Why is male-bashing going out of favor?
Male-bashing seems to be the last bastion of acceptable biased speech. Pokerhed has a post suggesting it may be time to end it. Men, after all, are people too. The stereotype of men as “dumb brutes,” so often used as the punchline in standup acts and the inspiration for countless country songs, can be unfair and even harmful. [I’m going to assume Pokerhed is being serious in his post — certainly the article he quotes is serious.] The excuse for allowing male-bashing all these years has been simple: men have all the power and money; surely they can take a little joke. The question is, why are men suddenly starting to become uncomfortable with these jokes? Is it because men are becoming more tolerant and therefore see the problem with “humor” directed at a category of people rather than an individual or “all of us”? Or is it because men see some of that power and money beginning to slip from their grasp? According to the article cited in the post, men are outnumbered on college campuses
