Gender Roles, The Discrimination Against Men

Essay by Anonymous UserCollege, UndergraduateA, December 1996

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The world today must deal with many problems. Our society has been struggling to cope with difficulties ranging from environmental problems to economic problems. Solutions to these problems, however, are not too hard to find. There is one problem, however, that our society has been dealing with for a very long time. The problem is sexual discrimination. When thinking of discrimination, one tends to think mostly of sexism directed against women.. Sexism against women has become a noticeable part of our society and it is slowly on it's way to a solution. That is only part of the problem. Discrimination against men is a problem that rarely goes noticed. As William Farrell states, 'With all the focus on discrimination against women, few understand the sexism directed against men.' (249) Women and men should be treated as equals, however, more attention is directed towards discrimination towards women. In the 1990s, the men's movement arose in society to try and deal with the problem of sexism against men.

This movement came about due to a medley of factors: women's criticisms of men's shortcomings as husbands, fathers, and lovers; the debilitating pressures of the economy and men's unequal responsibility to succeed in the workplace, to prove their worth by making money; and men's confusion over what it means to be a man today.

There are many stereotypes about men and women that are heard every day. The most common, however, is how men are considered jerks. That is one of the most popular ideas in our society today. Women have come to accept this idea as an excuse or answer to their problems with the opposite sex. How do they get this idea? It is unknowingly slipped into women's subconscious by a variety of forces. One of the strongest forces, however, is the...