There are two kinds of people who are basically disposable: unattractive women and economically unsuccessful men. In college I knew a woman, who verged on beautiful, who mentioned to me once that seven guys had asked her out one weekend. I knew another one, who was very attractive, who was very popular – I believe over 30 guys asked her out.
I also knew several who weren’t attractive, and never got asked out. Attractiveness (and friendliness) was what made the popular women popular. The unattractive ones didn’t stand a chance, although I suppose unattractive guys finally asked them out.
For men, those who are economically unsuccessful are disposable. If a man cannot support himself, no one else will, so he can just become homeless and die. This is why, when the economy goes bad and men lose their jobs, the suicide rate goes up for them. They’re on their own.
In the past, unattractive women could be nurses or schoolteachers. I’m not sure what else was open to them. Secretaries. These days, women, because of Affirmative Action and other laws, have the traditional male role now open to them, so they now have access to high-paying, fairly easy inside jobs.
Yet, at the same time, access to the traditional female role is not open to men. I’m sure there are a few financially successful women who are open to it, but if there are, it’s just a handful, and I’ve never met one.
So what happens is that an unattractive woman can now support herself with a high-paying job, but a economically unsuccessful man is still on his own. The woman has become less disposable, but not the man.
Men in general have always been more disposable than women, apparently because women are the ones who give birth. But now, the imbalance has become even worse.
Can such a balance continue? I don’t think I can. Something will give, sooner or later, and then things will change. But I expect things to get a lot worse before they get better.