January 2011
Q:
When you wrote this book [on Canadian universities in 1987], 52% of undergrads
were women, and now it’s 65, and at some schools more than 70% are women. So
it’s a completely different experience for your son and daughter.
Frum: I find it extremely upsetting because I feel the atmosphere is going to be
skewed against my daughter. Just by definition it cannot be as much fun to be at
a place where it’s 65% female. What we wanted for women was to be valued and
equal, and now we are going to be overabundant and therefore devalued. I
remember how hard people fought for women to be able to go anywhere, and now,
once again, the boys have the advantage. They just have it in a new way.
Q:
That’s the reverse of what everybody’s saying. "We’re losing the boys. What have
we done to the boys?"
Frum: That’s true. But for those boys who have it together, the world’s their
oyster. And my daughter has it just as together as my son – she has a 90 average
and she’s a school leader, but so what? We see it in 65% of the other girls,
whereas he is a standout. It kind of enrages me that women always end up with
the short end of the stick.
These comments defy parody. I mean, people rightly make fun of Sara Palin, who
says a lot of dumb things; but bizarre and sexist attitudes like the one on
display here from Ms. Frum are at least as dangerous and as misguided. Even when
prompted a second time, she cannot muster a single word of sympathy or give a
simplethoughtfor the lost generation of boys. All that consumes her – "upsets"
and "enrages" her – is the effect on her daughter. Her precious, eminently
privileged, 90-averagedaughter – yes, she is the one to be really concerned for
in this unfortunate scenario.
This is a Conservative Senator – not some radical, wild-eyed, feminist Liberal
hack. I would say it is "unbelievable," except that it is sadlytypical of
theillogical, politically correct, myopoic, and self-servingpeople who govern
Canada – of all political stripes. It’s a disgrace.
Grant Brown is a former member of SAFS Board of Directors.
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