"Dee Women is Smarter:

Old Calypso Song

First, a humble apology for my rush to judgment in the Strauss Khan affair. Certainly something happened at that fancy Hotel, Not exactly as she described it. Yes I was over influenced by looking through the prism of my “class struggle” glasses. The rich against the poor. I have been struggling with that defect all my adult life. Will keep working at it. On to the next blog.

This started out with observing the newly decorated male. I call it the “MOUTH CHIN BEARD” I first began to notice it on television especially amongst Pundits from consultants to college professors. Then movie stars, young business types especially those nerds in the cyberspace world. That sent me to Carlos the Tunisian who owns my local barbershop. He has a library of Men's Magazines.

In going through Complex, Details. Men's Fitness, ESPN. Esquire, GQ. and lots more. (Not including Playboy, Penthouse, Hustler as that’s a whole different porn category. Been around a long time.) I was struck with how similar this new breed of men's Magz are to the Women's Magazines that have been out there forever. What’s new in this men's world is the perfumes and the emphasis on style. Yes, men now need “accessories,” scarves, belts, rings, bracelets etc.

So, what’s going on here?
I need to digress for a moment to go back to May 1977 when the Harvard Business Review published an article I wrote called “Two Women Three Men on a Raft.” It was about an Outward Bound trip down the Rogue River. Based on my experience on the raft I suggested that men were not about to rollover and let women assume the males traditional positions of power. That article became a Print Out Best Seller. As a result it was republished in 1994 17 years later. At which time I agreed that women had made progress in achieving positions of power in the business world but were still far from the men.

There is now a whole new variable that has come into play that has changed the dynamic. That variable, is the elimination of much of our basic manufacturing industry. This is the world that was dominated by men from the bottom up. It was also the world of the traditional husband Breadwinner. He arrived home for dinner as a hero who was working in the mine, factory or mill to guarantee his families future. “See the USA in a Chevrolet” raise the kids send them to college. That was the creation of what we ended up calling our “great middle class.”

In this new Service Economy women are rapidly moving into key positions. Brawn is no longer a factor as it was in traditional manufacture. In this new economy it is strictly nerdy brain work. Hence my Calypso song. When I was growing up we had two Mens Magz. Popular Mechanic, Popular Science. In those Magz. a real man had big biceps that let him kick ass of any guy who tried to fuss with his gal. They also taught how to make and fix things. Out of Popular Mechanics I made a boat. To big to get out the door, Uncle Zegfried, was kind enough to take the door jam out. We took it to City Island. Indeed it floated.

In February of 2010 I wrote a blog about women being a majority of the workforce and its implications. Well I now believe the new male is part of this evolution. With women assuming the role of breadwinner where does that leave little ole me? It’s in this new Labor Market where both spouses are working women ofttimes making more than the guys. So, what we may have going on here is role reversal. Now I readily admit that guys really can’t compete with the excess of cleavage style now so prevalent in our culture. Though some of those Men's Magz. had some pretty big genital lumps. No, that will never compete with cleavage.

Ahaa, I said to myself that's what all that hair around the mouth and chin is about. Men making a fashion statement, “me still he man even though I don’t lift nothin or make nothin like men used to.” The male is becoming the Peacock, pardon the pun. Just struttin around lookin and smelling pretty and sure hope that very successful women in banking notices him. And yes,” look at the trouble I’ve gone through with this fancy mouth beard and even some real narrow sideburns.” As Gilda Radner use to say, “ain’t I cute.”