"“mainstream feminism has morphed from a movement with both communitarian and libertarian strands, to one focused almost entirely on individual freedom, imagined as the property of functionally interchangeable ‘humans'.”
- Mary Harrington
Last week I introduced the first part of a two-part piece, where I talked about how men are doing generally. (Spoiler: not great.) In this piece, I'll give a few more recommendations for books that evaluate whether some of the cultural messages and philosophies that we hear are accurate or helpful.
You might be thinking that, given the most relevant metrics of success, and the fact that men are not doing well, women must be flourishing. And when it comes to education and employment, women are doing far better than they were 50 years ago.
But flourishing involves more than education and vocation. Mary Harrington makes the case that at least some parts of feminism--and she distinguishes between different waves of feminism--has set women back.
3. Mary Harrington, Feminism Against Progress
The sexual revolution empowered women...didn't it?
A nice companion piece to Harrington, Perry takes a closer look at the sexual revolution and the effects that things like the pill, abortion, and "reproductive freedom" have had on women.
4. Louise Perry, The Case Against the Sexual Revolution
If you were to guess who on average was happier--single women, married women without kids, or married women with kids--what would you guess?
Seems obvious doesn't it? If you're paying attention to viral videos about how great it is to be a child-free Boss Babe (note: for the sake of your well-being, please don't pay attention to those), it's obvious that kids and a husband get in the way of your job and career, your free time, your ability to travel, your ability to buy things, all of which will make you happy.
Well...
Surprise surprise, married women with children are the happiest demographic among women. But you wouldn't know that by just looking at social media, TV shows, or movies. You can find out much more on the benefits of marriage by reading,
5. Brad Wilcox, Get Married
Ok, maybe married women with kids are, on average, happier, but in this age of sperm donors and surrogates, women obviously don't need a man to raise their kids, right?
It depends on whether you want your kids to have a good life, or whether you want them to be substantially disadvantaged:
The share of children living in two-parent homes is 71% when the mother has only a high school degree and 70% when she does not have a high school degree. A much higher share, 88%, of children of mothers with a four-year
college degree live in a two-parent home. Why does this issue matter for kids’ outcomes? Because children who grow up without two parents in their home are at a substantial disadvantage relative to kids who do. That is not to say that children who are raised by a single mother can’t go on to achieve great things. Of course they can, and many do! But there are also mounds of social science evidence that shows how the odds of graduating high school, getting a college degree, and having high earnings in adulthood are substantially lower for children who grow up in a single-mother home. The odds of becoming a single parent are also substantially higher for children who grow up with a single mother, again illustrating the compounding nature of inequality. It is not only that lacking two parents makes it harder for some kids to go to college and lead a comfortable life; in the aggregate, it also undermines social mobility and perpetuates inequality across generations...Adults who have lower levels of education and earnings are less likely to get married and raise their children in two-parent homes. Their kids grow up with fewer resources and opportunities, and they don’t do as well in school as their peers from married, higher-income families. Boys from disadvantaged homes are more likely to get in trouble in school and with the criminal justice system; girls from disadvantaged homes are more likely to become young, unmarried mothers. These children grow up to have children who are more likely to be born into disadvantaged situations.
That's from
6. Melissa Kearney, The Two-Parent Privilege
Aside from Dr. Sommers, there aren't many philosophers working on these issues. That's unfortunate, to say the least. Questions about The Good Life have interested philosophers for centuries. So it's probably about time for them to pay attention to the male/marriage reality today, and to contribute toward alleviating what currently looks like a societal crisis.
Until next time.
Jared
This Week's Free Philosophy Resource:
Title: What are the chances you’re right about everything? An epistemic challenge for modern partisanship
Author: Hrishikesh Joshi
Reading Level: Undergraduate
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