In Defense of Man-Bashing

Over at Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds links to a piece by Lisa De Pasquale entitled Why the Anti-Men ‘Galentine’s Day’ is Nothing to Celebrate. According to Ms. Pasquale, this recently invented February 13th holiday (another sitcom-inspired creation) has, at least in some circles, a decidedly anti-male aspect to it.

I understand her objection: men do come in for a lot of criticism lately, and young men — grade school boys in particular — are suffering from increasingly unhinged biases and hostility.

But I’m generally not very sympathetic to complaints about the mistreatment of men. We are, by our very natures, tougher than women, physically and emotionally stronger and less sensitive, less vulnerable. This is one of the reasons it’s so great to be a man, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Yes, I know men have a few legitimate complaints, mostly having to do with a lack of due process. But it’s still easier, safer, and just more fun to be a guy than a gal, so I don’t care to hear people whine about anti-male discrimination. (I do, on the other hand, feel a bit sorry for the little boys in the school yard who have to put up with misguided adult re-education efforts.)

Frankly, I think it’s kind of cute when women get together and pile on men and make fun of us. It’s like watching feisty kittens fight each other. I say, let them enjoy their sisterly solidarity.

This half-serious, casually anti-male feminism has a silver lining. These ladies, with their “The Future is Female” (and they’re half right) tee-shirts and their “male tears” mugs, are acknowledging that men and women are different. That shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, but, after half a century of feminism’s relentless efforts to redefine women as men — first by jettisoning the bra, and ultimately by eliminating the act of motherhood itself — it’s nice to hear women talking about men as something inherently unlike themselves.

Because they’re right: men and women are different. And women, even when then they’re being feisty and cutely cantankerous, are adorable.