Well, in an effort to save this blog from becoming a sex-blog only (in fear that we’ll run out of material due to Sarayana’s limited experience in the area…), this is going to be a Serious and Important Post.
The New York Times published this article today that discusses the role of the financial meltdown on men’s self-esteem. The premise is that the author, a psychiatrist, has noticed a rise in male patients who have been coming to him with anxiety, and his theory is that the economic crisis is destroying their self-confidence. I found this quote particularly interesting:
I have plenty of female patients who work in finance at high levels, but none of them has had this kind of psychological reaction. I can’t pretend this is a scientific survey, but I wonder if men are more likely than women to respond this way. At the risk of trading in gender stereotypes, do men rely disproportionately more on their work for their self-esteem than women do? Or are they just more vulnerable to the inevitable narcissistic injury that comes with performing poorly or losing one’s job?
I can’t decide if it’s good or bad that women’s self-esteem is not as tied up with their careers as men’s. On the one hand, this may just be because women have not been dominating the workplace long enough for this to occur. On the other, it may be because women do not feel pride about their professional accomplishments as often as men. Or perhaps women are just more realistic about their professional success and take a more holistic approach to happienss. Just earlier today Sarayana were discussing whether sometimes professional disappointments actually stem from troubles at home.
The bigger question that arises from this, though, is whether this means the demise of the Wall Street/Corporate Asshole-type dudes who have been ruling the streets and bars of Manhattan for way too long?
