When the next census is taken there will be a major demographic shift to consider.
A new class of “pre-adults” or “extended adolescents” has emerged and the culprits, it seems, are young males in the 20 to 30 year range who just won’t grow up.
Young women are asking themselves, “Where have all the good men gone?”
This issue is getting a lot of press lately. It’s all because of a new book entitled Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men into Boys.
In this book Kay Hymowitz contends that young, eligible men are hanging out with their buds in their mom’s basement playing video games and laughing at fart jokes. At the same time their would-be partners and prospective mothers of their children are writing them off as acceptable mates.
This may be an unintended consequence of the feminist movement or just a reaction to a rapidly changing culture but for gaggles of successful women, successful men are getting harder to find.
This new class of autonomous, affluent, pre-adult males is in no hurry to reach the milestones of full blown adulthood. For the time being at least they are quite content to hang back with other unattached child-men, avoiding responsibility and living in some sort of dude heaven.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just that today’s women have noticed it takes a long time for some dudes to reach those traditional goals such as career, fidelity and family.
Even successful men seem to enjoy a prolonged adolescence.
And why not? Adolescent and pre-adult males are starting to feel listless, emasculated and confused as they try to understand what is expected of them. Powerful women are thriving in business and are becoming wealthy and independent on their own.
In their defense some men say they are getting mixed messages. Now that women have won equality and respect in a gender-neutral workplace, can a man still flirt with a woman or ask her out to dinner? Is he still expected to pay for the meal?
Even the role of father has become somewhat redundant. Once a responsible young woman feels the maternal instinct she may try to lure an attractive man away from his extended adolescence and frat-boy pranks but she means business and doesn’t have time to waste.
If nothing turns up she may abandon her search for a responsible, non-farting man and decide instead to pick up some suitable DNA at a sperm bank. So much for romance.
And so, men are feeling a little insecure and unneeded. Even the position of father has become obsolete in some families. Maybe that’s why they seek the security and acceptance of an extended adolescent Dude Sanctuary.
Career women may also delay the responsibilities of home and family but for different reasons. Sometimes business goals and financial independence come first. Young women have more confidence and drive than ever before and in some cases they end up earning more than their boyfriends and their brothers.
Female enrolment in post-secondary education is up and the “you go girl” generation is excelling in school and business. Successful, self-sufficient adult young women are everywhere. They are happy and fulfilled and some may never start looking for that definitive Milestone of Adulthood, a home and a family.
Both sexes are putting off marriage and kids and other traditional responsibilities in “an epic generational tantrum”.
Huge cultural and economic shifts have changed the roles of adolescents and young adults and the way they relate.
Young women 20 to 30 are getting impatient as they keep an eye on their biological clocks. Young men, not so much. Child-bearing years for women have a “best before date” but men operate on a different timetable. Their clock keeps ticking almost as long as they do.
That’s the situation. Rightly or wrongly, men and women in their 20s and 30s are caught in a kind of matrimonial standoff.
The choices they make may seem like the best option at the time but when it comes to some traditional milestones of adulthood, they don’t know what they’re missing.
But I’m a romantic guy. I think young women will eventually tire of wearing a business suit and young men will expand their horizons beyond their fun-filled adolescence. They will find each other and fall in love just like in the old days. Then they can really get down to business.
Until then, “manning up” can wait.
Party on dudes.
A new class of “pre-adults” or “extended adolescents” has emerged and the culprits, it seems, are young males in the 20 to 30 year range who just won’t grow up.
Young women are asking themselves, “Where have all the good men gone?”
This issue is getting a lot of press lately. It’s all because of a new book entitled Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men into Boys.
In this book Kay Hymowitz contends that young, eligible men are hanging out with their buds in their mom’s basement playing video games and laughing at fart jokes. At the same time their would-be partners and prospective mothers of their children are writing them off as acceptable mates.
This may be an unintended consequence of the feminist movement or just a reaction to a rapidly changing culture but for gaggles of successful women, successful men are getting harder to find.
This new class of autonomous, affluent, pre-adult males is in no hurry to reach the milestones of full blown adulthood. For the time being at least they are quite content to hang back with other unattached child-men, avoiding responsibility and living in some sort of dude heaven.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just that today’s women have noticed it takes a long time for some dudes to reach those traditional goals such as career, fidelity and family.
Even successful men seem to enjoy a prolonged adolescence.
And why not? Adolescent and pre-adult males are starting to feel listless, emasculated and confused as they try to understand what is expected of them. Powerful women are thriving in business and are becoming wealthy and independent on their own.
In their defense some men say they are getting mixed messages. Now that women have won equality and respect in a gender-neutral workplace, can a man still flirt with a woman or ask her out to dinner? Is he still expected to pay for the meal?
Even the role of father has become somewhat redundant. Once a responsible young woman feels the maternal instinct she may try to lure an attractive man away from his extended adolescence and frat-boy pranks but she means business and doesn’t have time to waste.
If nothing turns up she may abandon her search for a responsible, non-farting man and decide instead to pick up some suitable DNA at a sperm bank. So much for romance.
And so, men are feeling a little insecure and unneeded. Even the position of father has become obsolete in some families. Maybe that’s why they seek the security and acceptance of an extended adolescent Dude Sanctuary.
Career women may also delay the responsibilities of home and family but for different reasons. Sometimes business goals and financial independence come first. Young women have more confidence and drive than ever before and in some cases they end up earning more than their boyfriends and their brothers.
Female enrolment in post-secondary education is up and the “you go girl” generation is excelling in school and business. Successful, self-sufficient adult young women are everywhere. They are happy and fulfilled and some may never start looking for that definitive Milestone of Adulthood, a home and a family.
Both sexes are putting off marriage and kids and other traditional responsibilities in “an epic generational tantrum”.
Huge cultural and economic shifts have changed the roles of adolescents and young adults and the way they relate.
Young women 20 to 30 are getting impatient as they keep an eye on their biological clocks. Young men, not so much. Child-bearing years for women have a “best before date” but men operate on a different timetable. Their clock keeps ticking almost as long as they do.
That’s the situation. Rightly or wrongly, men and women in their 20s and 30s are caught in a kind of matrimonial standoff.
The choices they make may seem like the best option at the time but when it comes to some traditional milestones of adulthood, they don’t know what they’re missing.
But I’m a romantic guy. I think young women will eventually tire of wearing a business suit and young men will expand their horizons beyond their fun-filled adolescence. They will find each other and fall in love just like in the old days. Then they can really get down to business.
Until then, “manning up” can wait.
Party on dudes.
