Pin the Label on the Feminist

John C. Wright brings up this City Paper editorial about prolonged adolescence. He correctly points out that this is what happens when sexual propriety is thrown out the window. Turns out that before feminists sought to revolutionize gender dynamics, they should have bothered to understand them first. Oops.

He doesn't mention that the whole article is a put down on the male gender. For example:

Single women in their twenties and early thirties are joining an international New Girl Order, hyperachieving in both school and an increasingly female-friendly workplace, while packing leisure hours with shopping, traveling, and dining with friends [see “The New Girl Order,” Autumn 2007]. Single Young Males, or SYMs, by contrast, often seem to hang out in a playground of drinking, hooking up, playing Halo 3, and, in many cases, underachieving. With them, adulthood looks as though it’s receding.

Can you see the double standard? Young women shop, travel, and dine with friends. But when young men do similar things they are described derogatively as "hanging out" or "partying." Men live in disgusting bachelor pads. Where do the women live? Moreover, who do you think these young men are hooking up with? Those guys can't all be gay. Why do all the shallow girls emulating the prolonged Sex and the City style of female adolescence get a pass? The answer is that this isn't the narrative the author wants to tell.

Frankly, I think the main reason for prolonged adolescence in both sexes is college. Once upon a time, you graduated from high school and were expected to start taking care of yourself, and act like an adult. Make plans to settle down with your high school sweetheart, etc. Not any more. Now most high school students have four more years of drinking still to go. There is no point to planning long term with your high school girl, because she probably won't be your college girl when you graduate. And is it surprising that men and women are living in apartments with their friends after they've been doing it through four years of higher education? No.