Saturday, May 30, 2009

Where are all the good men?


Big YAY for the post due summer blog post! Altogether, it’s been an extremely crazy, busy or laidback phase in my life ever since this year. Although, thoughts that I’m dying to share have been racing all the time, putting it together in a blog post requires that one fine day when the thoughts are more finely tuned to type it down. Without needing to be one, I know that being a writer is one of the toughest jobs, only because its anything but routine.

I realize this is the first time that I’m making a more journal like entry in this blog, deviant from my original intention with it. But it’s a great way to loosen one’s inhibitions to gain access to the core assumptions or observations, a lot which has been processing unconsciously and comes to the fore of self-awareness much later.

For some reason (and I believe a good one), I wish to share some of the key topics that I intend to be writing on. The cautious use of ‘intend’ is another way of not making any promises and evading the commitment of living up to anything. Not that I have a fan following, so to speak of, but one (schizophrenically, if it may be) wants to live up to an imagined one. Moreover, it’s a self benefiting cause to develop my writing skills to fuel the later realization of a, till now, fantasized ambition. Anyway, the topics would whirl around Indian Television, Review of the bestseller, “He just not that into you”, My Quarter Life Crisis and, well we’ll (includes me btw) see as it comes. But for now…

After having worked with a couple of ngos and exposed to many working for multitude of causes, its safe to say that the field is clearly dominated by the smarts and assertiveness (or aggressiveness in some cases) of women. And this is something slightly bewildering to me.

I’m clearly aware that there are sex/gender stereotypes in professions and vocations everywhere yet there are reasons enough to explain it, though, not justifying it. Surely many (and I wont say most) causes are driven towards the upliftment of women especially in third world nations or just have a very powerful streak of feminism embedded in them. But what about the causes driven towards animals, environment, social ethics, corporate ethics or human rights in general? I don’t see a particular feminist streak in any of them and these are just to name a very few. So why is it that more college girls would spend their summer volunteering in NGOS that are mostly spearheaded by the prototype of a gritty, smart woman from a well educated bourgeoisie?

Okay, the pop psychologist in me would say that causes or social movements are healthy outlets for the historically and universally bottled up (one way or another) race of women. It is the one platform where they can speak out, wear their attitude or clothes they choose (literally!), with/without a perfect smile or the approval of a Donald Trump or Julia Morley. Essentially, they can choose to be non-conformists without being anarchists, though the dividing line can blur sometimes, much subject to interpretation.

But that only explains the abundance of the “grim” fairer sex. So where are all the good men? Ironically, this question applies in any other given situation. There may be many exceptions to discount this whole contention but if so, why are the prototypes more visible than even the lack of a male prototype. Of the ones that I’ve mostly seen are men in the accountancy department.

Movements, demonstrations or causes in this country dates back to the Gandhi led freedom movements. Up till then only the men folk flocked in large for revolts or demonstrations. I know this is a poor analogy as they still flock in large for the mass movements but my point is in intimately tying it to professionally or passionately working for causes, where they are evidently less present.

Don’t enough men want to, “make a difference”? Are they more driven by personal ambitions of a corporate life or the security and power of the Government? Or are they just waiting till they become a celebrity to champion a cause like they would endorse a brand?

Not being a representative of the race, I can only raise these questions. I don’t have much of a premeditated reason for doing so and will need to look within for it. It is definitely not with any malice towards the women who’ve done and are doing the good work. Maybe it’s an appeal to the male folk to join in as their participation will, in effect, make the difference as the last brick to the foundation laid over the decades by the “female prototypes”.