Manhood under Attack

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Women’s contribution to society is inestimable and worthy of a respect that it does not currently receive: women are mothers, wives, and guardians of morality as well as excellent workers in many professions.  Without them, quite literally, there would be no human race.  Even if the production of test tube babies could be perfected, without women, there would be no humanity as we know it.

Although my admiration of women is immense, it is still a fact that women are not capable of the same level of forcefulness, heroism, or productivity as men.  To paraphrase James Brown, it’s a man’s world, and it is men who maintain it and keep it running.

The problem is that we live in a schizophrenic culture in which, while most people recognize the obvious physical strength and power of men, it is nonetheless considered incorrect to admit their superiority in this or any other respect.  (My chat A.I., for instance, insists that the physical superiority of men is a “myth.”)  While women are celebrated every time they achieve a new milestone, the ongoing dedication and self-sacrifice of hundreds of millions of men in Western culture, including the four fallen officers in Charlotte, N.C., is largely ignored by the traditional media.

This refusal to credit men’s contributions is a threat to the survival of our nation and society.  Men will not long continue to contribute if they do not receive the praise due them.  If they are not awarded social and economic rewards in return for the effort they make, they will no longer make that effort.  They will withdraw from the fray and allow society to decline.

The physical superiority of men is easy to prove: on average, men are stronger, faster, and more tolerant of pain than women, as they are in every major sport.  Men are not generally allowed to compete in women’s sports, and they should not be, because of their physical superiority.

But how does one prove, as I claim, that men are in some respects more productive?  Actually, it is not difficult.

It is possible, for example, to compare the performance of female and male CEOs.  There are now ETFs and mutual funds focused on female-run companies, such as the Hypatia Women CEO ETF (symbol WCEO), and it’s not difficult to compare WCEO with a male-CEO fund.  As I write, the WCEO has returned 5.46% (from $26.55 to $28) over the past five years.  The S&P500 companies, of which 94% are led by male CEOs, have returned 72% (from 2,945 to 5,070) over the same period.  That is an enormous discrepancy in stock returns, and presumably in company productivity, the basis of stock returns.

It’s not just in the business world.  No woman has ever played for an NFL team.  Nor has any woman ever played in an NBA game, nor for the NHL.  Nor has any woman equaled the 2-hour, 35-second  marathon record by Kelvin Kipton in 2023.  The women’s marathon record, also set in 2023, stands at 2 hours, 11 minutes, 53 seconds — remarkable, but more than 11 minutes behind.

It is not just sports.  Firefighting is a dangerous and demanding occupation, and 82% of firefighters are male.  In 2022, 118 police officers died in the line of duty, 22 of whom were women.  The loss of every one of these lives was tragic, and the loss of each man or woman was equally tragic.  But taken as a group, more than five times as many men as women died.

Likewise, in the Gulf War, 3,519 American soldiers died in combat, only 5 of which were women.  There are over 7,000 individuals now serving in the U.S. Army Special Forces (commonly known as the Green Berets), all of whom have completed the demanding Army Special Qualification Course.  Only four women have ever completed that training.

I am not questioning the important role of women in the military, present or past.  But I believe that it is a mistake to deny the physical superiority and aggressiveness of men, or to place women in combat, especially in elite forces.  If we were to confront China in war, we would be facing hardened, well trained front-line troops, none of whom would be women.

None of this is intended to suggest that men are in a general way “superior” to women.  Just the opposite, it means that by demanding equality in every respect — and pretending it exists when it doesn’t — our equity-insistent culture is failing to credit both men and women for their unique qualities and potential.

Not only does our culture fail men by denying their distinctive abilities, but it fails women by discrediting  their unique abilities and contributions.  Women should be revered for their maternal qualities and their role as homemakers, and they should be recognized for their productive role in commerce, medicine, education, government, and other occupations.  In many of these roles, they play an equal or larger part than men: 100% of mothers, 87% of nurses, 54% of high school teachers, and 40% of attorneys are women.  Women deserve credit for the large contribution they make to society, but by focusing on what women do not do — surgeons, firefighters, and special forces officers, for example — the media turn their back on women and ignore the contributions they do make.

In poll after poll, women say that the quality they most admire in men is “self-confidence.”  But how can self-confidence exist in men who are forced to doubt themselves and question their motives at every turn?  And without male self-confidence, how can women fulfill their own loving and accepting natures with regard to men?

If both men and women are just sexless workers in gender-neutral roles, how can there be any male chivalry or female charm?  How can life be anything more than an endless round of weary labor, pointless entertainment, or procreation regulated by the State?  The most important element of our humanity, our differing roles as men and women, is being stripped from us in the name of gender equality.  The underlying purpose is to grind down all vestiges of the individual will and independent mind, qualities that are always a threat to the State and the bureaucracy that serves it.

For all that they do, most men ask only for recognition and gratitude in return.  But the current policy of  “non-discrimination” makes it difficult to publicly recognize men for their service.  Even my Google “co-pilot” insists on talking about women’s contributions over those of men.  It is far from neutral on this topic.

I would not exclude anyone from a job he can perform, but I also believe in granting recognition where it is deserved.  It is a fact that men perform most of the hard, dangerous, difficult jobs in our society.  It’s damaging to maintain the fiction that men and women are equal in every respect.  At their best, men are strong, generous, and brave, and they deserve special recognition because of what they do — not just the “women can do it, too” line.

Men and women are inherently different, and, as a rule, only men can perform the most physically challenging and dangerous tasks.  Our society celebrates National Women’s Day, National Women’s Health Week, and National Women’s History Month.  There are similar days, weeks, and months devoted to men and men’s health, but they are little celebrated.  Maybe it’s time to celebrate the contributions that men make every day, often in obscurity and without due recognition.

Jeffrey Folks is the author of many books and articles on American culture, most recently Heartland of the Imagination (2011).

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