[Bacchus]

This essay first appeared in Newsweek in 1975. A mainstream publication would never publish this now.

The first four paragraphs are some great writing. The rest is, while preachy, is still ahead of its time.

Cruel Lib

My favorite lines:

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When Fred let it all hang out, it just dangled there

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Now Gwen drinks a lot; she has some talent in that direction

Mano's criticism of feminism, that most women are average and that traditional gender roles benefit average women is true today, but it's truer sexually rather than economically. Now, the economy has shifted to favor women's strengths over men's, so many women do better off economically on their own than they would depending on whatever a man can provide for them.

The shifts in the sexual market have been much less kind to the average woman. In the past, average women used to secure lifetime commitment from men while they were at their most attractive. The typical city slut nowadays has so much choice in her salad days that she doesn't want to slow down to commit to any one man. She has big goals for her career, and in the meantime she can hook up with a string of broke, yet charming foreigners, artists, and musicians. So, she's willingly removed herself from the marraige market when she's at her peak. Then, once she's lost 90% of her eggs, she wants to settle down, but finds only chumps and simps competing for her affection. She still might get married, but not with the man she wanted to. The experiences she had with high-value men combined with the inborn female distaste for betas, dooms whatever commitment she's able to bag before her meeting with the wall.

Feminism has failed the average woman, since most women would be much happier with the exclusive love of a good man than with a Benz they bought themselves. She might get a few years of attention out of the deal, but it has put what women value most of all out beyond the reach of most women. It's the cruelty of promising the world, but failing to deliver anything close to it.

[Humanist]

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She has big goals for her career, and in the meantime she can hook up with a string of broke, yet charming foreigners, artists, and musicians. So, she's willingly removed herself from the marraige market when she's at her peak. Then, once she's lost 90% of her eggs, she wants to settle down, but finds only chumps and simps competing for her affection. She still might get married, but not with the man she wanted to.

I agree with you. But many people these days would argue with this passage that I've quoted. They'd say "women can spend their twenties exploring their sexuality and having many lovers, then settle down with someone in their thirties once they've had those experiences. That doesn't mean they're not marrying the man they want -- they never wanted to marry those artists, musicians, foreigners, baristas, skate punks, and bartenders. They just wanted to sleep with them."

What would your response to that be?

[Bacchus]

(12-22-2012 06:30 PM)Humanist Wrote:  

I agree with you. But many people these days would argue with this passage that I've quoted. They'd say "women can spend their twenties exploring their sexuality and having many lovers, then settle down with someone in their thirties once they've had those experiences. That doesn't mean they're not marrying the man they want -- they never wanted to marry those artists, musicians, foreigners, baristas, skate punks, and bartenders. They just wanted to sleep with them."

What would your response to that be?

Easy, sour grapes.

Women want a commitment from these men, but they can't get it. To protect their fragile psychic health, they claim they never wanted it in the first place. It's a textbook example of

Heartiste has a nice summary of a study in support of this.

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If badboys are rounding the bases to home plate a lot more often and a lot quicker than niceguys, despite women’s opinions that niceguys make for better high commitment dating partners, then badboys are also getting more opportunities to escalate relationships into the long-term category. The fact that a lot of badboys choose not to convert short term flings into LTRs does NOT mean that the opportunity for them to do so is not available.

[Humanist]

Great points.