Save the Males

Amanda Platell, in the UK's Daily Mail (interestingly enough, in a column titled "Femail") discusses the book Save the Males by Kathleen Parker.

One of the quotes from the article:

Parker writes almost poetically about the ultimate beauty of men's innate character. When she looks at her own father and fathers around her, she concludes that being a dad is, in fact, the manliest thing a man can do.

It encourages responsibility, sacrifice and the ability to put others before yourself  -  all essential qualities to a functioning society, let alone a home.

'When we take away a man's central purpose in life and marginalise him from society's most important institution (the family), we strip him of his manhood.'

And it's not all we strip away, as studies have discovered here. We reduce a child's chance of a successful and happy life.

'Growing up without a father is the most reliable indicator of poverty and all the familiar social pathologies affecting children, including drug abuse, truancy, delinquency and sexual promiscuity. Yet some feminists and other progressives still insist that men are non-essential.'

The powerful argument Parker constructs is that unless we wake up, and wake up quickly, to the importance of men in family life, society as we know it is doomed. In the creation of a more female friendly world, we have unwittingly created a culture hostile to men, not in the workplace, but the most important place, the home.

How refreshingly honest, how devoid of political correctness or feminist dogma for a woman to argue for and ultimately celebrate the necessity and the goodness of men.

Now, of course you know what my response is going to be: "Look, guys...suck it up, stop whining about how unappreciated you are, and don't wait for 'permission' to lead - lead! While you're huddled in a corner rocking yourself in a fetal position because society's gone girly and you can't catch a break, your family is suffering.  So get over yourselves, and start doing what you were created to do."

...that being said, I loved Amanda's article, and I think I'm going to need to get the book for myself.