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SHOULD MEN BE ELIMINATED? The Case for Not Eliminating All Men
This we know: men are overwhelmingly responsible for the world’s violence, of both the state-level and interpersonal varieties. With men mostly driving the rickety van of human history, we’ve now found ourselves on a ridge with climate disaster on one side and a nuclear holocaust on the other. Without men there would be no incels, no ISIS, way fewer investment bankers. Entourage would never have been made.
Is it time for a new set of hands at the wheel? Would we (they) be better off without them (us)? Should the world vaccinate itself against the Y chromosome?
We, Mateo and Will, men, endeavored to debate the merits of (a) eliminating all men, globally, wholesale; or (b) not doing that.
“There is perhaps a way forward for men if we reconstitute and reconsider the parameters of masculinity. Perhaps masculinity need not manifest as hernia-inducing lifelong reticence and devotional lawn care.”
Point 1: Men are necessary for procreation
While we’re on the wobbly-vehicle metaphors, do we want to pour all the fuel of the little single-engine turboprop airplane we’re all aboard out the window and send the long arc of history spiraling into an abrupt crash landing?
Despite the aforementioned men-caused precariousness of the world population, ridding the world of men would only make matters worse: they (we) represent one half of the famously tried-and-true procreative equation. Eliminating them (us) would make the ability to create new people considerably more complicated and dependent on long-term sperm-storage technology and/or a newfound ability to asexually spawn new life, as Komodo dragons occasionally do in captivity.
In short, eliminating all men would mean eliminating all not-men too. If that’s no hiccup to you, you’ll find yourself in a league with whoever makes up the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEM), which is a real thing. (Motto: “May we live long and die out.”)
Point 2: Men have contributed a number of things to society (and given the chance, will continue to do so)
From the Founding Fathers and their signing of the D of I in 1776, to Joseph Pilates and his development of his eponymous fitness regime in the 1940s, to David Blaine and the 17 minutes he managed he hold his breath under water in 2008, men have had several world-changing achievements over the years. Of course, these accomplishments were borne of the incalculably greater opportunity afforded to men throughout history. But though the world is riven with hunger and violence, we have an independent United States of America, pilates, and the memory of David Blaine’s great testament to the human spirit.
What’s more, if men are driven out and shooed away (or I guess systematically murdered?), male ingenuity will go with them. One of the interplanetary travel companies helmed by the three toe shoe-wearing space nerd kings--Bezos, Branson, and Musk--is bound to work out and get our sorry species off Earth before it’s too late. We don’t want to jeopardize that. (Give no mind to how the new space race taking place between billionaires instead of countries is an alarming object lesson in the privatization of society and the total abdication of once-proud public endeavors to unaccountable corporations. Soon they’ll be mining on the moon. Everyone knows the correct cynical reason for space exploration is geopolitical posturing, not profit.)
Another near-future male contribution we don’t want to miss out on is Jordan Peele’s third film.
Point 3: Frank Ocean
Eliminating all men would mean eliminating Frank Ocean and any possibility of a third achingly tender and yet thunderously powerful studio album from America’s foremost pop R&B artist. Is Frank not a way forward, living proof that a different, more empathic masculinity is possible? “I’d rather chip my pride than lose my mind out here,” indeed!
Point 4: A better masculinity is possible
Frank leads us right into Point 4. While traditional masculinity is known to be a bit stifling, the more modern interpretation and implementation available today, if you know where to look, is far less so. I show affection to male friends; I both exhibit and allow myself to feel emotions other than rage and pride; I readily admit to caring about aesthetic matters; I strive to treat and talk about women with respect. It’s great, great stuff.
This is to say there is perhaps a way forward for men if we reconstitute and reconsider the parameters of masculinity. Perhaps masculinity need not manifest as hernia- inducing lifelong reticence and devotional lawn care. Or as American imperialism, /r/ TheRedPill, and 2-in-1 bottles of shampoo + body wash. Or as Brock Turner, Darren Wilson, Carl Icahn, and Dan Bilzerian.
So what does a better masculinity look like? It’s personal accountability and self- examination; it’s a willingness to listen and learn and grow and eventually develop into someone who isn’t a sexist dipshit; it’s voting for someone other than Joe Biden in 2020. It’s asking oneself, “am I donning shorts on this February morning/spending time at Buffalo Wild Wings/invading Iraq because it is the good and right thing to do?” It’s Keanu Reeves giving up his seat on the subway to someone carrying a huge bag without it being some insufferable performance of chivalry; It’s LeBron James crediting his three year old daughter with helping him understand the responsibility he has to women; it’s Meek Mill spending his freedom fighting for the rights of the still-incarcerated. It’s Anthony Bourdain. It’s Dwayne Johnson. It’s putting the toilet seat down.
Would more of this prevent the need for eliminating men? Maybe Keanu could teach a MasterClass.