exchemist
Veteran Member
I tend to agree. However on reflection I wonder if LC's rather strange reference to "masculine" men being "working class" is a pointer to what may be going on here.For the longest of time they had significantly less rights and protections from discrimination, harassment, etc. But now that the field has started leveling out a bit you have a lot of these beta males feeling threatened by it.
A man secure in his masculinity wouldn't be bothered by the thought of women gaining equality.
I think I have read that, for some working class men, their self-image is bound up with being the chief breadwinner for the family. Now that it is increasingly the case that the women work, and earn as much as the men or more, they feel their sense of self-worth to be diminished. A similar sort of psychological issue to that of men who are out of work for long periods - they look in the mirror and wonder who they are and what they can take pride in. (This may be partly why these people voted for Trump - an unashamed throwback to the old days when men were gorillas and ordered "their" women about.)
It seems to be less of an issue in the professional classes. I myself was married to a high-flying manager in Shell, who earned considerably more than I did. But it never bothered me. My own identity was in my particular technical specialism, my rowing, my singing - and our son of course. I certainly did not feel I was somehow less "masculine" for not doing a blue collar job!