Summary: The war on boys has run for a generation. Each week brings new victories, such as these test results. See feminists’ power in our indifference to the crushed boys.

By Jenny Anderson at Quartz, 1 May 2019.

“On one major standardized test measuring proficiency in technology and engineering, there’s a gap in scores favoring girls. And it’s growing.

“Eighth-grade girls outperformed boys in every single category of the 2018 Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) exam, including content-focused areas such as design and systems and technology and society, and “practice” areas, such as understanding technology principles and developing solutions and achieving goals. …

“The report is yet more bad news for boys, who lag girls on nearly every measure of academic success, with massive gender gaps in reading as well graduation rates in high school and college. One extensive study by Stanford last year found that the gap in favor of girls in reading exists in every grade, every year, and every district (it examined 260 million state tests given to students in grades three through eight in 10,000 US school districts). Girls, on average, outperform boys by about a half a grade level in fourth grade, but a full year by eighth grade. …

“If girls are performing better on tasks like this, it should bode well for employment later in life, since being able to work with technology while also communicating and collaborating effectively is more versatile than having tech skills but no social ones.”

Ms Anderson shows not a trace of sympathy for the boys who have fallen so far behind girls. Just glee that girls have moved on top of boys. The only graph shows girls’ superior scores over boys. They show no graph of girls scores increasing, because that is less important to them.

This milestone resulted from years of work by the Left, expressed through their dominance of the social sciences and the educational institutions. It is a stealth revolution to change American society, conducted ruthlessly, coldly, and patiently.

The waves of feminism

These are broad descriptions of complex social dynamics. They overlap.

First-wave feminism (1880 – 1950) – working for equal rights under the law for women: suffrage, right to own property, work in all fields, etc.

Second-wave feminism (1960s to 1980s) – working for equality in the family and workplace, and gain the right to abortion.

Third-wave feminism (1990s to 2000s) – working for freedom from cultural patterns of women’s behavior.

Fourth-wave feminism (2010 to now) – the open pursuit of superiority over men in all aspects of society.

The open war on boys is a defining event in fourth wave feminism, as is feminists’ open glee at the crushing of boys and at their poor prospects for life. It shows to any who care that the gender wars have begun. That we do not care about the wrecked boys left behind shows who is winning.

Feminism as social engineering

Trust me. I can build a better society for America!

Feminism has been to a large extent driven by use of government power to change the basic rules of society. It is pure social engineering. As the Swiss doctor Paracelsus said, sola dosis facit venenum – the poison is in the dosage (more about this here). A society can easily tolerate a small steady stream of social engineering, especially if done after careful experimentation. But disaster becomes likely after frequent large doses, as we tinker with social dynamics beyond our understanding. This is especially likely today, when so many on the Left hate western civilization and America.

The gender wars are part of a wave of social change sweeping through America.

For a description, see A new, dark picture of America’s future.

For More Information

Ideas! For shopping ideas, see my recommended books and films at Amazon.

If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about society and gender issues, about feminism, about social engineering, and especially these …

Books about the war on boys

The War Against Boys: How Misguided Policies are Harming Our Young Men by Christina Hoff Sommers (2000).

The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It by Warren Farrell and John Gray (2018).