About 9 years ago, an Auckland woman was approached by a man that looked aggressive and got confrontational, to which the woman started to feel scared. Looking sideways, she spotted Austin; a stranger to her. With dreary eyes, she asked him for his help. Austin, without giving any thought, obliged and stood between them. He asked the man, what is going on in here? The man, who seemed aggressive, replied to Austin to get out of the way as it is none of his business. However, Austin didn’t leave his ground. He stood there and asked the woman to run before he was killed by the man.
The beloved media proclaimed he did the right thing!
About 5 years ago, a psycho, James Holmes entered a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado with tear-gas grenades and a gun. He set off the grenades and fired into the audience blindly, killing 12 people. Three men out of the death casualties died while jumping in front of their girlfriends. Of course, while providing a shield from incoming bullets. The video was released, and the comments under it proclaimed them as real, true men, who did an act of valor. Wow!
Coming to the movies, unimportant male characters drop like flies in any movie or TV show that involves action. The audience watches them die on screen without flinching. I mean, just watch Kill Bill: Vol 1(5), in which female protagonist massacres 88 men. Now, let us try reversing the gender. Imagine, a male protagonist massacring 88 women. First, no such movie was made, and even if a movie is made, that man would undoubtedly be considered a villain, whose death will surely be cruel and brutal.
History wasn’t that good to men either. In World War I, a band of women maundered England city, attaching White Feathers to all those men found wearing civilian clothes.
Wondering what do those white feathers mean?
They were the sign of cowardice, given to men who didn’t participate in the war. Which, in literal terms, mean if you are not in the war, you are not a real man. Because of being portrayed as a coward, many men, even the medically unfit ones, enlisted and then perished in the war. In fact, there were stories of young boys, who lied about their age to enlist themselves so as not to be considered cowards.
And, who can forget the popular Titanic tragedy—20% men survived. 74% women, and 52% children. Yes, ‘women and children’ first.
By now, I hope you all have concluded the moral of my observations, which is; “Men are expendables”. A man’s life isn’t as valuable as of a woman’s. Men were expendables a hundred year ago and shall continue to be so for next godly amount of years. Let me take you through a couple of stats:
Men make up 97% of combat fatalities, 92% of occupational deaths, 76% of homicides, 80% of suicides, about 140,000 rape cases in US prisons alone, 66% of all victims of robberies and non-domestic aggravated assault. As a matter of fact, women’s cancer receives more than 15% funding than men’s cancer. Even though cancer doesn’t bias the gender.
Even when most of the violence is committed on men, you would only hear about multiple campaigns, and candle-marches on ‘Violence Against Women’. Wondering why? Apparently, crimes against men are committed by other men, which somehow or anyhow is not a matter to look at.
The problem is men’s problems don’t get attention. You have probably read the above stats for the first time because any mainstream media hardly give attention to it.
Men also consider themselves expendables.
It’s probably a social construct if not biological, as many feminists would agree. While my heart cries and consoles for all those men who sacrificed their lives to protect women, I completely disagree with the cliché ‘they did the right thing’.
It could have made sense in past when we were living in a hostile living environment as men were physically stronger than women. However, with the technology rapidly advancing, men are as strong as women because men’s physical strength doesn’t make them immune to bullets and bombs. So, why male disposability?
Nevertheless, instincts take over. Even, I, myself, at times tempt to play hero when the time comes. To me, a man’s role is like the Chessboard’s Queen, that has all the power on the surface, but finally is used to protect the King, i.e., the woman. With the recent rise of the feminists and empowered women, which I adore and support with all my heart, they don’t need men’s protection anymore. They don’t need the disposability of men. They don’t need to value their lives over men’s. They don’t need chivalry.
They. Just. Want. Men. To. Treat. Them. As. Equals. And, I respect and accept that.
Probably, it’s time we have two kings on a single side of the Chessboard!
image: source