Template:Maturity

Today it is very common for opinion pieces and even mainstream news articles to claim that men are child-like or are not growing up.

This criticism is often levelled at men who are choosing to remain single throughout their lives. The argument presumes that because these men are not following a traditional path of attempting to form a permanent relationship and choosing to have children that they are immature. This is an inherent value judgement. People who recognise that they do not want to be parents (or are not cut out to be parents) and make sure this doesn't happen may well be more mature and responsible than people who plunge in to relationships and parenthood without having considered the long term ramifications of these choices.

CNN, like others, argues that women are better at dealing with emotional problems than men. It would be more accurate to say that men and women tend to deal with emotional problems in different ways and claiming one method is better than the other is making a value judgement.

Statements like the one below, often couched in humour, suggest men are more simple than women:

Men have two emotions, hungry and horny. If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich.

This is perhaps the most insulting and dehumanising of all of these claims.