The Acculturated Podcast: Ladies and Gentlemen
Your pop-culture maven and maverick are back with a new edition of the Acculturated podcast! For the first podcast of 2013, Ben Domenech and I take on one of the most important issues facing our culture today: relationships. With us is the AEI scholar Christina Hoff Sommers, an independent-minded feminist who is the author of two must-read books, Who Stole Feminism and The War Against Boys.
Ben, Christina, and I talk chivalry, gender-neutral toys, and the future of feminism–you won’t want to miss this lively conversation. Be sure to check out my piece on chivalry and Christina’s wonderful article, “You Can Give a Boy a Doll, But You Can’t Make Him Play With It” when you have a chance. Subscribe to the Acculturated Podcast here.
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An interesting podcast, but Ms. Hoff and Ms. Smith didn’t answer the question Ben put to them – what is the male incentive to act in the fashion described? Chivalry, loyalty and all the rest is a two way street, and speaking from the point of view of a man who is skeptical of feminism (to put it mildly) the only thing coming up from the other direction is a whole lot of hurt.
For the last few years, we’ve been assailed by variations of the cry to “man up,’ to which the only rational response by men on the receiving end is an extended middle finger, accompanied by “(expletive deleted) off!” You want chivalry…well, what is it about the modern American that makes her worthy of it? Mr. Darcy doesn’t exist in a vacuum – his virtue is reinforced by that of Elizabeth Bennett, and she earns his respect and consideration. There is very little today about modern women than earns anything but the most visceral contempt from anyone who is half awake. You want loyalty – hard to speak of in a country where the divorce rate is 50 percent, with the family law system biased against fathers. If a woman can end a marriage at the drop of a hat and help herself to the children and a considerable portion of his wealth in the process (assuming he has any) then why should any right-thinking male be loyal? It’s the same as being a sucker.
I also disagree with Ms. Hoff’s belief that the situation be reformed. She mentioned the hobo army of the 1930′s – however that example doesn’t apply to the current situation. Back then, the culture as a whole valued male participation in society. It saw marriage as a social good and divorce as a terrible thing. It valued fatherhood, as well as the old traditional male virtues of honor, fortitude and courage, and frowned on the licentious behavior that is taken for granted today. In other words, there was something for the hobos to come back too. That is no longer the case. I don’t think the situation can be resolved. The patient is terminal, there is nothing for a rational male to do but to step aside and, as the blogger Captain Capitalism says, to enjoy the slide.
(BTW, nothing I have said is new. Manosphere sites have talking about the issues raised in this podcast for years. But then again, they;re just a bunch of basement-dwelling misogynists with small genitals…and so and so forth…)