The Baltic Sea, September 28, 1994, Estonian-Swedish ferry sinks, over 800 die. A disproportionate number of women drown. Many say the "Law of the Sea" (women and children first), was forgotten, and "The Law of the Jungle" (every man for himself) prevailed. The screams of women drowning were heard by many men.
Montreal, December 6, 1989, 14 women engineering students were killed by a crazed man. Many were bothered by the fact that the male students didn't risk their lives in an attempt to save them.
New York City, the Twin Tower Bombings: in the panic to get out of the
buildings, some women reported being shoved out of elevators by men.
Phyllis Schlafly has written that male soldiers are now being trained to disregard
female soldiers' pain and suffering if captured since the sexual assault of a U.S.
female POW during the gulf war. She's afraid if this attitude gets out to the general
public, it could be devastating to male-female relationships.
Losing chivalry is one thing, but are American women willing to forfeit the
paternal feeling that most men still have for them?
Many men are no longer more outraged by women being abused than by
men being abused.
Today, men are increasingly seeing themselves less as the providers and protectors
of women. In an equal world why should they be?
Feminist legal scholar Catharine MacKinnon has said that the increase in domestic
violence and rape are symptomatic of male attitudes toward women.
Could gender politics change men to see men and women as just people? Is this a
good or bad condition for our society?
According to a recent poll, many less men would give up their seat in a lifeboat to
a woman today. Quite a difference from the 1912 Titanic disaster where mostly
women were saved. In a riot, disaster or war, will it mean every man and women
for themselves?
Many men today demand that women be obligated for the draft and combat along
with men. Mel Feit, of the National Center for Men, has stated that "a male body
isn't any more capable of withstanding a bullet than a female body."
Women hold political office and are police officers, firefighters, and soldiers.
Should men still risk their lives to protect them?
Geraldo Rivera on a show regarding male-female violence stated, "The way I was
brought up, men should always protect women." But isn't this attitude patronizing
and demeaning?
Some women call this equally disrespectful attitude, misogynistic. Some men call
this result of societal equality, poetic justice.
Over the next few years, I believe these questions will be answered, although some
will go into Gender Shock (the condition of being overwhelmed by the changes in
gender roles and attitudes) if true equality becomes a reality. If being equally
respected is what women want, then being equally disrespected could be a natural
and inevitable by-product.
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