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More than ever before we as men are confronted with ever-increasing confusion about what we're supposed to do and even who we're supposed to be.
In recent months there has been an unmistakably sharp increase in the negative tone, of course. As if it wasn't already at a fever pitch for the last several years, the message is louder than ever from angry women warning us to KEEP AWAY.
As if feeling invisible to women isn't bad enough, it's as if we're commanded to stay that way.
We're told in no uncertain terms that making eye contact with a woman on the street is an aggressive act, let alone actually approaching her and saying "hello".
One video even infamously labels any male acknowledgment of female as "the gateway drug to rape". That same clip plays ominous music as a guy merely glances in a woman's direction as he passes her on the street.
These videos rack up millions of views and hundreds of thousands of "likes"...even from men.
But then comes the part where we really want to tear our hair out. Just yesterday I posted a graphical meme on Twitter that read, "A woman wants you to hold her, tell her everything will be okay, and believe you."
In the past women have swooned when I spoke those words.
Yesterday at least two women hurled insults at me.
Obviously, you arouse anger by sounding "rapey" or otherwise verbalizing intent to sexually assault someone.
But now women also get furious when you talk about embracing them and protecting them.
What's a man to do?
And yet, in the midst of it all...after everything we've all seen and heard from the media this election cycle, 42% of U.S. women voters pulled the lever for Donald Trump.
That's no political endorsement from me either way. It's a simple, objective fact.
Good grief...how on Earth can any man make sense of any of this?
But then comes the part where our circuits get fried to a crisp...
We're also constantly bombarded with images and sound bites of women openly mourning the demise of "real men" in this post-modern world.
They wonder where their hero is, and when he'll come sweep them off of their feet.
But...how are we supposed to be a real man--let alone a hero--to a woman if we're made to feel like vicious criminals for even showing interest in her?
We have been left rudderless in a raging sea...with no definitive direction whatsoever.
What in the world do these women want? Do they even care if there's a man in their lives, or not?
You want more examples of why we as men are more confused and downright frustrated than ever? Just take a look at these...
A woman's online profile was recently brought to my attention that read as follows:
"You must be a gentleman, but I'm fed up with nice guys."
I found a completely different one on my own recently that said this:
"I want a man who can rock my world in the bedroom, but whose mind isn't on sex."
And it's safe to say that nearly all of us have heard this one before:
"I want a passionate lover, but I believe in 'friends first'."
I'm sure you've been left slack-jawed and speechless by all of this.
Clearly, it's not as if women everywhere are in lockstep with what the YouTube videos say.
I mean, are they really convinced men are depraved beings simply for having the audacity to be sexually attracted? ...Even when they're heterosexual women?
Or do most women still have the same natural wants, needs and fantasies as ever...but now live in a world where it's "politically incorrect" to admit it?
The message drummed into our heads in the media is almost never in alignment with what feminine, attractive women of sound mind actually think and do in the real world.
This leads to the most shocking thought of all:
If we as men passively accept the message as delivered, more and more women just might start believing that they're weird or even wrong for not buying into it as well.
All of the sudden, the truth has become frighteningly clear: Your very identity as a man is in crisis.
As "gentlemen", are we really supposed to refrain from "bothering" women with our presence...only to have the door slammed on us in anger when we "fail to deploy"?
I mean, is she happier without a man and wants to be left alone... or is she bitterly disappointed that we didn't kiss her passionately?
It just doesn't add up.
But it gets even worse than what was demonstrated by my little Twitter incident yesterday.
Sometimes it's as if the more we try to do the right thing, the more women self-righteously reject us, reserving the right to be rude or even downright mean to us.
Then, we're forced to endure watching those same women smile and giggle as they paw up some other random guy who seems like a total loser. What is up with that?
Meanwhile, the greatest tragedy of all is that more good, decent men than ever before have simply given up...thinking that meeting real, live women just isn't worth the trouble OR the perceived risk.
Some men have even commented on my own blog and elsewhere that they've actually trained themselves to stop noticing women altogether...the perceived taboo associated with it is just too painful to deal with nowadays.
But ironically, those same men turn to Internet porn in the absence of real, live women in their lives...only adding to the shame and despair. And it hurts.
Surely it's "game over" at that point...in the truest sense of the phrase. Both men and women lose.
So are we all doomed to a life of solitary celebacy from now on?
Not so fast...
Don't be misled any longer. The status quo is not sustainable.
After all, the vast majority of us are not rapists. You're not a monster, you're a man. You want only to treat a good woman right.
Meanwhile, it's still true (and always will be) that women will follow the lead of a man who has their best interests in mind, and they'll lovehim for it.
That can only mean that they're depending on us to sort all of this out and find a way to sweep them off of their feet...and fast.
But the simple fact remains that we've got to actually meet them in order to do that.
And somehow we've got to attract them sexually, lest we be banished to the "Just Be Friends Zone".
You see, we as men are constantly told we're the problem, but we're given no solution.
We're treated like mushrooms...kept in the dark and fed nothing but manure.
Even high quality women themselves are left shaking their heads.
They have no idea what to do about any of this either...except wait...and hope...that a great man will rise above the fray and boldly turn her on.
For most men there is no real road map to success...only mass confusion all around.
If you're like me, you also believe that the current state of affairs is utterly unacceptable. We as men have to find the way to our rightful place in red-blooded women's hearts, minds AND yes...bedrooms.
Failure is not an option. And the truth is that women are cheering us on.