SC
3 min readJan 25, 2023

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They already are.

It just so happens that those things often go hand in hand with an income and an education.

Take for example, communication skills. Highly valued by women. Higher salaries, on average, come with leadership. You have to be able to manage a team. What do you need to do that? Communication skills amongst other things, but the communication skills are critical.

Take for example the ability to get things done. Also highly valued amongst women. In order to get things done, you have to be able to prioritize, know where to learn what you need to do to accomplish the goal, know what questions to ask, manage your time, discipline yourself to push through the unpleasant parts, etc. Where do you acquire those skills? Lots of places, but acquiring an education definitely is in the top five and will check all those boxes.

So maybe it's not so much that women need to look for other things and more that men need to reprioritize those skill sets over what they have been prioritizing. Which is stuff like gaming and crypto and pie in the sky tech fantasies.

If they don't want to go to school or advance in a job, that's cool. As I said, those aren't the only places to get those skill sets. And I get it, schooling is expensive and theres a lot of nepotism and the like in the job market. We're all frustrated with people who don't know what they're doing getting promoted over more qualified and better leaders. So I get it. Truly.

But men aren't doing any of those other things either, by and large.

Instead of sulking about not getting laid, they could volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and go build a house. Or at their local animal shelter to help rehabilitate an abused animal. Or a specialized shelter. They could go make weekly visits at the local nursing home. Old people get lonely too.

Instead of pouring about their lonliness they could join or start a hobby club. They could work with youth. They could start an environmental cleanup program for their local area. They could facilitate a recycling program. Community theater. Put together a casual band.

The point this, there's lots to do and lots of need. The fact of the matter is, a lot of men have, for all practical intents and purposes bowed out of being part of a community and are now acting like churlish, tantrum throwing brats who need to be taken to the woodshed because they're suffering the inevitable consequences of not participating in their communities.

Maybe instead of telling women to further degrade communities by pandering to these men, which will happen if women "settle" for less than what is required to have a functioning, healthy relationship and family, we tell men to uncross their arms, get that perpetual scowl off their face, flick that chip off their shoulder, put down the game controller, stop acting like a child who's mommy just told him NO for the first time ... and come back to being a part of the community? Actually take action toward fulfillment, living your life, and finding happiness instead of thinking it's as accessible and easy as an ATM machine?

How about we at least say it just as much?

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