[Excelsior]

This is actually a post from DelusionDamage. I figured I'd copy it here, since he's going off line soon and I think the subject matter is illuminating.
Why is western culture becoming so much more hostile to guys (particularly in the US)? Demographics.

Quote:

Senior women age 50 and older control net worth of $19 trillion and own more than three-fourths of the nation’s financial wealth.

…

Over the next decade, women will control two thirds of consumer wealth in the United States and be the beneficiaries of the largest transference of wealth in our country’s history. Estimates range from $12 to $40 trillion. Many Boomer women will experience a double inheritance windfall, from both parents and husband.

…

Wealthy boomer women are the marquee players in our country’s culture and commerce. They are educated, have a high income, and make 95 percent of the purchase decisions for their households.

…

Women account for 85% of all consumer purchases including everything from autos to health care:

91% of New Homes
66% PCs
92% Vacations
80% Healthcare
65% New Cars
89% Bank Accounts
93% Food
93 % OTC Pharmaceuticals
(Source: http://she-conomy.com/report/facts-on-women/)

In a consumer culture, whoever has the money to consume makes the culture.

Why does our culture devalue men and make fun of the stereotypically male things that appeal to us? Why does it want so desperately to make us feel like desiring youthful female beauty is wrong? Why is it so ridiculously concerned with things like PC etiquette and protecting impressionable children from the risk of seeing a flash of boob on TV (while news footage of people blown to pieces in the streets of Baghdad is A-OK)?

When you start by acknowledging that our culture’s consumer god is a 50+ woman, the dots pretty much connect themselves.

This theory is appealing to me. It would appear that similar phenomena can be seen throughout the west, though the USA (with its larger consumerist culture) may be the most exaggerated case. This is problematic, of course, since the USA is a cultural arbiter. Thus, we see the spread of such traits across the planet.

It could be possible, however, that such a spread is not indefinite, but rather linked to demographic trends. Older women dominate our society, and we see that in the cultural trends that we're forced to endure. Recent decades have just seen them gain more power than they've ever had, and they'll only gain more in the next couple of decades as they enter the twilight of their lives and their husbands begin to pass on (leaving them even more financial power and influence).

Should that influence wane to any significant extent (and with the decline of the marriages that indirectly supply women with much of this power and the eventual end of the "baby bust" following the boom that gives older women the demographic edge, it probably will), we could begin to see cultural improvements on our side.
Demographics may be the key.

Our generation has seen a demographic trends that has been unusually favorable to older women. There is no guarantee that this favor remains quite as strong in coming generations (again, declines in marriage and generational imbalance), which is good news for us.

[Vitriol]

Quote:

Women account for 85% of all consumer purchases including everything from autos to health care:

91% of New Homes
66% PCs
92% Vacations
80% Healthcare
65% New Cars
89% Bank Accounts
93% Food
93 % OTC Pharmaceuticals
(Source: http://she-conomy.com/report/facts-on-women/)

In a consumer culture, whoever has the money to consume makes the culture.

Why does our culture devalue men and make fun of the stereotypically male things that appeal to us? Why does it want so desperately to make us feel like desiring youthful female beauty is wrong? Why is it so ridiculously concerned with things like PC etiquette and protecting impressionable children from the risk of seeing a flash of boob on TV (while news footage of people blown to pieces in the streets of Baghdad is A-OK)?

This should be obvious to many of us posting here. Men are constantly lampooned in the media because it is appealing to women, who are the ones blowing all the expendable cash in our society. Besides the beer commercials (where the chicks suddenly appear at a sausage party when someone brings the Bud Light) and truck commercials during football games, ALL advertising targets women.

Think about it: aside from a few areas like cars, sports, beer, pornography, and video games, men really don't have too strong of a desire to run around buying shit. Go into any shopping mall or a Wal-mart, the vast majority of the space is filled with shit that men have absolutely no desire to spend their hard on earned cash on.

Athlone McGinnis Wrote:

Should that influence wane to any significant extent (and with the decline of the marriages that indirectly supply women with much of this power and the eventual end of the "baby bust" following the boom that gives older women the demographic edge, it probably will), we could begin to see cultural improvements on our side.
Demographics may be the key.

Our generation has seen a demographic trends that has been unusually favorable to older women. There is no guarantee that this favor remains quite as strong in coming generations (again, declines in marriage and generational imbalance), which is good news for us.

Considering women outnumber men in lucrative and strong fields like healthcare, and they're getting preferential treatment in college admissions and hiring, I don't see this trend reversing anytime soon. Even without marriage, our society still caters to women in other areas to the extent that this will continue.

[Snipes]

(01-25-2012 11:37 AM)Vitriol Wrote:  

Think about it: aside from a few areas like cars, sports, beer, pornography, and video games, men really don't have too strong of a desire to run around buying shit. Go into any shopping mall or a Wal-mart, the vast majority of the space is filled with shit that men have absolutely no desire to spend their hard on earned cash on.

I came across a similar realization a few weeks ago when I thought to myself that I really only have any desire for money due to its ability to attract women. Other than that and my basic needs, I as a man really have no desire to accumulate vast amounts of wealth. It got to the point where I was questioning why women want money; they don't need to use it to pick up any women so why the fuck would they want it?

Men don't really want things like status and large sums of money, we only want them to attract women. Women are the only ones who really care about their own social status and luxuries, and an easy way for them to get that is to hook themselves onto a man who has them.

[Excelsior]

(01-25-2012 11:37 AM)Vitriol Wrote:  

Considering women outnumber men in lucrative and strong fields like healthcare, and they're getting preferential treatment in college admissions and hiring, I don't see this trend reversing anytime soon. Even without marriage, our society still caters to women in other areas to the extent that this will continue.

Valid points, and you're correct in that this trend will not reverse itself soon (it'll be a few decades at the least).
That being said, we can at least state that what we see today isn't indefinite-we're dealing with a finite phenomenon that requires a defined set of phenomena to converge before it expands.

This means that a) We won't have to deal with this forever and b) significant portions of the world (in fact, probably most of it) will always maintain more favorable trends for men than we see in the US due to their lacking the factors (generational imbalance, extreme consumerism and materialism, etc) that make our uniquely virulent phenomenon possible.