It is with much sadness that I have been observing the decline of the male ego. A deflated ego in men can have devastating results and I predict that all of society is going to pay the price for having boosted the ego of women at the expense of men.

For the past thirty years at least, men have been confused by political correctness and its dangerous forerunner, feminism.
While feminism appears to have attempted to elevate the status of women by downgrading the status of men, it is political correctness that has become the nail in the coffin.

I do not wish to denigrate the contribution made by feminism in the struggle for equal rights in employment and in other spheres, but as in all revolutions, the feminists went too far. It’s a truism that by its very nature, a revolution has to go overboard, since it’s difficult to become passionate about a moderate cause.

However, the consequence of being thought of as the adversaries of women which is exactly how feminists regarded men during the age of feminism, is that men became frightened of being labelled male chauvinist pigs. Funny how one doesn’t hear that term any more. Is it because those pigs have been “cured” or have turned into Babe-like piglets?

Feminists accused men of being “only after one thing”. Men were imperialists whose sole aim in life was to subdue women. In fact, some of the more radical feminists even regarded sexual intercourse as the ultimate act of colonisation.

It’s ironic that it was usually the rather plain women in their dungarees, hair unkempt and breasts down to their knees who shouted that they didn’t want to be “sex objects.” I always found it very amusing how obsessed with sex these poor females were.

Men were warned that women did not want compliments, seats in buses or help with heavy parcels.

Men felt that they had to apologise for everything they said and did. “Is it ok if I tell you that you look good in that outfit?” is how they had to preface a compliment. Heaven help the man who took a woman’s arm to guide her across the road. As the song went, women were doing it for themselves.

Men got the message and let the women have their way.

Chivalry was definitely dead but not all women cheered its demise.

I confess that I’m painting a picture using an extremely broad brush but this is not a thesis, just food for thought and it all came about because of an article in the Men’s Health section of The Australian Financial Review (22nd Feb). This article came from a report by Androgyny Australia in which Professor Rob McLachlan reported that there has been an alarming drop in male testosterone in men of middle-age. These men are coincidentally the ones who suffered the barbs of feminism.

According to McLachlan’s study, the decline in levels of the male hormone is leading to a loss of libido and is also associated with a rise in diabetes and obesity. But it isn’t certain which came first, the lowering of testosterone or the rise in those diseases. As the professor puts it, “it’s a chicken and egg question.”

When one takes into account the concurrent drop in male fertility which apparently cannot as yet be explained scientifically or environmentally, I immediately thought of the decline in men’s self-esteem which could account for a lowering of testosterone.

It is only natural that when a man feels good about himself then his male hormone levels will increase. However, when his role in society as hunter, provider and protector, is under threat from the very beings for whom he’s supposed to be “hunting” and protecting, then it is very likely that his sperm count will suffer.

It’s ironic how men have tried to accommodate women’s demands by becoming SNAGS (sensitive new age guys) who met and talked about their feelings as they beat some sort of tom-tom. From there it was only a hop, step and jump until that dreadful creature, the metrosexual took over the bathroom mirror, shared your moisturiser and went to spas, until he began to emulate his gay friends. (not that there’s anything wrong with it.)

In my opinion, men made a serious mistake by trying to suck up to the liberated women. Whereas in the past, men lived on Mars and women on Venus, it seems as if the men had moved to Venus too. In all honesty, though, the shrill caterwauling of women’s objections were too much for the men to endure and they caved in.

As part of the political correctness fiasco, there has been a blurring of the difference between the sexes. Actresses were dubbed actors and confusion reigns. God forbid you should call our Nicole an actress.

In all of this there is a discernible female prejudice towards their own sex, otherwise they would have been proud to own the female title.

One doesn’t hear of actors demanding to be called actresses, does one?

Now having put men in their place and having virtually emasculated them until they no longer know whether they are Arthur or Martha, the women have done an about turn. “la donna e mobile” . Now isn’t that just like a woman?

We now read in the newspaper that women no longer want metrosexuals. They want dependable tradesmen (who doesn’t?) with a fully-equipped set of tools. I suspect they became fed up with having their hair gel pinched and perhaps deep in their confused psyche they want real men.

Perhaps what they really want is men who are real men but who have a modicum of interest in fashion and decor. Not too much to turn them into wimps, just a smidgin which will make them excited about the thread count of bedlinen.

The ideal scenario, of course, would be to have a macho mate as well as a gay friend who would enjoy shopping excursions. That would be heaven!

Women, unfortunately, are never satisfied with what they have and in trying to attain it, they could lose the lot. It is not surprising, therefore, that testosterone and sperm counts are falling. If men aren’t men any more, do we really want a planet full of Amazons?

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