This is a response to an article called “Is There Anything Good About Men”.
I’m sure the author feels assured that most people will regard his title as amusing or intentionally provocative, and not ridiculous, or offensive, as it would be if it were “Is There Anything Good About Negroes?” or “Is There Anything Good About Women?”. It’s the kind of bullying, self-amused irony only allowed because men are positioned so comfortably in a privileged position, that no one could possibly regard it as threatening or really pejorative.
The article is linked in an article in the New York Times entitled “Why Men Need Women”. which does more to convince me that the persistent lack of women geniuses is causing some desperation out there.
This is the kind of bullshit that nowadays passes for serious social theory:
We recognize the direct advantages that women as leaders bring to the table, which often include diverse perspectives, collaborative styles, dedication to mentoring and keen understanding of female employees and customers. But we’ve largely overlooked the beneficial effects that women have on the men around them. [NY Times, July 21, 2013]
Gosh, I’d like to meet those women!
Now, I know that any generalized knowledge, especially from the social “science” sector, includes a hell of a lot of selectivity and redundancy, therefore providing a barn door’s worth of anomalies, but even so, the idea that there are a lot of women managers out there selflessly promoting their colleagues and underlings and bringing “diverse perspectives” to management meetings is a bit of a stretch.
The one area where women are more than the equal of men is self-interest, even if the the social sciences as a block generally refuse to recognize just how self-interested a lot of overtly “selfless” behavior is. Anyone who has ever forgotten to thank his mother or wife knows this. Any girl in school who hasn’t made the correct gestures of gratitude and loyalty knows this.