RA #2 Salam

“The Death of Macho” was written by Reihan Salam in 2009. The topic of this article regards gender roles, both presently and in the past, and the evidence of a switch in gender dominance from males to females occurring today. The exigence explains that although slowly, men in America and all over the world have been losing their dominance, especially due to the recent economic collapse and specifically in America due to the housing bubble crash. Men are losing their place in this world. The intended audience would be generally everyone, but targeted specifically to male Americans. The purpose is to make the reader aware of the gender switch that is occurring, and the reality of what this switch entails, as well as how one would either adapt or resist the switch. The claim of this article, as hinted at before, is that the past’s idea of the macho, man’s man ideal is fading out, and although men are fighting hard to resist, women are taking the place of dominance in today’s culture. In present day, the issue at hand is gender roles and people must decipher what that means for themselves and the entire world.

Writer’s Strategy #1: In this article, Salam employs the method of cause and effect many times through giving examples of current and past events that lead to or are aiding in the transition of male to female dominance. An example of this can be found on page 630, which explains how Iceland made the transition. The cause was the “all-male elite who oversaw the making of the crisis”, the crisis being Iceland’s enormous economic crash, causing the effect of naming “the world’s first openly lesbian leader as their prime minister.” This is one of the many ways Salam utilizes the method of cause and effect in his explanation of how gender roles are changing. Personally, his use of this mode is great evidential support towards explaining his claim. By applying this method, Salam shows a great use of Aristotle’s appeal of ethos. This abundance of evidence really shows his credibility.

Writer’s Strategy #2: Salam also exploits the method of compare and contrast in this article. There is a compare and contrast between men and women gender roles. He also compares and contrasts between gender roles today and those from the past. Not only that, but near the end of the article he utilizes this method again to compare and contrast the choices men have in light of the changing times: adapting or resisting. I really enjoyed this aspect of Salam’s writing. Because there was a constant battle between two ideas, people, or situations, I felt that the article was very unified and cohesive.

Writer’s Strategy #3: Another strategy Salam used, and arguably the most important for this subject matter, is classification and division. The entire article is focused around the question of how men and women should be classified. Salam explains how men and women were divided in the past, how they are classified now, and what the future holds for these supposedly separate but equal groups. Many factors that attribute to this separation can be what job one holds, how much education one has, and even who is the “breadwinner” of a family unit. Salam explores the idea that the classification of gender is often skewed what it means for America and even the world to adjust their current classifications. At what point will the classifications of gender become obsolete? Will that ever happen? The division of male and female is a huge debate today and Salam explains it beautifully in this article.