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I am sorry to say Caitlin Flanagan is one of the the reasons I dropped my subscription to the Atlantic. I find her views are so coloured through her own experie

by frossie 17y ago

I am sorry to say Caitlin Flanagan is one of the the reasons I dropped my subscription to the Atlantic. I find her views are so coloured through her own experiences and opinions (with which I invariably disagree) that they completely distort any chance of objectivity in her writings. So I guess we differ about the intelligent social commentary part - it's opinionated, but I never get the feeling it moves the debate forward. As to the subject matter: personally, I think stuff like this is just a symptom (not a cause) of the fact that in large sections of society we are no closer to gender equality than we were half a century ago. The damage has been done long before girls become old enough to engage in sexual behaviour, and focussing on sexual behaviour is a red herring, though it can make for dramatic reading and heated conversations.

Ennis 17y ago
I also disagree with most of her arguments. That's not to say she's wrong though. I wouldn't have expected the Atlantic to be objective in any case. It's a bunch of editorials and letters wrapped up in glossy paper. I disagree with you about the gender gap. I guess she also made that point among others. I don't think there is a gender gap, at least not significant. The most important point that she makes is about society turning individualistic and away from communal activity - which is true. She is just exploring another effect of this happening. Putting in tech terms, I find it hard to see every member of a family in the 1950's to carry cell phones - if cellphones existed back then. There would likely be one cellphone that the family shares - kids take it when they go out... Technology is definitely accelerating the move to more individualism. Not sure how far it will go though. Will each member of a family have a separate mailing address and mailbox even though they live in the same house? There used to be 1 television in the house and now that the cost is much lower there is one in every room..

by frossie 17y ago

Ennis 17y ago

I also disagree with most of her arguments. That's not to say she's wrong though. I wouldn't have expected the Atlantic to be objective in any case. It's a bunch of editorials and letters wrapped up in glossy paper. I disagree with you about the gender gap. I guess she also made that point among others. I don't think there is a gender gap, at least not significant. The most important point that she makes is about society turning individualistic and away from communal activity - which is true. She is just exploring another effect of this happening. Putting in tech terms, I find it hard to see every member of a family in the 1950's to carry cell phones - if cellphones existed back then. There would likely be one cellphone that the family shares - kids take it when they go out... Technology is definitely accelerating the move to more individualism. Not sure how far it will go though. Will each member of a family have a separate mailing address and mailbox even though they live in the same house? There used to be 1 television in the house and now that the cost is much lower there is one in every room..