There is the Japanese Herbivore movement, but you will see it "COMING TO AN AMERICA NEAR YOU!!!"
The article is spot on about some things, but it does miss the cause of it by a mile.
Japanese men aren't becoming herbivores because they're tepid or gay or meek.
Their decision to "drop out" is a shrewd economic calculation in that they realize their lives are finite and the costs of "marriage" and the barriers to entry for a "career" just plain aren't worth the amount of life they must sacrifice for what is a marginal and unsecure career, let alone a marriage more prone to divorce.
Don't worry, it's already happening here. The media can call it whatever semi-pejorative term it wants, but "herbivorian" it isn't.
It's just men "going Galt."
"Japan panics about the rise of "grass-eating men," who shun sex, don't spend money, and like taking walks."
ReplyDeleteOh God, this describes me perfectly.
Yes, I am one of the men who have gone Galt – I choose not to marry or have a relationship and yeah I try not to get carried away by the corporate treadmill and lose sight of the bigger picture of what life is really about. But I don’t get the men in the article - Two of the biggest highs I still get are from either achieving a challenging task professionally or bedding a beautiful intelligent woman. Yes it doesn’t happen as often as I would like but hey you gotta try right? Yeah I don’t spend money on junk either – sleep on a couch and like going on long motorcycle rides alone but Going Galt to me would mean taking the challenges we face and fighting them on our own terms – rather than becoming non-men who do not create or deny our own drives.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do understand the trend towards becoming male herbivores – everyone has a different response to reality depending on their personality and circumstances. I just think the use of the term ‘Going Galt’ for these men is incorrect.
Looks like "The Nuge" needs to visit Japan and save these poor people.
ReplyDeleteKill It and Grill It! - Ted Nugent
Don't ignore the effect that a small minority of ultra-womanizing men have on the majority of women, and hence their behavior and expectations of most men.
ReplyDelete"(Japan has rarely needed its men to have sex as much as it does now. Low birth rates, combined with a lack of immigration, have caused the country's population to shrink every year since 2005.)
ReplyDelete"
WTF?> Why blame MEN?
Seriously, the bottle neck (as it were) to babies is not available men (heck we're well within spitting distance of not needing sperm at all), but women ages 18ish to 35ish willing to have children.
Add to that all the good points that Japanese ( and Western) society has made it a low reward/high risk/high cost path for fatherhood and they are suprised? Fooey.