From "The Rise of the COVID Midlife Crisis/Why are so many women leaving corporate America?" by Lizzie Widdicombe (The New Yorker).
Are your meltdowns more soulful than these other people's meltdowns?
August 15, 2021
"How much of this is regular professional midlife-crisis stuff? These women seemed a little young to be going through it, but is this just what happens..."
"... when people get deep enough into a lucrative career—they have a freakout? Contemplate walking away from everything? Perhaps, but these ladies’ meltdowns struck me as a lot more soulful than the behavior we associate with a typical midlife crisis: getting a Brazilian butt lift, say, or starting an affair with a co-worker. The One Hundred Women weren’t screwing up their lives. They were focussing on their loved ones, or on creative pursuits they’d never let themselves take seriously before the pandemic, or on important causes like the environment."
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13 comments:
I wouldn't know- I have never melted down.
Feminism: Women's midlife crises are better than men's.
I think the whole phenomenon of "Midlife Crisis" has always indicated a failure of the Liberal World Order: Atheist Liberalism, Capitalism, and Globalization. Midlife Crisis is merely another manifestation of Alienation. So for men, and so for women.
Is this supposed to be a new story? I remember Jordan Peterson commented on it long ago. He heard from a number of top law firms, that they just cannot hold on to their female partners. Brilliant, best in their fields, fiercely driven, insanely hard-working. And then they make partner, and they stop and think: Do I really want to do this with my life?
The real wonder is that men do it.
I like it: "Ladies and gentlemen, put your soulful hands together for ... The Soulful Meltdowns!".
The woman profiled seems very capable but flighty. Wildfires! I know, I'll work for that cause now. Armadillos run over on Texas highways! Maybe some Armadillo overpass work group needs my help! Narcissism much?
Sounds like a bunch of intelligent capable people who were on a conveyor belt of good suburban high schools to elite colleges to corporate careers who got interrupted and started to think about their lifestyle assumptions.
"Why are so many women leaving corporate America?"
They never liked it to begin with. The feminist pursuit of female autonomy turned out to be an ideological corset.
"Are your meltdowns more soulful than these other people's meltdowns?"
As a corollary to Althouse's law that any differences between men and women must be presented to favor women, yes.
But if women do in fact give up on professional careers more often and sooner, should society invest less in women's education and training?
Self-absorption is a powerful drug.
Yet another reason women make less than men. More men will put up with it than women.
I can understand why anyone, in their 30s or 40s, looking down (as they say in the Westerns of the 1950s) the barrel of the rifle of time, would say ---- DO I REALLY WANT TO SPEND 250 DAYS A YEAR UNTIL I AM OLD PLAYING THIS CUBICLE OR OFFICE GAME - Do I have a choice?
I am not female, and not physically attractive (I do have a charismatic personality, but I would never use that to my financial advantage) but if I were a young female who had a choice to partner with someone who got satisfaction from career success, I would think I would take the option to be part of that partnership as quickly as possible, and leave the Dilbertian purgatory of office life in 2021 to others.
As the Great Barack put it, “I do think at a certain point you've made enough money." So maybe the women feel much the same way.
Corporate life is soul draining. The petty politics, the commuting, the working endless hours. What if we had other options, say, staying at home with our families and pursuing our passions?
That is what my mom did - she was a housewife, who did art projects, decorated cakes, book club, volunteered at the hospital, gardened, school activities, and a whole host of things. She also had full control of the household finances. My dad never saw the inside of a bank or paid a bill. She got a job when I was in high school (I am the youngest) - she quit in about 2 years. Hated the nonsense and was used to being her own boss. She thought most of her supervisors and co-workers were useless.
This was in the 1980s. I do not think is has gotten any better.
As a male who had a meltdown indistinguishable from those described, might I mansplain that some people just get worn down by work, and welcome an opportunity to exit their careers, future prospects be damned?
Thanks to my caring and supportive spouse, I now make 3x my high tech salary as an independent GC building houses. Should have left my semiconductor job 5 years earlier!
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