“The battle outside ragin’ will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls, for the times they are a-changin’.”
In 2022, the crisis facing young men has finally gone mainstream. Political pundits from all sides of the aisle are asking: “What is happening to our young men?” They aren’t going to college, most are living at home, one third of them are sexless, and a record number of them aren’t looking for work. What is the cause of this? Answers range from “toxic masculinity” to a supposed failure to “man up.” Even though there are several possible factors, one thing is certain: that this is going to cause severe problems for our society. Not only will men’s lessened status lead to weaker social cohesion, lack of family formation, and a weaker military, but it will also cause a serious drop in our collective standard a living.
In 2019, Morgan Stanley released a study called “Rise of the SHEconomy” in which they made the shocking prediction: by 2030, 50% of women ages 18–45 in the US will be single and childless. Why is it that more women than ever before are entering the workforce, yet not getting married? The average age of first marriage in the US is the oldest ever recorded, 29 for men and 28 for women. With record inflation, lack of housing, and a high cost of living, most men simply can’t afford to start a family. As such, more and more women are turning to the workforce to support themselves. Let’s leave out for a moment the issue of how feminism encourages women to enter the workforce and be outright adversarial to men, and instead look at some figures from the Brookings Institute:
Men’s college enrollment rates are at an all-time low. The reason? The soaring costs, leftist agendas, and openly anti-male affirmative action policies are pushing men away. Many in our circles would at first glance say that this is good news, since there are now fewer men being shoved into the hands of our ideological enemies. But that’s not the whole story. What happens when men don’t go to college and don’t obtain the degrees required to enter into the higher-paying jobs in the workforce? If men won’t be getting those jobs, then that leaves women to step up. But are women stepping up? The data shows us they are not. For example, men dominate in fields such as engineering, high finance, and computer programming — as much as 85% in some cases. Law seems to be the only high-level career where women are matching men step for step, but even in law, women make less than men. I don’t need to hash out the tired argument of the “wage gap” here, but what is more important is the levels of debt and jobs that are actually important to the economy.
Women overrepresent men in ALL degrees at this point, but crucially in the most expensive ones. If we look into student debt figures, we see that women owe a collective $1.6 trillion in student loan debt, accounting for 70% of the total compared to men’s 30%. The simple fact of the matter is that while women who go to college complete their degrees more often than men do, they also choose worthless degrees at a far greater rate than men do. Aside from this essentially turning women into a slave voting bloc for the Democrat Party, it poses a serious issue for our standard of living in the future. If women aren’t going to step up and do the jobs that actually keep the lights on and the economy rolling, that paints a bleak future for us. How many of you are already having to wait months for basic car maintenance, or see construction of roads taking months longer than it normally would? As the Boomers retire, this is only going to get worse and worse.
Men are leaving the workforce in record numbers across all class and age demographics. The rich are leaving because they don’t want to be taxed for 50% of their worth, and the young are despondent and lost. Feminism is now reaching its apex: a totally woman-run society. As the Boomers retire from the critical jobs and nobody is stepping up to take their place, the regime has no choice but whether to import a new workforce or change course. Given that changing course would require a massive reworking of the laws — particularly around women’s rights and feminism — I suspect that the regime will double down on immigration.
For all of human history, the economic engine was men, and the high-octane fuel for this engine was attractive women and family formation. With women putting off marriage like never before, this octane fuel is now gone. With the fuel gone, this engine is running on fumes. In preparation for this coming crisis, I would recommend that people get far more accustomed to minimalism and fixing things yourself. Having basic mechanic and carpentry skills will make you worth your weight in gold in the next decade, when it might take you three months to schedule a technician to fix your refrigerator.
On the marriage and family side of this equation two things need to be taken to heart from lessons I learned as a woman just recently married myself:
Ladies need to take seriously the idea of making themselves a high value romantic target. Be well spoken and well kept. Firm and assured but not screeching and abrasive. And often above all, don't be so willing to give yourself away without investment from the man you're giving yourself to. As RedHawk says plainly "the high-octane fuel for this engine was attractive women and family formation." Men need something of value to aim at. Take the time to make yourself that high value target to aim for.
Men, be a high value choice. Bring something to the table worth choosing. Be strong and protective but not possessive and creepy. Be confident in what you have to offer and do not be afraid to invest in a woman who is worth the investment. Reflect the value of the target you've chosen to go after so that when you pick a romantic 'target' woman it is easy for her to in turn choose you.
Easier said than done and there are a lot of things that have come to pass in the last 50ish years working against these two things that I could delve into for hours, but the sentiment above is what I've basically boiled it down to.