Mohler on "the disappearance of manhood"

This is an amazing article, something most of us have seen with our own eyes. Young men seem to have less direction and maturity than ever, while the world is going to the women. The implications for church life are huge. We need to figure out how to teach our boys to be decisive, proactive, and thinking of the future and not merely video games.

Might get myself in trouble with this observation but a trend I’ve seen is that women are becoming more effective leaders because they are willing to say ‘no’ to women (and men), whereas men are increasingly not willing to say ‘no’ to women, partly because of the fear of being labeled misogynistic, chauvinist, etc.
But certainly there is ultimately nobody to blame but us men. Though we have always found it difficult to endure a woman’s scorn (“hell hath no fury…”), perhaps we have found philosophical reasons to embrace cowardliness and appear enlightened while doing so.

[Aaron Blumer] Might get myself in trouble with this observation but a trend I’ve seen is that women are becoming more effective leaders because they are willing to say ‘no’ to women (and men), whereas men are increasingly not willing to say ‘no’ to women, partly because of the fear of being labeled misogynistic, chauvinist, etc.
But certainly there is ultimately nobody to blame but us men. Though we have always found it difficult to endure a woman’s scorn (“hell hath no fury…”), perhaps we have found philosophical reasons to embrace cowardliness and appear enlightened while doing so.

I think you are right, Aaron. We can be brave in many ways, but we are so afraid of looking bad in the eyes of women that we have become wimps.

Every time I read statistics about women outnumbering men, I think of this verse (which gives me the creeps whenever I read it) Isa 4:1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach. Ick.

We’ve discussed before around here that some churches are rather matriarchal, because ministries are often administrated and staffed by women. One of the dangers of homeschooling is that families can very easily become matriarchal, even if the family claims to be patriarchal (and when you see a matriarchal patriarchal family, it completely scrambles your brain, so be very careful not to let them know that you’ve discerned their true nature http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php] http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-char018.gif )

There is also the possibility of a physical reason why boys are less ambitious and aggressive- the presence of [URL=http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/Basics/chemlist.htm endocrine disruptors[/URL] in cosmetics, packaging, and pesticides. There are studies that have shown a relation between early onset puberty in girls and delayed puberty in boys, and the influence of endocrine disruptors in the environment. Also see [URL=http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/NewScience/reproduction/2006/2006-1210tr… A population-level decline in serum testosterone levels in American men[/URL] and [URL=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19478717] Estrogen-like endocrine disrupting chemicals affecting puberty in humans—a review[/URL].

PCB’s showed a significant delay in puberty in pubertal boys … Endosulfan affects pubertal boys by slowing down the timing of reproductive maturation.

Just sayin’. It’s reasonable to speculate that there has not only been a societal shift, but a literal physical factor as well.

The male/female gap in education has been being pointed out for some time. Essentially, western education favors the advancement of girls (as the article points out). Boys are naturally hands-on, physically oriented. When this kind of training is lacking in a culture, any culture, men will retreat from leadership roles. Secondly, Feminism has been hugely successful in bringing about this result.

When I graduated in 1989 there were more females graduating out of schools in my profession than males. Today, males of that same graduating class have the more dominant roles at our peer level, mostly because female careers along the way get diverted into child rearing permanently or temporarily. You look at service sector (non-blue collar) industries, they are still dominated by men at even the middle managed levels. I don’t buy that the problem is that the top jobs in our society today are geared to a woman’s strengths, because leadership will naturally gravitate to the male no matter what the profession. The problem is that males aren’t stressed the importance of having a career at a young age. Providing for your family has been put down on the list of priorities for men even in fundamental circles. If it was a high priority, males would be more serious about the career path they choose, not just take careers that look fun or require the least amount of work to obtain credentials.