Pick your poison:
Seeger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9Zt0O2lyhk
Cash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppa__7ZLAU8
When a woman or other media-favored-identity (which can include gender, race, religion, different-abledness, or an intersection of several, changing day-to-day and year-to-year, and media source to media source) achieves great things, their status as a woman or favored-minority is highlighted alongside their achievements (I would say this is not a bad thing as maybe people sharing that identity will believe in themselves a bit more and be inspired to do great things).
But when a man achieves success, their manness is certainly not highlighted. If the man is also a member of a media-favored-identity, then that will be highlighted. When was the last time you saw a headline: ‘First Man to [do thing]’? Instead, it would be ‘First Person to [do thing]’, or if someone else had already done that cool thing then it wouldn’t be a headline (unless it was like ‘first man to give birth to octuplets’, I can see that making the front page of the NYTimes).
Also, as a society we celebrate woman-dominated professions such as teachers and nurses (very deserved imo, except for my 6th grade teacher), but, at least in the ‘liberal’ mainstream, there is no similar celebration of male-dominated professions (except when a media-favored-identity finds success at that profession and the media is like ‘breaking news! single-mother black woman Polly-Ann drives steel like a man’ [too much?]). Is it any surprise that those who identify as men are more likely to also identify with the political and intellectual movements that still glorify the man-identity (I would say the liberal mainstream also forgets about rural folks, with the same effect)? Example: many Republican-leaning outlets will celebrate those who work in our military, regardless of the soldier’s identity (well, maybe not regardless, but at least so long as they are a meat-and-potatoes sort of man).
Maybe the answer is that we all ought to think of ourselves as people above all else. Maybe an achievement should be celebrated and highlighted equally no matter what sort of person you are, because it is no surprise that one sort of person is just as capable as a Man sort of person. I do not know the answer, but I would also say this: Did man-people have tens or hundreds or thousands of years of society saying that only man-people are capable of great achievements? Should we spend some time saying loud and clear that ‘yo, we got it wrong. not-man-people are also capable of great achievements’? But should we also hope towards a time where person-achievements are celebrated regardless of identity? Do we still have work to do before we get there? I would say yes.
Looking forward, the media says automation will eat our jobs, from truck drivers (self-driving cars) to soldiers (self-shooting-missile-drones) to programmers (self-programming-program).
If you listen close you can hear the clanging.
The steam drill is a’coming for ya.
But, man, watch Polly-Ann swing that hammer.