Personally, I don’t see the problem with, on average, men earning more than women. I don’t actually know if that is even the case any more (I have seen studies that dispute this). But assuming it is the case there are good reasons why men would earn more than women. Just as one example, in my experience, women are not generally as productive as men. By that I do not mean they are bad workers but that they tend to have higher priorities than work (such as children). This means they work less hours and work in jobs that allow them to spend more time with their children. This means they are likely to earn less.

Further, they tend to be married to men who earn more than them which is surely a benefit rather than a disadvantage.

As a man I feel compelled to earn more than my girlfriend. I assume this part of a man’s nature. This is merely motivation to work harder, which again is a benefit for us both. As a realist however, I think it is to my advantage if my women earns more than me. That way when we get divorced I can take half her stuff instead of the other way round (joke!).

And here’s the best part! When a man lives his life in this fashion, PEOPLE WILL FOLLOW! And they will follow…..willingly, because this man is worthy of followship. Perhaps the greatest friction in this discussion is caused because women feel they are being forced into an ineffective and foolish pursuit! In too many cases, women are being forced to “follow” a guy who simply isn’t worthy of being followed. He is passive, he doesn’t take his role seriously enough to pursue growth in his masculinity and doesn’t have the courage to face the opposition.

When a man is noble; when he is a “lover of right”; when his primary purpose on this planet is to fulfill a role of SERVANT LEADERSHIP, their will be a line of people willing to follow. And NONE of them will resent the thought of being in subjection to this man because HE in turn does not lord it over them, but rather leads from a position of servanthood. And the person leading the parad of followers, trumpeting the strength and courage of this man….will be his WIFE!!!!!

In conclusion, it is important to embrace the idea that this isn’t a case of either / or. It’s a case of both. It’s a two way street. When the man conducts himself within the definition above, his wife will be inspired to fulfill her role as a woman. And interestingly enough, when she responds to her man in this way, he in turn is inspired to greater acts of heroic leadership in their family. It becomes a self-perpetuating healthy environment!

I could go on forever on this topic but will shut up for now.

In our modern society we have lost our own civilization’s rites of passage from boy to man. Male role models are weak from and by their distance from their boys and from their own lack of strong masculine role models. Because the new generations of boys no longer have this rite of passage forced upon them to prove their worthiness to the tribe and earn the right to marry and bear children, many of them grow into “adulthood” without ever achieving “manhood”.

Not all is lost, however.

Our society’s condition can be cured by creating and establishing new tribes, such as the Art of Manliness website, where those individuals seeking the knowledge of and rites of passage to manliness can gather together to pass down and/or learn the wisdom and trials of manhood. Although, our society no longer requires the “death” of the boy before bestowing manhood on the adult man, it can still be sought and “chosen” as the correct path to walk in order to achieve the status of “a modern man”. This choice to accept the path to manhood is the first step towards achieving it and I believe this website, and the community which revolves around it, to be a well-concerted effort towards “passing down” the wisdom and knowledge of manliness and I thank you for it.