by Nathan Breck

Created on: August 03, 2007

I hate these sorts of questions. They are loaded questions, yet remain vague. "Does society favor men?" well... which society, and what do you mean by favor, and what constitutes a man? By society I assume you mean modern Western society, that's simple enough. We'll function on the assumption that man is merely a gender reference, not a maturity level (as opposed to "boy"). Now we reach the real keyword. Favor. Favor is a difficult word. But, in lieu of trying to prevade one of those ever-evasive precise definitions, I'm just going to assume it means, on the overrall broad scale, that society generally tends to be biased in favor of men.

I think the answer is no, society does not favor men. I could point to the feminist scholarships as an example of society favoring women. Try to find a masculist scholarship. You won't. Why? Maybe guys just don't care that much, or maybe it's because society favors women. In my age bracket, the idea that a girl can get a special scholarship just because she's a girl is disgusting, almost as bad as a hispanic or african american person getting a special scholarship just for being a "minority". In both circumstances, the scholarship wasn't earned on personal merit.

Now some would point to the example that men tend to make more money, on average. In the US, according to some reports, women earn about 75% as much (on average). Another study says women earn about 98% as much. I choose to accept the 75% as much. Well, much of that wealth is carried over from previous times. Infrastructures and systems set up before modern society. The wealth carried down to men, despite the fact that society has shifted to equality rather than patriarchy.

Honestly, the gender arguements bore me terribly. When I look around at the world, I see people. The feminists are no less dehumanizing than the old chauvanists, just in different ways. Just like the old chauvanists, later generations will look back on them and be ashamed of them. Does society favor men? No. Society favors industrious, hard-working, dedicated people.

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