Barbara Kay: The male crisis that’s ruining our boys and no one cares about | National Post
For me, that “aha” moment came while reading Farrell’s 1993 book, The Myth of Male Power, where I encountered his theory of “disposability” as the guiding principle behind men’s self-valuation. The basic idea is that our societies depend for their survival and comfort on male willingness to take on the nastiest jobs — oil rigs, hydro lines, construction, mining — that is, those with the highest risk of injury and death, and in particular to enter into combat to protect society’s vulnerable members: women and children.Thus, men grow up learning that in order to garner society’s admiration and respect (“social bribes,” as Farrell puts it), they must strive for a heroism that can only be earned by high risk and willingness for self-sacrifice. (I was surprised to learn that over 75 per cent of firefighters in the U.S. are volunteers.) The result is the curious paradox that men can achieve high social valuation only by conceding the pricelessness of women’s and children’s lives, while placing a low value on their own.
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