Such a simplistic take that ignores a ton of nuance lmfao, like the fact that assumption of competence depends on gender norms

Touch grass

Read Grayson Perry The Descent of Man – it is all about white male privilege or default man as he calls him. Obvious to women but seemingly less obvious to men…

Great post as always! Privilege is an insidious thing…

Interesting anecdote; my wife & I were in Paris a week ago and stopped in to have lunch at the Grand Mosque on the LEft Bank… in the front garden is a great little restaurant with beautiful tagines and sweet mint tea if you’re ever there.
One thing we both noticed though was that every woman working in the place was wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with “The Future is Female” … that’s not the message you get if you read the typical western media… maybe progressive Islam is ahead of us on this? Or maybe it was just that little enclave in Paris?

Either way, I pray that I can help my daughters to grow up knowing that they never need to fold themselves into any shape to suit anyone but Jesus. My guess is that, being a man, my wife will need to help me significantly with this!

Thanks for making us think.

No question that women are learning to do that now. But men have at least 100 or so year head start in the modern era. I was addressing the culture of competitive men and the idea that a young man’s sport filled life comes to a skreeching halt at end of high school or college. But competitive men can’t turn that off and move on. They find that their job is the new sports field and the they play that field for all their worth. They achieve, they make it happen, they play the hardest and sacrifice the most by far ( relationships, hard calls, marriages, children) because they are determined beyond all comfort levels. To win. They run all others over, and they look for others like themselves to surround themselves with —- which the great majority of the time is men not women. That, I believe leads to the lopsided privledge we see today and it’s been left unchecked to multiply for 100-200 years. I don’t think honk it’s the only reason, but Ive become very suspect at the value of sports on boys and young men. I played football, basketball and track & field. I excelled in all three. But starting my own business at 18 and forgoing college for 8 years I began to see patterns and it bothered me. That was 37 years ago. I see it much better and it doesn’t hide itself so smartly as it use to. Just my experience here. It’s nothing I’ve read anywhere.

Not sure. I haven’t read any research about that. Male privilege runs deeper and broader than simply the idea of doing your best and being competitive. It refers to an examination of the social, economic, and political advantages or rights that are available to men solely on the basis of their sex. A man’s access to these benefits may vary depending on how closely they match their society’s ideal masculine norm, which has some bearing on the teaching/coaching they receive about being the best. That said, women’s sports do the same thing, don’t they?

No matter the percentage split, loss of dignity through loss of voice is destructive and diminishes courage in the very people we need to be free to fulfill their calling.

Your heart and perspective on this has been salve to my soul, Alan. Both you and Micheal have been a source of healing in this area for me. Thank you. Truly.

Than you for your sensitivity, brother. Looking forward to visiting Ohio. See you then.