Who Needs Mr. Right?
The ugly push for an emasculated culture
Offering little hope for men, the August 28 cover of Time blares, “Who Needs a Husband?” Highlighting the dramatic advancements for women the past three decades, the article concludes that many women now find men unnecessary—unless, of course, it’s for out-of-wedlock, illicit sex.
“Single women, once treated as virtual outcasts, have moved to the center of our social and cultural life,” writes Tamala Edwards. Her evidence is compelling: 40 percent of all adult women are single and 60 percent of those women own their own home. Last year, according to Edwards, 20 percent of all U.S. home sales went to unmarried women. They are actually buying homes faster than single men!
“Meanwhile,” Edwards writes, “more single women—especially those watching their biological clocks run down—are resorting to solo pregnancies, sperm donors or adoption agencies. While the birthrate has fallen among teenagers, it has climbed 15 percent among unmarried thirtysomethings since 1990. In a Time/cnn poll, fully 61 percent of single women ages 18 to 49 answered yes when asked whether they would consider rearing a child on their own.”
So, hooray for women.
But what about men? What about children?
As for men, Time’s article underscores the incredibly shrinking role of fathers in society. How could it be reduced any smaller than anonymously donating to a sperm bank?
For children, it just means more of them are destined to grow up without fathers. And fatherless boys, studies have shown, are much more likely to commit crime, take illegal drugs, smoke cigarettes and abuse alcohol. Fatherless girls are much more likely to fornicate, bear children out of wedlock and file for divorce as adults (assuming they get married, of course).
These are the sad fruits of our “Who Needs a Husband?” generation.
In stark contrast to the present state of affairs, consider World War ii America. Before the war, men eligible for the draft had to be single or, if married, have no children. Fathers, because of their indispensable role in the family, were ineligible for the draft.
After entering World War ii, however, America’s military faced a critical shortage in manpower. Thus, despite widespread criticism at that time, the government lifted the ban on drafting fathers. According to a Gallup poll, 70 percent of Americans strongly opposed fathers being taken away from their families. George Gallup said most Americans objected because “it would lead to the breaking up of too many families where there are children.”
An estimated 20 to 25 percent of children during the war experienced some form of fatherlessness, although for most it was temporary. Back then, the forced separation of fathers from their families upset most of America.
Today, approximately 40 percent of all 18-and-under children in America—27 million kids—do not live with their biological fathers!
And what could be worse than these grim statistics? The fact that most Americans are no longer upset about it. After reading the Time article, you would think society is much better off with a diminishing father’s role and children growing up in single-parent homes.
