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Here's a sneak preview of the Wired World in 2014 -- from bitcoin fraud to the men's lib movement.* Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
On 19 May, 2013, Barack Obama delivered a commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta -- the all-male, historically black college that was Martin Luther King's alma mater. He exhorted the graduates to "keep setting an example for what it means to be a man. Be the best husband to your wife, or your boyfriend, or your partner. Be the best father you can be to your children. " At the end of his address, Obama urged the young men to be leaders who can help "transform the way we think about manhood". In 2014, transforming the way we think about manhood will be one of the fundamental tasks we face.
Many of the pervasive gender inequalities we continue to see, even in developed societies, cannot be fixed unless men have the same range of choices with respect to mixing caregiving and breadwinning that women do. To make those choices real, however, men will have to be respected and rewarded as men for making them: for choosing to be a primary caregiver; to defer a promotion or work part time to spend more time with their children, their parents, or other loved ones; to take paternity leave or to ask for flexible work hours; to reject a culture of workaholism.
To achieve this, we will see the rise of a new men's movement, early signs of which are already evident. In a blog post in May, British writer Jack O'Sullivan, cofounder of the Fatherhood Institute, reflected on a speech by Labour MP Diane Abbott on the "crisis of masculinity" in the UK, and called for a "debate with genuine male participation and leadership". And, he said, the time is right: "Men, like women, are belatedly escaping what we now recognise to be the confines of our gender", enjoying "a massively increased engagement with children" and "a stunning growth in male capacity to hold down jobs and play an integral role in our homes and personal lives".
Women are definers of masculinity to the same extent that men are definers of femininity. Men have to assign a much higher manhood value to caregiving, rethinking what it means to "support" a wife. But women too must be able to see a man who is willing to bear his share of the domestic load not as emasculated but as a man secure and strong enough to break free of conventional expectations, a cutting-edge caregiver willing to accept the risks of investing in a domestic startup.
Anne-Marie Slaughter is the Bert G Kerstetter '66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. The full piece is in The Wired World in 2014.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
