Letters to the Editor
leftychris
Published Letters: 354 Editor's Choice: 4
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@SB4609
[Read the article: Taking off your bra for national security]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For instance, should we worry that the market might select against male gynecologists (or, probably more harmfully, against male teachers and child-care workers)? There's a need to go back to the data to prove that the vast majority of men won't molest you or your kid.
It doesn't really matter whether or not we worry about such a thing happening, because it already has. The market HAS selected against male OB/GYNs--their numbers are shrinking as older docs retire and virtually no men go into that specialty in medical school anymore, as I pointed out earlier (I'm waiting to hear from some radfem that that's because male docs in training are simply uncaring misogynists who have turned their backs on women's health concerns. I can almost guarantee that something to that effect has either already been said or will be said by someone or some group on the loony fringe of radical feminism.) Regardless, the male OB/GYN in this society is well on his way to extinction and will probably have entirely disappeared within the next 20-30 years at the most. And no one gives a hoot about that trend, so your initial question is pretty much a non-issue.
The market has already spoken regarding male teachers and child care workers too. Their numbers are also dwindling. Males account for a smaller percentage of teachers in elementary and secondary schools now than they have at any time in the past century. Elementary schools, in particular, have become virtually male-free zones (except for the male children of course) where the kiddies go through the entire day, day after day, with little or no male contact, influence, or role models. And child care workers? Are you kidding? Most males are smart enough to know not to even bother with that line of work even if they're so inclined. Most parents don't want and won't tolerate male employees in child care settings (day care or preschool) and many employers have covert, unwritten policies not to hire males in those settings, even if they are qualified applicants (or, if they do hire them, to place them under so many restrictions that they're made to feel like de facto sex offenders.) Gay men, in particular, would have to be insane--literally insane--to seek employment in child care in this society. And the numbers and proportion of males employed in child care bear all this out.
So, I don't know how worthwhile it is to ask if we should be worried about these trends, because they're already happening and are well-advanced. For better or worse our society has made its choices in these areas, and for the most part it's told men, "Your services are not needed or desired."
And yes, I'm well aware of the economic arguments behind these trends, that these positions (except for OB/GYNs of course) tend to be underpaid and yadda yadda which makes men less likely to seek them out, and yes that is certainly part of the problem, but I think we all know that it goes way beyond mere dollars and cents.
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oops, meant to address this too:
[Read the article: Taking off your bra for national security]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There's a need to go back to the data to prove that the vast majority of men won't molest you or your kid.
Sounds great, but no one's interested. They're too busy watching To Catch A Predator on Dateline:NBC, absorbing all the rape and molestation and kiddie porn stories that are cherry-picked and amplified by our fearmongering, sensationalistic media, and assuming the worst of their fellow citizens. Oddly, even most men have no problem in exaggerating the danger that men pose to women and children--of course, as long as no suspicion is cast in their direction!
And too many feminists have played too loose with too many fuzzy "facts" and dubious studies in this regard for too many years. The well has been poisoned by propaganda that seriously exaggerates the data on male sex crimes and abuse and portrays a large percentage of men--even if still an overall minority--as violent, perverted, abusive fiends. The message is pervasive and has been very effective: Men are dangerous and perverted and can't really be trusted, particularly around children.
So, you can "go back to the data" all you like, but it really won't do much good, in the US at least. Men are probably better off avoiding work that puts them around children or in any intimate proximity to women.
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@Canuckistan Bob
[Read the article: Taking off your bra for national security]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks for the insight from inside the child care industry, I appreciate and value it. Just two points:
1) Anecdotal evidence doesn't really prove anything in any direction. Your experience is that the concerns I outlined aren't valid issues. My anecdotal evidence, from talking to friends and others who've been in the field and hearing accounts from many parents and reading some accounts online, is that they are issues. Perhaps we're both a little right--perhaps the industry is more of a mixed bag, and a lot of it depends on where you are and the social climate in that area? Which leads to my next point:
2) You're Canadian (or so I'm assuming from your handle and from your anglicized spellings.) Your country, to its great credit, tends to be much more enlightened on many of these issues than the benighted country to its south (my country, unfortunately.) You perhaps have a perspective that's skewed somewhat in a positive direction due to your circumstances; perhaps I have a perspective that's been skewed somewhat negatively due to my location and circumstances.
Again, thanks for adding your two cents to the discussion. I do very much hope that you're right and the climate surrounding males in caregiver roles for young children isn't as bleak as I've portrayed it. I fear, however, that in many areas it is.