Battle of the Sexes- Heating Up?

The battle between men and women has been going on for as long as I can remember. And from what I hear, it's always been there.

For most of my life, I have heard 'man-hating' rhetoric from women in a variety of situations. Typically, it's complaints about how they are in relationships and marriage. Complaints about their commitment-phobia, their wandering eye, their lack of appreciation for the women in their lives, they don't help around the house or with the kids, etc. I've been guilty of talking on this blog about some of the disgusting or silly behavior of men. Have you seen or heard any of your women friends talk about the losers they see online? Or the nightmare dates they have had? We commiserate about how clueless the other gender can be.

I've also heard it in the form of complaints about equal rights. We don't get paid as much. We get less opportunity. Men rule the world and make the decisions. Of course, as I've gotten older, a lot of these concerns have improved. The scales are more balanced than at any other time in history.

So as the gender roles have become more equal, I'm noticing a back lash. The men have had enough. They are pissed. And for the first time that I can remember, I'm starting to hear/read about 'woman-hating' rhetoric filled with venom.

There's a growing wave of player talk out there. Openly talking about how best to manipulate a woman in order to get sex. What games to play. How and when to use them. Some of this is tongue in cheek, but still there is a tone of true anger. A wave of resentment towards those women striving for professional and financial success. Resentment that women don't really need them anymore. So the effort to minimalize our worth is increasing.

There's a new trend of taking a grain of biological, historical truth and pushing it to the extreme.

We all know:

Women want security. They are more likely to get this from successful accomplished men.

Men want sex. They prefer to get this from young, beautiful women.

So the new trend is to twist these truths and make them as hurtful and devious as possible. Women who have waited until later in life for marriage and family are talked about and written about with disdain. The fact that many of us have yet to find our life partner is being used against us. Well, not against us specifically. We (women my age or older) are being held up as examples to younger women as "what to look out for". If they aren't careful, they will end up just like us.

In other words, fear tactics are being used against younger women to try to push them back towards more traditional roles. To make men a priority again. To realize that their sexual shelf life is about 7-12 years. (I think the worst I have heard is that women are only worth anything from the ages 18 until 24.) Unfortunately, this type of rhetoric taps directly into women's biggest insecurity: how we look, and how desirable we are.

Where is this headed? Will we figure this all out? Will we ever find a way to fit our gender roles together in a way that meets everyone's needs? Or will the battle go on forever?