The Damned Olde Man

Posted By TDOM on April 22, 2010

Is prison welfare for men? Can Male Studies make a difference?

Over the past twenty years, men have gone from being a slight minority on college campuses (as they are in society at large) to a disproportionate minority. Men now comprise only about 40% of all college students. Recent census data indicate that women now hold as many college degrees as men. Since women have been graduating at higher rates for about ten years, this means that in the 35 and under crowd, women with college education will outnumber men by a considerable percentage. With the recent recession affecting men far worse than women in the job market, the unemployment rate for men is also considerably higher, especially for those men with no college education.

For these men, employment prospects do not look good even if the economy recovers. President Obama‘s stimulus package, in which he promised to create jobs rebuilding the infrastructure, was hijacked to provide a high percentage of jobs in education and the service industries which are dominated by women. Uneducated men were left out.

American society provides little to no support for such men. Once their unemployment benefit runs out, they are simply out of luck. They aren’t even counted as unemployed at that point. Women in the same predicament have a distinct advantage. They can have children. American society provides for children and by so doing, it provides for their mothers.

A woman who cannot support her children becomes eligible for a whole slew of benefits including housing, welfare, food stamps, health insurance, etc. A man who cannot support his children because he is out of work can be arrested and sent to prison. In other words, a deadbeat mom is given assistance, a deadbeat dad is sent to jail. Prison is welfare for men.

Forty years ago when men outnumbered women on college campuses, we called it discrimination. Girls were being discouraged from attending college and funneled into becoming housewives. This kept them from realizing their full potential. Everyone recognized the problem and within a generation, it was fixed. By 1979, women outnumbered men on college campuses and have ever since.

About ten years ago, we recognized that the problem had become reversed. But instead of calling it discrimination, we refused to acknowledge that there was even a problem. Organizations like the American Association of University Women continue to deny that there is a problem with boys and men in the education system. Major news media blame boys themselves. It is not uncommon to hear the term “slacker boy” when referring to boys who fare poorly in school. But this characterization is completely unfair.

Since the late 60′s, the entire focus of the education system has been on the problems of girls and has ignored boys almost entirely. Everything from classroom teaching techniques, to disciplinary policies, to special assistance programs have favored girls, often to the detriment of boys. As a society, we have stacked the deck against them. So is it any wonder that far more boys than girls say they dislike school? Is it any wonder that far more boys drop out at their first opportunity? Is it any wonder that far fewer boys continue on to higher education where college campuses are dominated by women and women’s organizations, and where men are treated llike criminals from the day they set foot on campus? If you are male, school is a hostile environment.

But it is also an essential environment. Jobs for uneducated men are continuing to disappear and there is little chance they will return. So if boys don’t continue to college, they stand little chance of earning a decent living. Many won’t even be employable and other than prison, society offers men no safety net.

What was once typical (if somewhat unacceptable) male behavior is now pathologized and criminalized. The same behavior in women is not only tolerated, but frequently encouraged. Domestic violence, when committed by a woman, is often ignored or blamed on men. College women consume vast quantities of alcohol and are not held responsible for their behavior while college men are not only responsible for their own behavior, but for that of women as well.

Consider that a woman who accompanies a man to his dorm room after having had a few drinks, then has sex with the man (who also had a few drinks) can later (days or even weeks) decide that he took advantage of her condition and that the sex was now rape. Never mind that she consented at the time. Never mind that she drank the alcohol willingly. Never mind that she willing went to his room. Never mind that she consented to sex. Never mind that he was just as drunk as she was. He is held accountable. It is somehow his responsibility to determine that she had too much too drink and that she is not capable of giving consent for sex. The woman is an adult. The woman can decide to drink. The woman can decide to go to his room, but the woman is incapable of giving consent for sex. The man can drink. The man can be impaired, but the man is held accountable for his behavior and is responsible for hers. This is date rape. College campuses have policies against it. These policies punish the man and ignore the responsibility of the woman. Universities also force young men to sit through a seminar to instruct him in the evils of manhood. All men are potential rapists, all women are victims. All men are batterers, all women are potential victims. Men are evil. Women are good. Thus right from the start, young men entering college are treated as criminals, typical male behavior is criminalized, and college is seen to be a hostile environment.

Another example is young boys. With the institution of No Child Left Behind and its standardized testing requirement, schools have shifted focus to teach to the test. They have dedicated extra class time to this effort. But the school day isn’t any longer. So where did the extra time come from? Recess and physical education have been reduced and/or eliminated in many school systems. The result is that boys no longer have an outlet for expending excess physical energy. Boys have a greater need for this than girls. Without this outlet, boys become fidgety, distracted, and bored. They lack the ability to focus and begin to exhibit disruptive behaviors. They become subjected to discipline more frequently and are more frequently referred to psychologists to be evaluated for medications. Typical male behavior is pathologized and the school becomes seen as a hostile environment.

Much of this is due to the influence of women’s organizations such as the AAUW and NOW. It is also due to the proliferation of Women’s Studies departments at colleges and universities. These organizations and departments are major influences concerning educational policy and law. They are grounded in feminist ideology and are concerned only with the welfare of women and girls. Such organizations are relatively unopposed in their ability to create policy as there are no men’s organizations or departments to oppose them. The influence is much like having one political party where the candidates run unopposed.

Recently, at Wagner College, a syposium was held to discuss the creation of Male Studies as an academic discipline. Male studies were proposed to be different from the handful of Men’s Studies departments across the country in one very significant way. Men’s Studies was created to be complimentary to Women’s Studies and is grounded in feminist ideology. Men’s studies are basically feminism for men and have allowed feminists to dictate the study of men. Male studies are to be free of ideology. It is to be based on the scientific study of the human male. The reaction from feminists was quite predictable, every feminist organization and feminist controlled media outlet is dead set against it. Why? Mostly because feminists won’t be able to control it. Researchers may just find that the feminist view of maleness conflicts with their ideology. Hard science might just expose feminist lies about men.

Feminists are right to be concerned about this. Hard science has frequently contradicted feminist ideology. Nowhere is that more apparent than with domestic violence. The feminist controlled dv industry has insisted for nearly forty years that only men commit dv and only women are victims. They have used this deception to gain access to millions of tax dollars to fund their anti-male propaganda campaign. But hard science has contradicted them every step of the way. Empirical research demonstrates that women are just as, if not slightly more, violent as men in intimate relationships. Research demonstrates that domestic violence is complex and is committed for a myriad of reasons. The dv industry claims it is simple, men commit violence as a means of exercising power and control over women. The dv industry refuses to acknowledge or provide services for female perpetrators or male victims. Research demonstrates that both exist, and that providing services to both would be considerably more effective at reducing dv than the current methods. In fact, treating female perpetrators might even reduce the risk of injury to women from incidents of dv, since research also shows that the best predictor of injury to women from dv is whether they initiated the violence.

In other words, male studies would legitimize research and give voice to researchers whose research might contradict feminist doctrine. It might help influence and create policy that is more male-friendly, not only in domestic violence, but in education, family law, men’s health-care, and other areas of concern to men. It might just be a counterbalance to the feminist doctrine of all men are evil, that has pervaded our society for the past forty years. It might even keep a few men out of prison, and help find ways to educate them so they may find more gainful employment in the future. It might just be good for society, men and women alike.

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Categories: Education, Men's Issues
Tags: American Association of University Women, Dating violence, Discrimination, Domestic Violence, Education, Feminism, Higher education, Men, Men's rights, Misandry, People, Sexism, Unemployment, Violence and Abuse, Wagner College, Women