The Power of Language
I think men are becoming a deprived gender in the 21st century.
I admit, we probably have it coming after several millennia of male-dominated societies with mixed results.
Most people look to the 1960s as the origin of the feminist movement, but I reach further into history to prove my point. The English language is partly to blame. Good looks are a desired quality for both men and women so why are there more words to describe female beauty compared to male? Men have “handsome” while women have “beautiful”, “pretty”, “gorgeous”, and “attractive” used to describe women who are pleasing to the eye than similarly blessed men. I also point to the evolution of the department store from the late 19th century until today. There are thousands of shopping venues, most of them filled with cosmetic stands and the latest women’s fashions with scant attention paid to men’s needs. One of the few areas that have remained under the realm of the male is the HVAC industry because female adjectives simply do not apply to a central HVAC system. People don’t care what it looks like. We simply want the unadorned unit to keep us cool during summers and warm during winters. We want it to have traditional male qualities like dependability and the ability to stay silent when faced with a tough task. Like most men, a professionally installed and serviced HVAC unit has low maintenance costs. It is not afraid to get dirty if it is cleaned by a professional HVAC technician twice each year. The word I use to describe a good HVAC system is “rugged” and I still think that most women, including strong-willed ladies in positions of power, don’t want to be described as that.