WHAT’S WRONG WITH MEN?
WE HAVE BEEN CREATED DIFFERENTLY FOR A REASON
We have asked five men to give their opinion about men and they kindly agreed to answer our “strange” question “What’s Wrong with Men”. Read below their meaningful answers.
NOBODY’S PERFECT
Alexander Keehnen- Co-founder of ‘Earn More Work Less’
Besides the fact that they’re terrible at washing dishes, you mean? And that they consistently skip the difficult corners when vacuum cleaning, hoping to get away with it? Men and women are like high tide and low tide. Yin and yang – two sides of the same coin, each have their pluses and minuses. Women are emotional creatures and, in contrast, some men hardly know that they have emotions. Men are overconfident and women aren’t confident enough. Such is the biggest irony in life: the men are out there arranging the world, overconfident, causing aggression, environmental damage, wars and violence. And the women? They see things go terribly wrong (and intuitively know exactly what to do), but unfortunately, they often choose to stay safely at home.
Is this bad or is this good? In my opinion it’s neither – this is just the way things ‘are’. We are nature. A better question is: “What can we DO about it?” Nobody’s perfect, and the only thing we have control over is our decisions. So let’s focus on ourselves whether we are a man or a woman. Let’s embrace nature, thank the universe for all the good we have and focus on being the kindest, bravest, most loving person we can be.
WE HAVE BEEN CREATED DIFFERENTLY FOR A REASON
Victor Dauda Tarfa – Award Wining International Transformational Speaker
The world is full of opportunities and it is full of great people – both men and women. The only way we can fully tap into every opportunity is by working together. A lot of the problems we face in the world today are because we have not fully spent time understanding each other. A man is built to be a hunter – he is like a lion and wants to own his territory. The woman is caring and loving and very welcoming. So, in a sense, the man is seen as the more‘dominant’ one and can sometimes be viewed as being oppressive to the woman. But If you ask me what is really wrong with men, I would say ‘absolutely nothing’.
I believe everything on Earth was created for a reason. We have been created differently for a reason – whether this is a good or a bad thing – but it’s more about looking closely at everyone’s individual qualities and seeing how they can be harnessed and used positively. Women have spent far too long trying to compete instead of working together – and men are hunters so they have been fighting back as it is in our nature. The way forward will be to work together. As a husband for ten years, living with a woman who is an International Speaker I too have spoken at several women’s conferences. I can clearly see that the women are fast gaining confidence and it is important that we men don’t see that as a threat or a ‘take over’ but to encourage them and to look for ways to understand them better in order to productively work together.
A typical woman has a great ‘gut feeling’ about many things and she can often see and spot what men miss. A man is very focused and is good at sticking to one thing at a time but generally a woman can do many things at a time and remember a lot of things too! A woman is usually prone to being more emotional and a man tends to be decisive and firm which is sometimes very important in business. So I see our differences as a blessing that enables us to work together in order to create a better world.
I HAVE A PREFERENCE TO FOCUS ON SOLUTIONS
Ben Chai-CEO/Founder/Owner at Incoming Thought
There is a lot wrong with men and society in general. A little google research would show just how problematic societal male discrimination against others, especially women, actually is. As an educator and mentor, I have a preference to focus on solutions. So here are a few tips.
1.Learn to negotiate effectively. According to some studies substantially less women negotiate for what they are worth. Before you negotiate make sure you understand your worth, what is unique about you and how you can fulfil your company’s overall mission.
2.Many male problems are due to generations of patriarchal education. Begin a generation revolution. Educate and shape your children’s ideas on the roles of men and women.
- Where possible remove or reduce the number of toxic men in your life.
4.Don’t stereotype men. Just like women, men come in different shapes and sizes. Know what you want from a business or personal relationship with a man. If there is anything you don’t appreciate in the interaction, let them know how you feel either directly or indirectly.
Create the awkward conversation. Here are a few examples:-
a). “Whenever I’m around you I feel guilty from the things you say – is it me or is it something you are doing unconsciously?”
b). “This role normally attracts a higher remuneration. Is the reason for this discrepancy, because I haven’t negotiated the pay increase or is there something else that the company is expecting from me?”
MY FATHER WAS ALWAYS RESPECTFUL OF ALL WOMEN
Joe St Clair-Managing Director of the The Laszlo Institute Of New Paradigm
Is there anything fundamentally wrong with men? As a man, maybe it’s difficult to take a fully unbiased and independent view. But what I can do is to share my very personal experience of what it is like to be a male in today’s rapidly changing world. Men’s views of women are undoubtedly shaped by three major influences in their life. In order of importance they are the way their fathers treated their mothers, their ‘peer group’ influences from school friends, work colleagues and social circle and thirdly the media (Television, film, books, radio, magazines, online media and social conventions etc.) All of these powerful and lifelong influences subconsciously shape our beliefs about what is acceptable behaviour between men and women.
By far the greatest influence flows from father to son. My father was always respectful of all women and always believed in equality so I am fortunate to have adopted the same attitudes in my formative years. School friends are a powerful influence on us in our early years but the media is probably the most profound influence on our perceptions as we grow to maturity. TV and film are still the prime mediums for learning about male-female issues and unfortunately they often create distorted or unrealistic scenarios which we interpret as being a ‘norm’.
Before the days of ‘political correctness’ TV and films, particularly in the Sixties and Seventies, tended to portray men as dominant, forceful creatures that tended to rule over, take advantage of, and dominate timid women. In general terms women played lesser significant roles in films and TV and it was deemed ‘okay’ by film censors to treat women disrespectfully. Unfortunately, these sort of ‘influences’ have become deep rooted in society and only now is the tide starting to thankfully turn.
Today equality and the empowering of women is rapidly changing the gender landscape and I welcome the re-emergence of the matriarchal influences that will undoubtedly move our society towards greater equality and fairness. There are still far too many men stuck in their old-paradigm behaviours however, and it is up to all of us, male and female alike, to lead by example and stand up for what is morally and ethically right. Balancing the male and female elements in everything we do, and working together for the common good, ultimately creates harmony. This isbecause, like the yin and yang forces described by the Tao, together the energy of male and female duality combine to form a powerful force that is greater than the sum of its parts.
THE OLDER I GET, THE GREATER POWER I SEEM TO HAVE
Steve Eggleston – CEO & Founder at Eggman Global
Addressing this question from the gender perspective, what’s wrong with men is that many of us were allowed to exploit, abuse, and monopolise our positions, privileges and powers, without being held in check by those of us who could have challenged it, stood up to it, and stopped it. This, like other forms of prejudice and abuse, – racism, ageism, fascism, bias to ancestry, nationality, poverty, and lack of education – makes women mad, and quite rightly so. Victims have every justification to be mad, and now, at last, they are fighting back peacefully but powerfully – like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela for Afro-Americans, like ‘Standing Rock’ for Indigenous People, like the ‘Sierra Club’ and ‘Green Peace’ for Mother Nature, and like John Stuart Mill for liberty. I have worked extensively in law, entertainment (film and music), and books. Comparing and contrasting the glass ceiling in each will be the topic of my talk at this profound, evolutionary event. As the late great Susan B. Anthony once said, “The older I get, the greater power I seem to have to help the world. I am like a snowball – the further I am rolled the more I gain.” May we all come together to tap into this momentous time in history.
