extraction workers, providing the raw materials to run our economy are men
Transportation, energy, communications, water treatment, resource extraction and waste management. Those are the things that provide us with a little something called civilization as we know it, and they are overwhelmingly provided by men.
While it is true that the manufacturing sector has taken a hit in recent years, the United States remains the world’s largest manufacturer, with a 2009 industrial output of $2.33 trillion. Its manufacturing output is greater than Germany, France, India and Brazil combined.
- 70% of that total workforce is male.
- Primary metals manufacturing? 85.6% men.
- Apparel manufacturing? 68.3% women.
- So ladies in manufacturing are basically just sewing clothes?
- How shocking! How surprising! How very housewifely!
- What are the ladies doing in the workforce anyways? Most common job categories for women in 2010?
- Secretaries (96.8% women)
- Nurses (92% women)
- Primary and elementary school teachers (81.9% women)
- Cashiers (74.4% women)
- Nursing aides (88.5% women)
- Retail sales (51.9% women)
- Retail sales managers (44.1% women)
- Waitresses (71.6% women)
- Maids (89.9% women)
Oh ladies. Thunderous applause. Doing all the same work in the paid market that you used to do at home. Progress!
Well, maybe the future will be different!
The top ten industries by annual average employment growth between 2nd Quarter 2009 and 2nd Quarter 2013:
- Information Services
- Support Activities for Mining
- Educational Support Services
- Technical and Trades Schools
- Oil and Gas Extraction
- Computer Systems Design
- Management and Technical Consulting Services
- Other Schools and Instruction
- Ambulatory Healthcare Services
- Employment Services
Educational support services? Maybe. Ambulatory healthcare and employment services? Okay. Sure. Women will dominate! But IT? Computer systems design? Mining support? Oil and gas extraction?
Ahahahahahahahahahaha!
Yeah. Right.
Hanna Rosin, you are full of shit. Women aren’t excelling in the workplace. They are doing all the same housewifely jobs they’ve always done.
The traditional household is failing?
Gee, I wonder why? Women are out in the workforce doing their housewife gig, neglecting their children and partners and are deeply, deeply unhappy as a result.
They file most divorce proceedings, have more mental health problems and express greater dissatisfaction with their lives.
But let’s blame men for that, shall we, Hanna? What women need is to be more dominant. To rule with an iron fist. Oh, except that women in traditional marriages are much happier.
Men are increasingly subject to violence from female partners?
It’s just sickening that Hanna sees this as a good thing. There is no question that it’s true, but how on earth can it ever be a net positive? Hanna links violence to women’s sexual confidence, which is deeply disturbing in and of itself.
Women are becoming more sexually confident, and something Camille Paglia has been waiting for, more aggressive and violent in both good ways and bad.
What Hanna is not taking into account is that women get away with hitting partners because the men are taking it. For now. How long does she expect that state of affairs to last?
Suzanne Venker puts it nicely:
It is a dangerous thing to create a society of angry men. Feminists have no idea what a can of worms they’ve created — and what it’s about to do to our nation.
Working and middle class fathers are becoming non-existent?
Again, it’s just sickening that Hanna thinks millions of children being raised without fathers is proof that women are dominant and men are obsolete. Children raised by single mothers do poorly on every imaginable scale. They have more emotional problems, experience more stress, are more likely to grow up poor, they have lower educational achievements and experience way more behavioral problems than children who grow up with married parents. Depression, suicide, drug abuse, jail and psychiatric medications are all more common in populations of children raised by single mothers.
The absence of fathers from the home is proof that women are stupid, heartless and profoundly unconcerned with their children’s well-being. If that’s dominance, I’ll pass, thanks.
Men are becoming feminized?
Which men?
64% of men do not wear any fragrance of any kind. Only 23% of men wear cologne daily. And cologne is hardly some arty-farty invention of middle class ladies.
And let’s have a look at what men and women choose to spend their money on, hmm?
Top Ten Things Women Enjoy Buying:
- Handbags
- Shoes
- Summer dresses
- Concert tickets
- Jeans
- Jewellery
- Little black dress
- Chocolates
- Underwear
- Beauty products
Top Ten Things Men Enjoy Buying:
- Watches
- Spirits
- Apple Gadgets
- Televisions and A/V equipment
- Gifts
- Dates and relationships
- Life experiences
- Sports
- Gambling
- Cars
It’s interesting that the lady list has only two things that could ostensibly be shared with a partner (concert tickets, chocolates), while the men’s list contains almost ALL shareable items. The preference for gambling, cars and sports doesn’t suggest the sissification of men to me.
Keep dreaming, Hanna. Men are becoming the gentle kittens you would like them to be? Don’t be fooled. Just because men can be and are very often gentle, kind and giving to women doesn’t mean they will always be that way.
Here’s an idea for you: let’s claim that men are obsolete and worthless, like a map of a flat earth or a woolly mammoth snare, completely ignore the fact that they run the entire economy and make possible every service industry by doing the hard, shitty work, slap the shit out of them at home, take their children from them and then call them sissies.
How long do you think it will take before you discover that men are not only far from obsolete, they are faster, bigger, smarter and stronger than you?
How long will it take before they decide they have had quite enough of your shit?
How long, Hanna, can you live without water, power, communications, transportation or sewage treatment?
Obsolete?
I don’t think so.
Obviously people want social calm, but if you do not let clever and ingenious people participate, there must be some dormant volcano that will erupt, sooner or later.
Lech Walesa
Hanna and her ilk think the revolution will be the triumph of feminism and the utter domination of women.
I wouldn’t count on it.
Not for one second.
Lots of love,
JB
