Tag Archives: Deliberation

More Deliberation

I’ve been reading and commenting on the thread on the Huffington Post article “Don’t Write Men Off Just Yet,” and I’ve been noticing that more conversations are occurring relating to (or at least more closely relating to) the actual topic of the article: whether or not the rise in women empowerment is pushing men into relative irrelevance.

Some interesting threads that have come up are discussions on whether or not it is bad/negligent for mothers to work and send their kids to daycare, and others which discuss gender stereotypes and how they play into the matter.

Other people have brought up how some women are taking the idea of “empowerment” too far, to the point of being selfish or egotistical.

Aside from some obviously belligerent or off-topic commenters, I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the quality of the discussions taking place. Most people seem to be able to present clear arguments, and bring up interesting and salient points on the issue.

I’m also happy to see that discussion is still very active on the article, even though it’s over a week old now. I was somewhat worried that comments would have begun to die down by now. It seems a lot of people have things to say about this.

I’ve also seen a lot of pretty legitimate people commenting (people who have published other articles on the Huffington Post, people with doctorates, etc), which I find pretty cool since it adds a lot of legitimacy to the discussion in general.

To add to this fairly random list of observations, I like how the Huffington Post allows for people to “favorite” a comment, thereby showing support without having to actually comment. This adds an extra dynamic to the whole situation – like if you were in a group of people talking and someone was nodding in agreement with what you were saying without adding anything new themselves.

Deliberation, Deliberation.

I decided to join the conversation on a Huffington Post article called “Don’t write men off just yet,”

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peggy-drexler/dont-write-men-off-just-y_b_2575031.html?show_comment_id=226377687#comment_226377687)

dealing with changing gender roles of men and women. I picked this particular article because it had a lively conversation going, ranging from the avidly feminist to the staunchly old-fashioned.

I found that both sides had the tendency to go a bit overboard – the traditionally-minded claiming that working mothers are the cause of the decline of the modern family, and the vehemently feminist attacking the article for reinforcing stereotypes by acknowledging them.

Here’s a couple of the posts I found interesting:

“It’s a shame nowadays in many families that both parents need to work in order to live and pay high taxes. This causes more women to enter the work force and is part of the reason why there are more in the workforce. When children are involved I believe it is best, if possible, to have one parent home to care for the children. My wife has worked at daycares and keeps telling me kids don’t always get the attention they need. Traditionally women have taken the role of taking care of the children … I realize that the role are reversed in some cases. I understand that women want to enter the workforce but when children are involved someone needs to do the right thing and look after the kids … be that the man or woman. In most cases the man makes more … that means the man provides and the woman cares for the children. If money is not an issue this is how it should be. Women should not thought less of for taking care of children and should not be thought revolutionary when they place their career ahead of family. Society today is suffering because the upbringing of families have been affected whether it be added income needed or career aspirations of either of the parents”

and

You realize that by focusing so much on mens’ earning power that you’re reinforcing negative gender stereotypes about women?”

Of course, there were plenty of good points out there too – on both sides. And it’s interesting to see people actually debating the issue at hand: Are men declining as women rise? Or are we simply reaching equality?

The biggest issue I’ve seen with the deliberation here is that too many posts deviate from the main point – it’s not a question of whether or not women SHOULD work, it’s a question of whether or not the rise of educated, successful, empowered women is causing the decline of male power.