Friday, March 19, 2010

Men’s People’s Lib

The number and magnitude of celebrity affairs in the news lately has been appalling. But while what these men did is despicable, I find another trend equally disgusting: the trend of celebrity status being conferred on the co-cheaters involved. I find it a double standard that the cheating male receives a great deal of negative public castigation, whereas the other women, who clearly knew the marital and familial status of the men they were cheating with, have been relatively unscathed and in some cases, even elevated in their careers. But what is to blame for this clear issue of double standards? Is it society? The media? Perhaps, but I’d like to suggest another culprit: Women’s Lib.

The Women’s Movement has been ongoing for decades, and not unjustifiably so. Women deserve to be on a more equal footing with men. But there are some allowances, like that mentioned above, that have gone too far, as the very notion of gender and gender roles have been warped due to the ongoing Women’s Lib Movement.

Women have seen their numbers in the workforce increase, as they focus on their careers rather than families. As a result, more and more men are being forced to take on additional duties, such as doing housework and preparing food for their families. These are not things that men do well, or at all. Not that women do them better necessarily either. But if women are working, who is going to bear the children? Unfortunately nature did not provide men with the biological apparatus to give birth. A lot of men have the child-bearing hips, and probably wouldn’t mind the weight gain. Some guys already have that going on. And if they could bear children, then where would we be on pro-choice? But that is a separate issue with its own can of worms.

The point of this argument is that Women’s Lib has put a dent in man’s (as in the sex, not the species, since we’re people and not all men) masculinity so to speak. It can sometimes be depressing to men that they are looked at as little more than sperm delivery systems, or in other cases as tall, really muscular not-women. Nowadays a woman can even be offended if a man volunteers to open a door (which he should do, as long as she wants him to). But if he doesn’t make a move to open the door, she might also get mad.

Basically, men are confused, and don’t understand what women want them to do. It was much easier when men did what they knew how to and what they wanted to do. Now there’s a lot more thinking involved and sometimes logic doesn’t even play a role (in the situation, not in any person’s thinking). Maybe women just want to be mad at men, which they’re allowed to be, I suppose, as long as there is no violence. But men are mad, too—not necessarily at women—but at the world, and society.

This is not merely a case of equality of the sexes—no, this is a reversal of gender roles. Where once men were seen as the oppressors, women are slowly moving into that role. So, if it doesn’t entirely upset women, I propose a counter movement to the Women’s Lib Movement: the Men’s Lib Movement. So, my brothers (or sisters, all things wanting to be equal), let us remove our undergarments be they boxers, or briefs, or boxer-briefs (or panties, hosiery, bras, corsets, thongs), and set them ablaze. It is our time to shine. For I am man (or woman), hear me roar, in numbers too large to ignore.

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