I ran into an opinion article today that goes along nicely with my previous quasi-joking post about becoming an adult.

Kay Hymowitz: The child-man

The basic jist of the piece is that men (of the ages that define my peer group and I) are aimless "child-men" who are putting off "real life" in lieu of other activities. The author cites statistics about how the average marrying age is getting older, how men tend to live in communal settings longer, how we are poorly read because the only books we'll read are Maxim magazine, and how video games are the defining mark of this group stuck "in limbo".

Single women in their 20s and early 30s are joining an international New Girl Order, hyper-achieving in both school and an increasingly female-friendly workplace, while packing leisure hours with shopping, traveling and dining with friends. Single young males, or SYMs, by contrast, often seem to hang out in a playground of drinking, hooking up, playing Halo 3 and, in many cases, underachieving. With them, adulthood looks as though it's receding.

I'm kind of having a crap day here, so you'll have to pardon my cynicism, but this article is some serious BULLSHIT and I find it sexist and condescending.

Yes, I play video games. As do most of my friends. However, most of us eschew traditional entertainment (i.e. i only have a few friends who actually have cable tv) in lieu of video games. So the shocking 2 hours a night we spend playing games we are socializing, improving hand-eye-coordination, and not just sitting there being spoon fed information.

And I have a subscription to Maxim.However, I also spend about an hour a day reading on the bus (Currently "The Secret River" by Kate Grenville).

And I don't watch the news. Well, I don't have cable TV. However, I read the PI in the morning at work with my coffee. Or I get various news podcasts on my Zune to listen to on the bus on the way home.

And yes, I do like to go out drinking and living like a 'Frat Boy'. Except for the fact that I have a very serious full time job and a couple of hobbies that I work very seriously at.

And all of these things apply to the large majority of my "child-man" friends.

I find it especially amusing how in the article the author point out how a few decades ago the typical situation would be people of my age marrying someone they went to highschool (or even college) with and settling down right away. Well, maybe the problem isn't 100% on the guys here. Maybe these hyper-achieving women are interested in seeing the world and finding their own way rather than just settling down simply to be married and have a few kids. From my own experiences and those of close friends, I know for a fact that this has been the failing point of many relationships.

Anyways, I'm done bitching about this. Maybe the author has simply had an unforunate string of luck with 20 to 30 something "child-men". Or maybe she's right and my entire generation of men are just useless slobs who are drifting along and we might get lucky enough to mate with some hyper-achiever woman.

Either way, when i get home tonight, i'm going to read some Maxim and play some Halo 3.