The Disposable Male

Gender issues seem to be dominating the board at the moment and it seems like a good time to bring a conversation I had with a friend a while back. It was about the Disposable Male Concept which at its most basic level (the level at which I understand most things) means men are encouraged by society to value their lives less than women or others in the community.

The folks who subscribe to the theory cite things like ?Women and Children first? on sinking boats and Male only conscription as examples of it. While it made sense back in the day when we were killing each other with sharpened bones or whatever that men defend the tribe these days it?s a lot more blurry as we don?t have to worry about Vikings rocking over to take our loot and bury pointy axes in our faces.

Anyway like I say my grasp isn?t great on this but some of you seem pretty well read on gender issues or at least have pretty strong opinions on them. I was wondering...

Did this exist historically?

Does it exist today?

Is it sexist either way?

Is it still necessary?

Do you have a personal opinion either way?

Speaking personally here, I hate to see anybody hurt or struggling so I try to help folks out whenever I can regardless of gender but I admit I?ve been socialised to treat women differently from how I treat other men. For example if a man and woman who were similar in physical ability were struggling equally with two separate tasks that I could help with I?d most likely choose to help the woman. Before anyone says I?d only do that because I want to do the wild thang lets say both people are in their middle fifties.

Does this make me a sexist? The example probably makes me an ageist though but lets deal with one character flaw at a time.

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