Bad Time to Be a Dude: Dissecting Male Studies, College Admissions, and Being a Man in America in 2010
Ever since we went to Staten Island for the male studies symposium last month, we’ve been wondering about something. It seems that a growing number of men have signed onto the idea that because women earn more bachelor’s degrees than men today (and are close to surpassing men in the earning of advanced degrees), it’s proof, suddenly, that it’s men who are being discriminated against. Meanwhile, a number of college admissions deans recently admitted they hold women to higher standards, prompting a full-scale civil rights probe into whether female college applicants are facing formal discrimination.
Which brings us to this: When is imbalance actually discrimination? It’s fascinating that the same situation can be read by one group as discriminatory toward men and another as discriminatory toward women.
We were reminded of this when we came across an editorial in this week’s Washington Times, which reads, in part:
For decades, women’s studies programs have thrived based on a host of purported “victimization” and gender gap claims. Both government data and sound social science research now have exposed many of these claims as myths. Today it is clear that “gender gaps” predominantly favor females and disfavor males. Specific examples would include strikingly higher rates of male unemployment, strikingly lower rates of male educational attainment, blatant gender bias in family and divorce law and, even when women and men initiate domestic violence at equal rates, the government’s providing of services to women but not to men (as seen in the Violence Against Women Act).
Now this is the Washington Times, but it’s worth asking: What is actually happening here? Are male unemployment figures higher because our society now favors women? Have the tables really turned so radically? Of course, you all know where we stand, but we also understand, on some level, why others would look at this collection of data and think it’s profoundly unfair, and, in short, a really bad time to be a dude.
We turn to you, dear readers. Would you want to be a man in America in 2010? Do you think colleges should favor men in order to achieve gender balance on campus?
