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Comment by visihuge | Hacker News Reader

Many of these kinds of articles are always seem to be slanted in how it negatively affects women. Women desiring more successful partners, yet men aren't keeping up. I'd be interested if there was any good article broaching that subject more, instead of remarkably pithy answers like "it's those damn video games."

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Honestly it would be hard to touch on without insulting large swaths of society. Just thinking about my own friend and family circle the way a college aged woman is treated is vastly different, even just by parents. For example my sister (22) still lives at home, drives the family car, stepdad pays for her fuel, mom pays for food, is on the family cell plan, has basicaly 0 expenses except wanting to eat out. My brothers and I were expected to leave nearly right away, were not still on cell plan, and never had access to any of those other percs. I wouldn't be shocked if this played a large role into the why women are accessing higher education more today, because they financially can, because of their support systems, which many men don't have. Juggling a job to survive and scrape by while also going to school is although maybe possible, absolutely miserable at the same time, I can't imagine anyone pulling it off without hitting some kind of burnout after a few years of it.

Heh, is she the baby of the family? I am the middle brother and my baby brother certainly had extra perks.

Hehe, I think many parents do tend to sweeten the deal for the youngest so they don’t have to deal with empty nest syndrome

you make a good observation, but as the replies mention, it's likely a more nuanced reality than just gender. Id agree that at baseline a male gets certain crude roles thrust upon them, but i want to say it's not unreasonable to just not... accept them. yeah it may be uncomfortable, but really, like if your sister is cool with all these perks, i think a male is personally not gonna be cool with handouts due to his own machismo, it's not anyone else's machismo, it's the person's.

i know this is all enculturation, but same for the girl, when it comes down to it, it's our choice. i say, as a man, be vulnerable, ask for help. all good.

> any of those other percs

I mean, you’re probably better off without those ;)

I agree, I believe that this high difference between women and men in higher education comes from men being sufficient with a "physical" job that pays almost as a "mental" one. Women just can't these jobs and they have to choose between working at McDonald's or trying to find a job using a Bachelor's degree. Men have many more alternatives, hence the "unequal" pay.

I've seen it argued that it's also the nature of the education system. That it isn't designed for boys, that men are increasingly absent from teaching, that boys aren't encouraged and supported to the extent that girls are, that the success of sports teams can be a larger concern than making sure the student athletes are getting same level/quality of education, etc. I suspect that there are a ton of factors long before you deal with the issues at the university level.

I've also met many women with low abilities who will themselves to get degrees (barely) where as a man who feels he is not suited for higher education, usually chooses the trade routes. So even these two people are equal in ability, the woman would generally not go for the man who chose to drop out because "i am better educated." I've also noticed woman have a far better control of their impulses where as men would just give in (more emotionally intelligent on average).

People are afraid to be direct and call the article/researchers sexist in their framing of the situation.

This could be framed as female incels insisting they have a right to a man who will support them.

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