Does Anyone Care About Men's Struggles? - Richard Reeves - #537

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Hello, friends, welcome back to the show. My guest today is Richard Reeves. He's a scholar, writer, and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Men are falling behind in education, employment, and family life. They're underachieving in school, dropping out of the labor market and being less useful around the house more than ever. And this isn't simply cultural, as it's happening all over the world. The problem is deeper than that. It's structural. I expect to learn why there are twice as many female fighter pilots compared with male kindergarten teachers. Why a male needs to be 24 to have the same impulse control as a 10-year-old girl. Where the term toxic masculinity actually came from. Whether a man's gain is genuinely a woman's loss. The problem of promoting men's issues in the press. And much more. This conversation is pretty scary. The evolutionary psychology stuff is interesting, but I don't think it feels quite as tangible or as real as learning about genuine structural problems that are holding back anybody in society. Very much appreciate that Richard, someone who has a background in policy making and research, has really dug into all of this and is coming at it without overblowing it, without accusing women of keeping men down, without accusing men of making the world worse. It's a conversation that I think is going to become absolutely massive over the next few years. And I really hope that you take as much away from this as I did. In other news, this episode is brought to you by Blinkist. Blinkist allows you to understand the most important things from over five and a half thousand non-fiction books and podcasts in just 15 minutes. If you're short on time, you can use Blinkist to check out the key ideas and decide if you want to invest in reading the full book. You can discover new books that you've heard of and have always been curious about. And for books that you've already read, you can use Blinkist to remember the key points. Also, their narration is so good. It makes a massive difference when you're trying to learn something especially quickly that the narrator genuinely sounds interested and is super enthusiastic about the book, and they have absolutely nailed the narration. Also, you can get seven days completely free access to everything from Blinkist by going to blinkist.com/modernwisdom.
That's blinkist.com/modernwisdom to start your seven-day free trial. And you'll get a 25% discount off of Blinkist Premium Membership if you decide to stick about after that, but there is no obligation. blinkist.com/modernwisdom. In other other news, this episode is brought to you by Manscaped, the best in men's below the waist grooming. They have just launched their brand new and improved Lawnmower 4.0, which is engineered to be the ultimate ball and body hair trimmer by focusing on functionality for an unbeatably comfortable grooming experience. It's designed to be the greatest ball and body hair trimmer ever created, featuring a cutting edge ceramic blade to reduce grooming accidents, a 90-minute battery so you can take a longer shave, waterproof technology which allows you to groom in the shower, and an LED light which illuminates grooming areas for a closer and more precise trim. They've also upgraded to a 7,000 rpm motor with quiet stroke technology, and it's got a wireless charging system using electromagnetic induction to help the battery last even longer. On top of all of that, you can get 20% off and free shipping worldwide. If you go to manscaped.com and use the code Modern Wisdom at checkout. So if you or the man in your life is a little bit hairier than you would like him to be, this is a great gift for yourself or someone else. manscaped.com and the code Modern Wisdom for 20% off and free shipping. And in final news, this episode is brought to you by Verso. Many of you may have heard my past interviews with Dr. David Sinclair and other leading scientists studying longevity. Sometimes there are certain elements of aging that may benefit from a little extra help. It's important to get the right exercise, nutrition and sleep as we age, but supplementation can make a big difference. Nicotinamide mononucleotide or NMN based supplements like Verso cell being are a direct precursor to NAD and reduced levels of NAD are associated with age related diseases. If you've been thinking that you want to get started with a longevity supplement regime, cell being has taken all of the guesswork out of it for you. NMN, Resveratrol, TMG all put together in the optimal dosages and they have a third party test for each batch of product produced to absolutely guarantee that you are getting what you pay for. Head over to ver.so slash modern wisdom, use the code MW15 at checkout to save 15% on your order. That's ver.so slash modern wisdom and MW15, a checkout. But now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Richard Reeves.