BigDaddyCool

I was planning on writing something else today but an entry at another blog caught my attention and I just cannot let it pass.

Over at Unemploymentality there is an entry written by Tania Khadder entitled “Men: Taking Layoffs Like a Girl”. She was commenting on a New York Times article on “Why the Sting of Layoffs Can Be Sharper for Men” in which it points out that a man’s traditional worth in the world is tied into his job. The article goes onto point out that more men are seeking counseling to deal with feelings of depression and anxiety.

Tania had this to say about it:

Sure, men feel more pressure to be the breadwinner. I get that. The article also says that women have more sources of self worth outside of the workplace – relationships with other people, for example. I get that too.

But let me, for a moment, indulge in a one-off, feminist rant.

Maybe it’s that women are so used to being sidelined by our male counterparts that unemployment is just one more ego blow (upon many) that we must graciously plow through. Maybe we handle unemployment better because even when we’re working as hard as the boys, we get paid less, and so we are used to seemingly unjust career obstacles.

Or maybe layoffs sting less for us ladies because we suffer excruciating pain and discomfort on a monthly basis, not to mention bear the responsibility of childbirth – any other pain, by comparison, is manageable.

Suck it up boys. Your stint of unemployment will pass. I’ll be a woman forever.

Meaning what, exactly?

Am I to take it that because you “suffer excruciating pain and discomfort on a monthly basis, not to mention bear the responsibility of childbirth” that we men who are unemployed and underutilized have no right to feel like the world has turned it’s back on us?

Am I to understand that because you are “used to seemingly unjust career obstacles” that you are more deserving of assistance in securing a job then men are?

“Suck it up” huh? For how long?

A week?

A month?

A year?

How about six years Tania?

Just how long are we supposed to “suck it up”?

It’s bad enough when you find yourself in need of assistance and you suddenly realize that you are on your own. But it is quite another when you find yourself out of work, in need of some help to get another job and your friends and family don’t want to have anything to do with you. It’s bad enough when people that you thought would be there actually turn away from you telling you that you need to “be a man”, but it is quite anther thing when a stranger tells you to “suck it up”. That’s called lighting the match after someone has just poured kerosine all over you. It’s adding insult to injury and it’s uncalled for.

Tania, I have no doubt that in writing your blog entry you were trying to…well I don’t know what you were trying to do. But I do know that what you did is insult every guy out there who has been looking for a job for any extended period of time. Basically what you’ve just told all of us is that the fact that we are out of work right now is not important. The fact that we don’t know if some of us will be living in our homes or not next month is not important. The fact that we don’t know if we will be able to keep the lights or the heat on next month is not important. The fact that we don’t know if our children will have enough to eat next month is not important. Apparently what is important Tania is that you are a woman and that your concerns are more important than anybody elses, particularly if that someone happens to be male!

Let me ask you something Tania. What about the wives of all of the men you just dissed? Are any of their concerns important or should they just suffer along with their husbands? How about their children? Are the concerns of the children even important or are you making an exception for the little girls?

Tania I’ve got news for you – this recession is not gender specific. Everybody is being effected by this and there are no exceptions!!! This economy does not care what gender you are. this economy does not care if you are capable of giving birth or not. This economy does not care if you make $.75 for every dollar a man makes. This beast doesn’t give a crap!!! The only thing this beast cares about, the only thing this beast wants right now is to eat. It eats, and eats, and eats, and eats, and eats. It eats until there is no more on it’s plate and then it goes out looking for more. It doesn’t care where it finds it, it doesn’t care if they have families, it doesn’t care who we love. This economy is a huge, mindless brute of a beast. It does not discriminate, it is an equal opportunity glutton.

Tania, you may not have intended to insult anyone with what you wrote but I feel that I must point this out to you – someone out there in the blogoshpere (like me, who had been told his entire life by women just how evil he was because he was born a boy) will take this the wrong way. There are pleanty of men out there who have been told that they should just shut up and “be a man” and “get a job”.

The last thing any of us need right now as we are trying to fight off this unholy beast is for you to tell us to “suck it up”.

Glad I got that off my chest, I feel like a new man. Now, where did I put that “winning” Powerball Ticket?