Factors contributing to male struggles in society

Philip Zimbardo's The Demise Of Guys

In his speech, the Demise of Guys, Philip Zimbardo makes some interesting generalizations about the state of men today. He suggests that men prefer the company of men to the company of women, even going so far as to state that there is some type of cortical arousal when men are in one another's company. He gives several examples of men preferring the company of other men. Even more interestingly, he discusses the fact that he believes that changes in modern society, including porn and video games, have changed how men respond to stimuli. He does not discuss the physical changes to the brain, but talks about the psychological component of addiction. He believes that porn and video games create an addiction to novelty, which is different than a chemical addiction in which one creates more of the same substance. For these addictions, Zimbardo and Duncan suggest that, "Sameness is soon habituated; newness heightens excitement. In traditional drug arousal, conversely, addicts want more of the same cocaine or heroin or favorite food" (2012).

I honestly do not know whether or not I agree with Zimbardo. I do not have the information available to assess whether there have even been changes in the nature of men and how they approach women. He talks about men approaching women differently and being less prepared to mate with a woman and more inclined to hang out with men for companionship. However, I have not seen any empirical evidence that supports his conclusion. On the contrary, the historical record of humanity shows a significant schism between men and women. A number of civilizations had men and women living separately for most of their adult lives, even when males and females were mated in pair-bonds. Almost all militaries around the world have been premised upon the notion of male-only companionship for the majority of time. Therefore, to suggest that this preference for all-male companionship is something new simply seems unsupported absent more historical evidence. Because I do not know if his described phenomenon is even occurring, I have no way of assessing whether it is a problem for society, and, if so, the extent of the problem.

I do agree that there has been a perceived decline in academic competency for men, but this appears to be an American phenomenon, and the reality is that there has been tremendous academic decline in both genders over the last 20 to 30 years. To say that the problem is a male problem ignores the decline in women's performance over the last few decades. Moreover, I do believe that, as female achievement in academic settings has been emphasized, boys' emotional needs in education have been ignored. For examples, schools have dramatically reduced both physical education and recess time, but repeated studies have suggested that boys need physical activity breaks in their study time in order to excel in an academic environment. If this sets them up for failure at a young age, one would anticipate higher drop-out rates and higher overall rates of academic failure. Moreover, this academic failure could make them earn less, making them insecure, and that could lead to social insecurity with women.