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An explanation for today’s gender issues.
Foreign Territory
America was midway through Obama’s presidency. We had achieved gender equality from the oval office. The Supreme Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage, legalized it in all fifty states, and required states to honor out-of-state same-sex marriage licenses in the case Obergefell v. Hodges. In 2014 the ban against women in military combat positions is removed, overturning a 1994 Pentagon decision restricting women from combat roles.
At the height of gender equality, women were finding themselves pushing off traditional gender roles of baby rearing and concentrating more on their career. Women were empowered to aim for high positions that were typically only sought after by men. Books like Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg became the go to guidebook on navigating career advancement. This shift in career also shifted the home life. Men became our supporters. It was more socially acceptable for men to be the stay-at-home husbands.
At the same time, droves of women were consuming Fifty Shades of Grey (many negative opinions have been expressed about this book but I’m only concentrating on the phenomenon of why so many women may have been attracted to this narrative and the delicate timing of it’s publication.) With the change in equality, both men and…
