Enough is enough: the 2016 election is now a referendum on male entitlement

Then as now, its true that Not All Men behave badly. But the archetype is painfully familiar, as Nicholas Kristof pointed out in a New York Times op-ed column headlined: A 7th grade bully runs for president. Kristofs litany of characteristic behaviors was withering: The boasts about not doing homework, the habit of blaming others when things go wrong, the penchant for exaggerating everything into the best ever, the braggadocio to mask insecurity about size of hands or genitals, the biting put-downs of others, the laziness, the self-absorption, the narcissism, the lack of empathy and the immaturity that reduces a woman to her breasts.

As Kristofs list suggests, the less hard-working or accomplished men are, the more threatened they seem by the prospect of having to compete on a level playing field and the more they resist the prospect of real female empowerment.

Despite growing competition, many men like Trump in the run-up to the first debate refuse to compensate by working harder, no matter how poorly they fare. Time-use studies show that even when men dont have jobs, they do far less housework and childcare than their working wives.

Whether the issue is slacker husbands or discriminatory bosses who perpetuate the inequities of the gender pay gap, some women remain acquiescent to the unfairness of the status quo but a lot of others are simply fed up. The question is: how many and are they exasperated enough to head for the polls in droves? And will enough fair-minded men join them to elect the first female president in American history?

The answer depends on how far weve come in accepting the idea of women as truly equal human beings who sometimes outdo their male counterparts. Last month Vanity Fair reposted a profile I wrote in 1994, when the then first lady was working on healthcare reform. The article quoted a powerful Capitol Hill insider who compared Mrs Clintons performance with that of her husband, the president. Ive seen them both make presentations, with dozens of senators at the table, and shes better than he is, he said. And these guys know it. Theyve sat in rooms with her, and theyve sat in rooms with him. Hes good hes very good. Shes just fucking perfect.

In a globalized world increasingly riven by conflicts of byzantine complexity, Clintons hard-earned knowledge and experience constitute her strongest claim to the Oval Office. But her rival and the male minions who laud him as a genius for evading taxes fail to appreciate even that obvious point.

Is this the president we want for our sons?

As election day approaches, the larger question is how much sense of self-preservation will be manifested by the nations adult females.

Will American women and the men who actually care about their welfare support the leadership of a man who feels entitled to kiss strangers on the mouth and brag about grabbing crotches, simply because he is rich and famous and male?

Will voters agree that a man should view and rank all women according to their physical attributes and fire those he doesnt find sexually desirable, because he thinks a womans value is measured by her looks?

Will voters approve the double standards of a man who publicly humiliates women for their sexual conduct even as he laughs off his own far more lurid transgressions?

Will the electorate agree that males dont have to play by the rules that men dont need to do whats best for their families (like refraining from dumping the mothers of their children in tabloid sex scandals) or for the economy (like paying contractors who provided services instead of cheating them) or for their country (like paying taxes)?

The Clinton campaign has been running a commercial featuring some of Trumps denigrating comments about women, superimposed over pictures of uncertain young girls scrutinizing themselves in the mirror as they struggle to decide whether their bodies define their value in the world. Is this the president we want for our daughters? the ad asks.

That leaves out an equally critical question: is this the president we want for our sons?

A vote for Trump is a vote for the continuation of male entitlement for the arrogance and inequity of unearned privilege, for the acceptance of irresponsibility in personal, familial and civic behaviors, and for the perpetuation of all the hateful biases that oppress women solely because of their gender.

Is this the world we want to keep on living in, or is it finally time for us to demand a better one?