Are “men on strike”?

Last updated on: July 29, 2013 at 11:10 pm by Jane the Actuary

Are “men on strike”? 2013-07-29T23:10:00-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

That’s the claim of the new book by Helen Smith.

I have in mind to use this blog to share some of what I’m reading and what I think of it, and this book was a significant disappointment.

The largest irritant was how little original research there was in the book. “Write a book” has long been on my bucket list — not the Great American Novel, but a serious treatment of the retirement crisis, with an international perspective — but I am well aware that writing requires skill in researching (including access to data) and the well-honed ability to write in depth, as well as a significant investment in time. I may indeed have the time, after retirement, or at least after the kids don’t require quite as much homework supervision and chauffeuring, but I hope that at that point, Congress would have acted on the issue already!

Anyway, if it were really possible to write a book with as little research as this book contains, I’d jump at the chance, but I imagine that, as with many such books, it was her name recognition that got this book published (and I’m not sure how known she is in her own right vs. as the wife of a major conservative blogger).

But wow! She talks about interviewing men who frequent the gym — and talked to two!, one of whom gives her the answers she wants only after she asked leading questions. Oh, and she talks to two men at a bar. But the bulk of her “research” consists of comments she received to questions she posed on her blog, and substantial references to material from a couple books on the topic that preceded hers, as well as unsubstantiated assertions by “men’s rights” activists.

So it was really hard to get past this to evaluate the content of the book, however sparse, but the basis thesis is that men, who are choosing not to marry and not to attend college, are “on strike” in response to the ways they’re ill-treated by society and the law.

It’s true that there’s some unfairness out there. As far as sexual relationships for unmarried men are concerned, the tables have been turned. Instead of women worrying that having sex could lead to pregnancy and “ruin,” any woman who is OK with abortion is fully free to have sex as much as she wants without fear of consequences (because no one, male or female, seems to worry about STDs) — but men do bear the risk of paying 18 years of child support for a single night of sex, or even, in one bizarre cases, from oral sex with a condom which the woman later retrieved. And instead of women worrying that drunken flirting could put them at risk of rape, it’s men’s drunken sex that puts them at risk of a rape accusation for consentual sex.

And men are attending college in declining numbers, relative to women, and, once there, can be, if they’re unlucky, subjected to harassment of the “all men are rapists” student orientation variety, or find themselves in classes in which a professor promotes an anti-male viewpoint.

But are declining marriage rates evidence of a “marriage strike” by men? Her disgruntled commenters say they won’t marry lest they lose everything in a divorce, and some say they stay away from relationships entirely, being perfectly happy with porn — but this is a pretty self-selected group.

In any case, to the extent that men are decreasingly likely to say in surveys that getting married is important to them (and are less likely to say so than women), it’s not at all clear that Smith’s notion of a “strike” — refusing to marry because of the injustices of the child support and divorce system — is a suitable explanation.

Likewise, are declining college attendance numbers for men really a sign of discomfort with the “feminization” of the education system? Or are some men who are only marginally college material in the first place now recognizing that fact, and turning to the skilled trades and similar occupations?

And are the failures of men from impoverished backgrounds really due to being “on strike” or due to a whole constellation of issues and pathologies?

In introducing the book, Smith complains that other books of the “what’s wrong with men” genre do so from a woman’s perspective: “how can we fix men so they’ll be good husbands and fathers again instead of playing video games in the basement?” But her “men on strike” device isn’t any better, in trying to lump together a number of issues for the sake of a clean thesis for her book.

(Side comment: I had said previously that one of my goals was to improve my writing style — and one of my deficits is that I have a hard time coming to any final conclusions. I just sort of peter out. . . )

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 28, 2013

Big Projects in Detroit? Again?!

Next Post

July 30, 2013 From the library: What to Expect when No One's Expecting (part 1, the raw numbers)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What do the "Weeping Prophet" and "Book of Lamentations" refer to?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Isaiah Ezekiel Jeremiah Daniel