The American Spectator

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br> Manliness is to many a quaint notion, like chivalry or modesty, so it's no surprise we expect less and less of our young men, and no surprise that they are happy to oblige. If today's female is convinced she'll be better off without the modern male it is not because men are obsolescent, but rather because they stubbornly refuse to grow out of their frat boy phase, and what woman needs that headache? If a guy can't bring something valuable to a relationship, why should a woman bother? "What we expect from them is boorish, simian behavior that ratifies the antimale sentiment that runs through the culture," Parker writes.

A brief look at the statistics illuminates just how broken today's male is. As of year-end 2006, there were 1,479,726 men in U.S. state and federal prison, compared with 115,308 women. Nearly half of marriages end in divorce. A third of parents entitled to court-ordered child support aren't getting it from deadbeat dads. But the most damning development is how more and more women, in particular educated, middle-class women, are choosing to live alone and do without families rather than risk their happiness on someone who whiles away the evenings crushing empty beer cans against his head and playing Nintendo. There is even a neologism coined to describe this new female lifestyle choice: freemales. Two-thirds of British women say they can enjoy a happy and fulfilled life without "Mr. Mediocre."

In the past twenty years there have been several responses to this challenge: The Promise Keepers, The Million Man March, Men with Drums, but the women-hating crisis has only deepened. The challenge has now been taken up by conservatives, who are taking on the role of classical feminist leaders, and bucking the cultural trends by encouraging respect for women, demanding that women not be objectified, exploited and degraded, and that men grow up and take responsibility. Demanding respect for women obviously is not a departure for conservatives, but calling for a new feminism (or a return to classical feminism) and taking up the largely abandoned pro-woman platform, is the clearest sign of how messed up things really are.