For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. ---Ephesians 6:12


"The age of casual Catholicism is over; the age of heroic Catholicism has begun. We can no longer be Catholics by accident, but instead must be Catholics by CONVICTION." ---Fr. Terrence Henry TOR, Franciscan University of Steubenville

Friday, April 11, 2008

Girls Will Be Boys...And Boys Won't Be Much At All


Most people have seen this footage on line or in the news on TV more extensively than here. And most people agree that it's shocking. I do not. Call me calloused, but it is my humble opinion that this sort of behavior from girls is something we should learn to expect if current trends continue. Note I said expect but not accept.

When societal mores are challenged and/or changed, even through good intentions, we should not be shocked at the negative fall-out that accompanies it. Through the last century and into this one, women in the western hemisphere have been encouraged to become more self-sufficient, bold, and assertive. They have been encouraged to compete with men at all levels and target leadership positions in every facet of society. This, without question, is a good thing.

But there have also been some disturbing trends. Young, school-age girls are displaying an aggressiveness today unheard of 20 years ago. Fist-fights and dog-piling have become rather common, even before You Tube or MySpace made themselves available for posting such activity. But the trends are not limited to fighting. Girls are also emulating their male counterparts in the form of sexual aggression. Carol Platt Liebau goes into much detail about the sexualizing of young girls in her new book, Prude.

By contrast, there has been an effort to instill feminine qualities in boys, such as "gentleness, compassion, tenderness, and others." And it could be argued that this has been done successfully, and that to some degree boys are better men for it. The hope, it would seem, is for men to be less likely to solve problems with violence, which would lead to fewer wars. Good intentions, I'm sure.

But the fallout from this "feminization" appears to be manifesting itself in slacker behavior and avoidance of leadership positions among today's men. This result, coupled with a trend towards poor academic achievement for boys, due in large part to teacher neglect for seeing girls as an endangered species, will hurt the country. In the 21st century both female and male leaders will be needed to tackle huge problems yet unseen, but a generation of men living in their old bedrooms at their parents' homes while working only part-time at minimum wage jobs will drag heavily on society.

What is needed is a non-politicized assessment of the true differences, both physical and mental, between boys and girls, and then educate them appropriately. And the education must be done in such a way as to not treat either like an inferior to the other, nor to allow the exploitation of in sexual terms. There has been quite enough of that, and they are both suffering from it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's disgusting! We're becoming France in the late 1930's. We'll be push-overs before it's all over.

Anonymous said...

A fine analysis, Matt.

The coarsening of our culture continues apace, and reflects itself at our younger levels.

Back in the day, we used to rely on women to "civilize" men from their baser instincts, but this is ridiculous!