Summary The Prairie Cowboys - 1238 Words

David Graf Professor Chris Monier English 1010 24 September 2015 Pave the Prairie: Cowboys in Manhattan As we charge headlong into the twenty-first century, things have changed. Sweatshops are illegal, cars are a near necessity, and more women now graduate college than men. The post-industrial era economy is flourishing in the United States, but not everyone is flourishing in it. All across America coalmines are empty, railroad spikes and sledgehammers are rusting, and straw cowboy hats slowly rot. Jobs once held by ‘manly’ men are disappearing and, â€Å"for the first time in American history, the balance of the workforce tipped towards women, who now hold a majority of the nation’s jobs,† (Rosin 475). When faced with the†¦show more content†¦These rules foster a certain type of man. One who takes charge and leads, one whose primary concern is, â€Å"Being a Man Among Men,† (Kimmel 464). However, it also creates a person who suppresses his feelings in fear of being labeled as effeminate . The stigma dictates that attributes typically associated with women are unmasculine, so as boys turn to men, â€Å"Along the way they suppress all the feelings they associate with the maternal--compassion, nurturance, vulnerability, dependency,† (Kimmel 469). This pattern of suppression has not changed much in recent years. Society still enforces the idea that men should be strong and stoic, when these traits are no longer what are needed to be successful in the workforce. Men are failing in school. While it may not be all men, as time progresses it has become apparent that women dominate our school system when given equal opportunities to participate. Men are not performing worse in school now compared to forty years ago, the problem is that they are not performing better. If men found themselves with, â€Å"‘their eyes glazed over,’† (Rosin 473) they once could drop out, choose not to pursue a higher education, and enter the workforce through unionized labor jobs that suited them much better. Today, these jobs are disintegrating, while, â€Å"Of the 15 job categories projected to grow the most in the next decade in the U.S., all but two are occupied primarily by women,† (Rosin 475). Many men have not been able to adapt to this new world