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Nancy Folbre: The End of Men, Revisited - NYTimes.com


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In 2009, 47 percent of women and 39 percent of men working full time and repaying college loans one year after graduation were paying more than 8 percent of their earnings toward student loan debt — a threshold widely considered an indicator of economic stress.In sum, while young women are more likely than young men to graduate from college, their diplomas don’t generate equally rich rewards.The American Association of University Women has a long and venerable history of setting the record straight. A research report it published in 1885 challenged the contention that higher education would harm women’s ovaries.There was apparently fear that it would lead to the end of men.

It still could lead to the end of men. This is a work in progress.

Extremely doubtful. I don't disagree that we should have equal pay regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or ethnicity -- that much is obvious to anyone born after 1980; however, I disagree that this could lead to the "end of men," rather a return to the natural order of things.

We could cite scientific and biological evidence; but we shan't -- there are millions of women who would prefer a male leader to a female leader, would respect him more, and also expect a male to lead them, however outwardly progressive they seem.

The following is anecdotal, but nevertheless insightful: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-cant-have-it-all/309020/

I mean, would you really want to be Marissa Mayer's child? The reality is that given our specific biological nature, we shouldn't expect women to do certain things, and we shouldn't expect men to do certain things, whilst we should expect both groups to do a little more of other certain things.

Folks try to convince me that Americans will let women serve in a combat unit; this, I don't believe, will ever happen in our life times, nor should it. It is much different proposition than say, allowing blacks or gays to serve in certain units when they were not previously accepted. It is an issue of biology; the fittest men are stronger, faster, and quicker than the fittest women.

I think there are many historical societies around the world where there is equal respect for men and women; this is not the first time in history that women would be considered equals, no matter how much we continue to convince ourselves of that; nor is an ethnic mix the first time in history where people of all races have associated and communed with one another.

No, I would not want to be Marissa Mayer's child.

There are societies that have matriarchs -- the women do run things.

I'm not quite sure what the "natural order" is.

We have to ask ourselves: "why would we not want to be Marissa Mayer's child?" While we can't possibly know how she is dividing her time as CEO and as a mother and ZB as a father, one might be led to think that this child will not see very much of his mother. Friends of mine who nanny says their parents see the kids an hour in the morning, and an hour or two in the evening before the child is asleep. Literally three to four hours a day, awake, with their child in a 12-14 hour window.

Hmm.

I think there are societies, seemingly American, where the women runs a certain half of society, while the men run the other half. Generally, but not always.

Well, perhaps we aren't certain what a "natural order" is, but we do know that this story is going somewhere, and it seems that this particular story in this particular age in this particular moment in history in this particular group of people is going towards accepting all folks regardless of gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.

Everything old is new again.

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