About book The End Of Men: And The Rise Of Women (2012)
First of all let’s get clear about one thing: I like men. I really do and I do not wish in any way their annihilation nor downfall: any unbalanced society is a lame one. The reasons why I wanted to read this book is merely out of interest, in order to achieve the more complete and round vision possible about today’s feminism.A radical book might have been intersting. Radical book? I’ve been really deceived: radical is just the title.In fact Hanna Rosin’s book is far from being radical nor innovative. For starters, she accurately skips the motherhood/career topic, today’s feminism must – and this is unacceptable, since the real thing about today’s feminism is this one.Next she brings up poor examples of actual new feministic way of life, like the “hook up” trend at the Ivy League collages and the new matriarchy way, in the Southern States, those mostly hitten by the recession of the 90s. Hook up, far from being “ a new, bright way to live sex for women, where they can finally express their independence also in this area”, is just an empty mimic of the male way to live it: At the end of the day, girls don’t enjoy sex and they are considered mere sluts by the boys. About the “matriarchy”, Rosin misuses this word: martriarchy happens when the entire society agrees on that, while what happened in the Southern States is just a coincidence – the fact that men have lost their job and that because of that women are/became the breadwinners. Matriarchy is also a way of thinking, a way to think the world, not just a way to pay the bills at the end of the month. For sure such a situation will influence new thoughts, both into men and women about life priorities, but we’re far from a matriarchy.But the real poverty of Mrs. Rosin’s philosophy (who forgets that between the word man and manhood there’s a difference) lies in two points: 1) she assumes that male values, mostly those concerning productivity, are the real good one; 2) her ultimate goal is that men should become like women (i.e.: more flexible and multitasking).As long as women can/want to work like men - both to prove that they are really cool women, that “we can do it” - there won’t be any smart way out to solve THE debate: motherhood vs career. Rosin’s, as said, skips the topic but she too she can’t help but notice that women (when they get children) “strangely” tend to opt more for families instead of their jobs – and this puts us, women, on a low rank when viewed from a male perspective. The real revolution lies here: women should create values that are good and positve for women, believe in them. Men will respect them. On the other hand, wishing/working on/obliging men to become like women is not the solution: men are not women and that’s the beauty of it. Obliging the other sex to change leads nowhere. Also because what women are really missing today is manhood. that’s going flooded away by a contemporary generation of mothers who wants to raise their sons in a more “tender and sweet way” thinking that they’ll be able to achieve a new kind of man – who’ll be more like a girl.As long as there’s a wish to “end” what’s different or to flat difference in order to make it all alike to one model (who chooses this model, by the way and why?) there’s no creativity, no democracy, no healthy society. Good book to understand the issues related to modern women from a "feminist" point of view. Though I do not agree with many opinions in the book, I found the book very entertaining. There is a mix up between the concept of love and the concept of material well being. These two may not always go hand in hand. Some times people sacrifice materially for love and sometimes they don't. These dynamics need to be understood well to understand more about gender qualities and women issues. I see this missing in this book.
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Interesting book and well written. Worth reading and learned a lot.
—gig
Alleen de twee laatste hoofdstukken waren de moeite.
—Tori
