[lbo-talk] the decline of men, chapter IV

[joanna]

Good article, but it misses one important aspect of the forces behind 
the new masculinity, to wit, that most men can no longer support a 
family. That being the case, it is no longer possible for them to get 
the adulation and respect that this function used to earn them.

I suspect we'll see two opposing trends in the future: one, an 
increasing atomization for all the reasons tendered in the article; two, 
an increasing trend toward non-traditional groupings; not so much 
through communes, but through semi-familial and friend-based small 
networks -- because being alone is expensive, inefficient, and 
depressing. Also because kids grow up better in some kind of group/family.

Joanna

Colin Brace wrote:


> Men Growing Up to be Boys
> Madison Avenue cultivates a Peter Pan version of masculinity
> By Lakshmi Chaudhry
>
> When CBS unveiled its short-lived series "Love Monkey" in January,
> leading male television critics could barely contain their enthusiasm.
> The New York Times' Alessandra Stanley was far less impressed,
> especially with its lead male character, thirty-something music
> producer Tom Farrell, whose "endearing foibles" included
> "self-absorption, wanting what he cannot have and an inability to
> commit."
>
>