GEORGE WILL writes about a new book on male immaturity and apathy. He says:

In 1956, the median age of men marrying was 22.5. But between 1980 and 2004, the percentage of men reaching age 40 without marrying increased from 6 to 16.5. A recent study found that 55 percent of men 18 to 24 are living in their parents’ homes, as are 13 percent of men 25 to 34, compared to 8 percent of women.

Mike Stivic, a.k.a. Meathead, the liberal graduate student in All in the Family, reflected society’s belief in the cultural superiority of youth, but he was a leading indicator of something else: He lived in his father-in-law Archie Bunker’s home. What are today’s “basement boys” doing down there? Perhaps watching Friends and Seinfeld reruns about a culture of extended youth utterly unlike the world of young adults in previous generations.

Male immaturity is the inevitable outcome of female immaturity. A man has no incentive to grow up when he competes with women and when he does not have to demonstrate ambition or responsibility to have a regular sex life.

Expect more of this hand-wringing about male apathy in the years ahead, but don’t expect to hear about the only solutions: pre-marital chastity for women and a major retreat from female economic independence and careerism.

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