Caplan on “men’s rights”

In a post over at freeexchange, Caplan makes an interesting point:

A Dr. Rangel, a well-known blogger and MD, offered this recipe for impressing a woman:

Wine her, Dine her, Call her, Hug her, Support her, Hold her, Surprise her, Compliment her, Smile at her, Listen to her, Laugh with her, Cry with her, Romance her, Encourage her, Believe in her, Pray with her, Pray for her, Cuddle with her, Shop with her, Give her jewelry, Buy her flowers, Hold her hand, Write love letters to her, Go to the end of the Earth and back again for her.

Just imagine substituting “him” for “her” in this passage, and telling women to do it. “I want to be his girlfriend, not his slave” would be a reasonable response.

What is Robin’s lesson? Men take a lot of abuse in our society, but rarely complain about it. Why not? Because when men complain, they look weak and get mocked.

I don’t like the “men’s right” idea though: I consider this an interesting observation, not a problem that somehow needs to be “remedied” – that is how I feel about most of the differences that we observe between women and men.