????在耶魯大學(xué)商學(xué)院（Yale Business School）舉辦的一個(gè)宴會(huì)上，薩布麗娜一邊品嘗著手中的雞尾美酒，一邊聊著她喜歡（紅酒、Lady Gaga和安格拉?默克爾）和反感的事物（矮個(gè)子男人、金融白癡，以及遭人蔑視的高管撰寫的不夠成熟的文本）。這位綠眼睛美女可以被很容易地歸入《欲望都市》女主角凱莉?布雷蕭那種類型：?jiǎn)紊?、?zhèn)靜自若、事業(yè)有成且魅力四射。她是“獨(dú)一無(wú)二的”，一位舊情人這樣形容她。

????31歲的薩布麗娜在不同的銀行工作了數(shù)年；她談過(guò)幾場(chǎng)戀愛(ài)，并沒(méi)有真正感受過(guò)成家的緊迫感：“我為什么要找個(gè)男人？我又不靠他養(yǎng)我，也不需要他干活。我有很多朋友。去他娘的。”

????千里之外，失業(yè)的卡爾文正在竭力尋找自己在后制造業(yè)時(shí)代的坐標(biāo)。他的前妻，29歲的貝辛妮經(jīng)營(yíng)著自己的日托生意，似乎并不依賴他做什么事情。兩人有一個(gè)女兒，但卡爾文并不是這個(gè)家庭的重要一份子。貝辛妮若有所思地說(shuō)，外出購(gòu)物時(shí)帶著他不過(guò)意味著“我倆少吃一個(gè)格蘭諾拉燕麥卷而已?！笨栁乃坪鮾H僅是一個(gè)只會(huì)在花錢方面增添麻煩的人，貝辛妮選擇讓他離開(kāi)自己的生活。

????以上就是漢娜?羅森的著作《男性的終結(jié)與女性的崛起》（The End of Men: And the Rise of Women）一書的開(kāi)篇。這本書探索的主題是現(xiàn)代職業(yè)女性及其對(duì)經(jīng)濟(jì)、性別規(guī)范和男性自尊的影響。2010年，羅森曾在《大西洋月刊》（The Atlantic）上發(fā)表過(guò)一篇同名文章，希望回答她自己提出的一個(gè)問(wèn)題：如果后工業(yè)時(shí)期的現(xiàn)代社會(huì)更適合女性，世界將會(huì)怎樣？

????她的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，“經(jīng)濟(jì)和文化已經(jīng)發(fā)生了某種地震級(jí)的轉(zhuǎn)換，不僅是對(duì)男性，對(duì)女性也是如此。男女雙方必須進(jìn)行調(diào)整，以適應(yīng)一種完全新型的工作、生活，甚至戀愛(ài)方式。”在這本書中，她竭力詮釋了我們?cè)趺匆徊讲阶叩搅四壳暗木车?，以及?duì)于我們所知的生活，這究竟意味著什么等問(wèn)題。羅森均等地使用軼事和社會(huì)學(xué)分析（附加以少量統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)）等手段，得出了一個(gè)男性或許很難接受的推論。盡管這本書的書名暗示這是一個(gè)“女孩當(dāng)?shù)?，男孩艷羨”的故事，但實(shí)際情況并非如此。這本書涉及的主題非常廣泛，所有主題均與性別、金錢和愛(ài)有關(guān)。羅森的座右銘是什么？“沒(méi)有所謂的‘自然’秩序，唯有事物的本原模樣?！?/p>

????書中最有趣的故事發(fā)生在運(yùn)動(dòng)裝備制造商拉塞爾公司（Russell Corporation）昔日的大本營(yíng)：阿拉巴馬州亞歷山大市。作為重組的一部分，這家公司將工廠遷至美國(guó)境外。2006年，伯克希爾哈撒韋公司（Berkshire Hathaway）收購(gòu)了該公司。數(shù)千名居住在亞歷山大市的拉塞爾公司員工（其中絕大多數(shù)是男性）突然失去了工作。

????美國(guó)各地的工業(yè)城鎮(zhèn)都在經(jīng)歷類似的創(chuàng)傷，羅森寫道。就在男性為逝去的黃金歲月滿懷感傷之際，女性們卻將懷舊情緒擱置一旁，擔(dān)當(dāng)起養(yǎng)家糊口的角色?！澳腥酥饾u熄火的時(shí)候，婦女不得不自食其力，肩負(fù)起撫養(yǎng)小孩的責(zé)任，”麻省理工學(xué)院（MIT）的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家大衛(wèi)?奧特爾說(shuō)道?！八齻儾辉讣奕?，因?yàn)樗^的丈夫僅僅是另一張需要喂養(yǎng)的嘴而已。”

????我們此前目睹過(guò)這樣的場(chǎng)景。羅森提醒我們，從上世紀(jì)70年代開(kāi)始，非洲裔美國(guó)男性開(kāi)始離開(kāi)制造業(yè)。到了1987年，僅有20%的黑人男性在工廠工作。她寫道：“隨著時(shí)間的推移，小家庭開(kāi)始分崩離析，吸毒率上升，社會(huì)機(jī)構(gòu)開(kāi)始瓦解?！边@時(shí)，婦女們站了出來(lái)。在過(guò)去20年中，黑人社區(qū)已經(jīng)迎來(lái)了女家長(zhǎng)制社會(huì)。羅森指出，父親身陷囹圄的非洲裔美國(guó)男孩的畢業(yè)成績(jī)往往優(yōu)于那些父親陪伴在身邊的孩子，這種狀況顯示，“父親已經(jīng)成為孩子成長(zhǎng)過(guò)程中的負(fù)面影響因素。”

????With a cocktail in hand at a Yale Business School party, Sabrina chats about her likes (red wine, Lady Gaga, and Angela Merkel) and her dislikes (short men, FDBs -- financial douche bags -- and immature texts from scorned exes). The green-eyed beauty could easily roll with Carrie Bradshaw's posse. She's single, poised, successful, and attractive -- "one of a kind" is how an old flame describes her.

????Sabrina, 31, spent years working at various banks; she's been in and out of love and feels no real urgency to settle down: "What do I need a man for? I don't need him financially. I don't need him to do activities. I have lots of friends here. So fuck it."

????A thousand miles away, unemployed Calvin attempts to navigate the post-manufacturing age. His ex, Bethenny, 29, runs her own daycare business and doesn't seem to rely on him for anything. The two have a daughter together, though Calvin isn't an important part of the equation. While grocery shopping, Bethenny muses that having him around would just mean "one less granola bar for the both of us." It seems Calvin is nothing more than a financial hassle -- one that Bethenny chooses to keep out of her life.

????And so begins Hanna Rosin's The End of Men: And the Rise of Women, an exploration of the modern career woman and her effect on the economy, gender norms, and masculine self-worth. In 2010, Rosin published an essay of the same name in The Atlantic, hoping to answer her own question: What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women?

????Her research uncovered that something "seismic had shifted the economy and culture, not only for men but for women, and that both sexes were going to have to adjust to an entirely new way of working and living and even falling in love." In her book, she works to explain how we got to where we are -- and what it may mean for life as we know it. Equal parts anecdote and sociological analysis (with a dash of statistics), Rosin serves a dish that may be hard for American men to digest. Though the title suggests it's a "girls rule, boys drool" tale, that's untrue. Rosin covers a wide range of subjects, all relating to gender, money, and love. Her motto? "There is no 'natural' order, only the way things are."

????Rosin's most interesting reporting occurs in Alexander City, Alabama, the former home of athletic gear manufacturer Russell Corporation. As part of a restructuring, it moved its plants outside of the United States and in 2006, Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA)acquired the company. Thousands of Russell employees living in Alexander City (the majority of them men) were suddenly jobless.

????Industrial towns across America are experiencing similar trauma, Rosin writes. As the men pine for the golden days, the women push nostalgia aside and take on the provider role. "When men start to flame out, women by necessity have to become self-sufficient, to take care of the kids," says MIT economist David Autor. "They don't marry the men, who are just another mouth to feed."

????We've seen this movie before. Starting in the 1970s, Rosin reminds us, African-American men began leaving the manufacturing sector. By 1987, only 20% of black men worked in factories. "Over time, nuclear families fell apart, drug addiction shot up, and social institutions began to disintegrate," she writes. Women stepped up, and over the past 20 years, the black community has embraced matriarchy. (Rosin notes that African-American boys whose fathers are in jail graduate at higher rates than those whose dads are around, suggesting that "fathers have become a negative influence.")