Background: I recently debated Gerd Johnsson-Latham of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs on her assertion that men are primarily responsible for global warming. Johnsson-Latham authored a 2007 study called Gender Equality as a Prerequisite for Sustainable Development.

Our debate was taped for a UK documentary called The Greener Gender.  To learn more, see my recent blog posts Glenn Debates Swedish Official Who Claims Men Are Primarily Responsible for Global Warming and Swedish Official on Environmental Problems: 'Women give priority to others – men invest more resources in themselves'.

A few other notes about our debate:

Johnsson-Latham said that in many countries of the world women work 16 hours a day and men only work five or six or eight, and that men spend their money on alcohol and prostitutes instead of their families.

At one point Johnsson-Latham asked, "If you were a woman wouldn't you be part of the women's movement?"  I said that was an interesting question, because during the '80s and into the early '90s I was part of the women's movement, even though I was not, as I recollect, a woman. I ended up coming to the same conclusions that Warren Farrell did--the feminists had some legitimate issues, but they are terminally afflicted with a worldview that sexism and gender privilege/disadvantage go only one way.

Johnsson-Latham often talked about male privilege.  She said, "Look at this interview two men ganging up on one woman."  I laughed, and said, "Yes one woman -- one woman who is doing more talking than the two men combined." 

I've seen Gloria Allred do the same shtick -- she'll be debating several men and will say, "Look at all these men against me just one woman" -- ignoring the fact that the host is giving her more talking time than all of the men combined.

Johnsson-Latham apparently believes that men are "privileged" because they're working while their wives are home with their young children, I believe that those women are lucky. Men get cheated out of time with their children when they're young. I was fortunate to be a stay-at-home dad for the first 2 1/2 years of my daughter's life, and it was the best experience I've ever had or ever will have. And the window of time is small. For example, over spring break my son (15) and my daughter (9) spent the week in Sacramento with their cousins. They were having a great time--and neither my wife nor I received a single phone call from either of them for several days.

The commentator asked us about the genders ever coming together on these issues.  I said the biggest thing preventing us from coming together is this -- during this conversation, and whenever I'm interviewed, I can and usually do freely admit that men are responsible for some of the problems women and men face, and that men need to change.  What I never seem to hear from feminists is that women are responsible for some of these problems, and that women need to change.  Until there's reciprocity there, until feminist leaders and women admit that women cause some of the problems and women need to change, I'm skeptical that the two genders will ever come together.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 10:25 pm and is filed under Feminism/NOW, Global Warming, Environmental Issues. You can trackback from your own site.