Modern Manliness and the Perpetual State of Low Expectations

Acculturated ^ | February 14 | R. J. Moeller

[2ndDivisionVet]

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Kay Hymowitz posits the following conclusion regarding the current culture of masculinity in the United States:

Not so long ago, the average American man in his 20s had achieved most of the milestones of adulthood: a high-school diploma, financial independence, marriage and children. Today, most men in their 20s hang out in a novel sort of limbo, a hybrid state of semi-hormonal adolescence and responsible self-reliance. This “pre-adulthood” has much to recommend it, especially for the college-educated. But it’s time to state what has become obvious to legions of frustrated young women: It doesn’t bring out the best in men.

As someone who is personally putting his twenties behind him, finally finding a certain degree of success in the line of work I’ve been struggling to break into for half a decade and happily occupied in a serious relationship, let me be the first to say that Hymowitz is categorically correct in her summation of the situation.

Painfully so, in fact. This one hits a little too close to home.....

[BuckeyeTexan]

I don’t mind a man who can bake cherry pies as long as he’s not a sissy. I can’t stand girly men.

[mylife]

I am not so sure she is sympathetic, so much as scathing in her assessment of single men.