Dr. Helen –
Two major issues stand out.
One: Women are now unconstrained by socio-economic pressures, or social mores. So men getting married is likely to be a moot question anyway. Since most women will choose what they are hard-wired for: the high-status Alpha Male. Think Sex and the City.
African-American women have out-of-wedlock births at around 75% or so nationally. They seem to be the canary in the coal-mine demographically speaking, and that is likely where we are headed as women lose societal constraints. A choice by women for what they really want: the most socially dominant men (that’s only a few men) for bed partners and reproductive partners.
It’s a post-marriage society. We are not going to turn the clock back.
Two: men who *DO* marry will find themselves dumped very quickly when they lose power/status/wealth/social-dominance. Remember that women absent constraints will ALWAYS choose the most dominant man, socially. All the war stories here speak to that dynamic.
The net result of this is going to be a lot of men who will never marry or be divorced and have negative experiences with women, and remain unconnected to them. While a few powerful men (think Bill Clinton or Mayor Tony Villaraigosa or Mayor Gavin Newsome) make it a point to have sex with subordinate’s wives and have multiple mistresses.
In short, the society of West Africa, the ME, parts of North Africa, and parts of SE Asia. You’ll see a LOT of violence and outright misogyny by men who will have zilch connection to women. Who in turn will be the mistresses of powerful men. You’ll also see the other markers of those societies: widespread poverty and “big man” wealth/women hoarding.
Men unconnected to women are dangerous for a society. Women overestimate their social control and should prepare themselves for misogyny by men on a widespread scale, including restrictions on women’s freedom and persons as a popular political program. What would be men’s downside? That women will continue not to sleep with them? That powerful men will continue to have most of the women?
The popularity of movies where pretty girls die instead of (being saved by brave men and of course sleep with them) disturbs me. As does the failure of any young man to try and save his female classmates from Cho at Virginia Tech. Quite literally it seems that young men have decided that young women are not worth dying for and THAT is very dangerous for society.
But hey, feminists have had their victory to choose the men they want and now they are stuck with the consequences. Power is an ugly thing.
