The discussion about the gender gap has intensified. Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had the following headline “Gender Gap Is Defining Feature of Deadlocked Trump-Harris Race Split between male and female voters cuts across racial and economic lines.” The good news is that defining masculinity has become a talking point for both liberal and conservative pundits and is raising tough questions about gender roles. Are there are a cadre of men who feel that the only way to respond to the successes of the feminist movement is to vote for a man regardless of his agenda? Do some men choose toxic hyper-masculinity and misogyny because they yearn for the good old days of patriarchy?
The problem with answering these questions is the lack of agreement on defining masculinity. The negative aspects of masculinity are somewhat easier to understand. Although the term misogyny has been overused as a label for any perceived anti female behavior or speech there is a small group of men who view women as inferior and that they should remain obedient to the will of men. Less extreme is the reaction to the perception by a growing number of men that they are being replaced by women as women achieve greater gender equality – including the power to run for president. I have consistently blogged that other than the obvious physiological differences there are fundamental differences between male energy and female energy. Neither is superior but both are needed. Men are more likely to be confident in taking risks, more singularly focused, strongly hierarchical and have a greater attraction to physical professions and activities. Women have superior language skills, greater emotional and social intelligence and have a greater interest in pursuing helping professions. Again, as I have stated before there are certainly exceptions, but they don’t disprove the generalities. If we combine and respect the positive traits of males and females without trying to be gender neutral we would achieve the goal of a political and social environment that is not hyper focused on gender differences and its resulting conflicts.