Board Question #84674 - male student's self-worth
Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 6:41 pm
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/84674/
The article "Men Must Be Needed Because We Can't Be Wanted" has given me a lot of insight into certain types of male insecurity. The gist of it is that society tells men they're not good enough unless their wife/family is completely dependent on them, which is a problematic message because it can leave a man feeling adrift or useless if he has a more egalitarian marriage or a more independent wife (or even if he's just in a phase in his life when his wife is the primary breadwinner).
It sounds to me like the reader who asked this question is in a similar funk, because says things like he's not "excelling as a man" and his wife is "more successful in just about everything." I don't know what I would tell this reader in order to help him see himself in a different light, but it might be helpful to at least identify the cultural problem.
The article "Men Must Be Needed Because We Can't Be Wanted" has given me a lot of insight into certain types of male insecurity. The gist of it is that society tells men they're not good enough unless their wife/family is completely dependent on them, which is a problematic message because it can leave a man feeling adrift or useless if he has a more egalitarian marriage or a more independent wife (or even if he's just in a phase in his life when his wife is the primary breadwinner).
It sounds to me like the reader who asked this question is in a similar funk, because says things like he's not "excelling as a man" and his wife is "more successful in just about everything." I don't know what I would tell this reader in order to help him see himself in a different light, but it might be helpful to at least identify the cultural problem.