Kenneth Clatterbaugh's Argical Essay: Are Men Oppressed?

In the reading “Are Men Oppressed?” Kenneth Clatterbaugh addresses the question stated in the title of the reading with three arguments that claim men are indeed oppressed. Of the three arguments I would like to focus on one in particular, that being the expendability argument. When addressed with the argument that men are expendable and therefore they are oppressed; Clatterbaugh objects to every point made in the argument. Clatterbaugh’s solid objection discussed later on makes it clear to me that men are indeed not oppressed by expendability. The expendability argument is the claim that violence against men is acceptable whereas violence against anyone who is not considered man is not, therefor men are oppressed by the definition of dehumanizing. Violence against men is acceptable because men are put in more …show more content…
Men are drafted to go to war and fight for the country where as women and children cannot be drafted. So men’s lives are considered of less value than that of women and children seeing how they are expendable resources to use for war. The argument continues onto the point of dehumanizing men stating that when we watch TV shows or movies we always see men engage in hand to hand fights, guns, or knives which result in a lot of them getting killed. “By expecting men to play life-threatening roles, we are less horrified when their lives are lost. By being less horrified, we can continue the assignment rather than look at our roles….” (Clatterbaugh 301). Seeing a man die in the shows or movies we watch is a lot easier to understand than to see a women die