The “harmless habit” of male bashing
Dr. Helen posts that even women’s magazines are getting the clue that the “harmless habit” is doing plenty of harm. What is this “harmless habit” of women? Male bashing.
Imagine my surprise when I saw that a cover story in Cosmo was very much pro-male. The tagline reads “Verbally bashing the male species is now a reflex for a lot of chicks. Problem is, the real thing getting trashed could be your relationship.” Okay, so they phrase the problem with male bashing as one that is detrimental to females, but hey, at least there is a realization that it is wrong. The article has several good sections in it entitled, “How We Beat Up on Boys,” “Why it Weakens Love,” “Break your Bashing Habit,” and “Start Male Boasting.”
The advice is good and direct, such as telling women to stop telling their dates they are not like the jerks they usually date.[...] To break the habit, the author suggests when your girlfriends start guy trashing, you change the subject. Or, “if a girlfriend says that guys never commit, get her to see how silly it is to make such broad statements by making one about women, like, ‘I know, and women start shopping for a wedding dress after the third date.’” Cosmo gives suggestions (but should you really need this advice after the age of 12?) that women should ditch lines like “Men are dogs” or “Unless its football, it’s too complicated for his brain.”
Why has male bashing become so popular and pervasive, even to the point that many women don’t even realize they’re doing it? Why has it become so acceptable that I even find it being done—albeit to a lesser degree sometimes—by good Catholic women either married to good Catholic men or who are single and looking for a good Catholic husband. (I will emphatically and happily add that my wife is not among that crowd.) Perhaps while they’re complaining about not finding a husband, they should stop to consider whether their attitude toward men has anything to do with it.
An acceptable prejudice
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Technorati Tags: female, feminism, male, male bashing, men, women
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