Toby Young
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My own view is that there are indeed profound differences between the male and female brain, but it’s sentimental hogwash to imagine that women are nicer than men. On the contrary, they are far, far deadlier — more predatory, aggressive, competitive, etc. The notion that the ‘moral’ parts of their brains are better developed, making them more social animals than men, is laughable. The powerless always console themselves by claiming that they’re morally superior to their oppressors — a myth that’s exposed as soon as the boot’s on the other foot.
The reason women are doing so much better than men is because they’re manifestly superior. Evolution has equipped them with better survival skills, which is what you’d expect given their relative importance in the survival of the species. After all, one man can sire tens of thousands of children, whereas women have a fairly short fertility window and can only give birth once every nine months. From an evolutionary point of view, women are armour-plated, whereas men are defenceless and disposable.
For thousands of years, across almost all societies, this truth was masked by gender inequality. Provided the rules were written in men’s favour, women remained the subordinate sex. But the moment the rules began to change in the developed world, as they have since 1945, women began their long march to victory.
Not all obstacles to women’s advancement have been removed, and from a feminist perspective, much work remains to be done. But in spite of this they’ve already won the battle of the sexes, as Rosin argues. The alarming thing is to contemplate just how complete this victory will be once the playing field is level — as Margaret Thatcher once warned. The monstrous regiment will become an all-conquering horde, laying waste to the vanquished like Viking raiders.
Rosin provides a terrifying glimpse of what life will be like for men in this brave new world, gleefully describing the piteous state that men have been reduced to in those parts of the West where women are most dominant. Blue-collar America, for instance, is now a wholly matriarchal society, with men comprising a permanently intoxicated, welfare-dependent underclass. But even though the power shift is happening from the bottom up rather than the top down, more affluent communities aren’t exempt.
In one horrifying section Rosin describes the ‘herbivores’ of modern-day Japan — men who have foresworn sex and alcohol and spend their time gardening and throwing ‘dessert parties’. They are compared to Japanese women — ambitious go-getters with voracious sexual appetites known as ‘carnivores’ or ‘hunters’. I knew with absolute certainty when reading this passage that this is the future my three sons will be facing.
Good luck, boys. You’re going to need it.
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