Peter Pan Syndrome
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Peter Pan syndrome: Does the rise of women mean men will never grow up? A new book claims men are taking longer to reach adulthood than ever before - and that women are to blame... By Tamara Abraham Last updated at 8:33 AM on 22nd February 2011 It's a widely-agreed belief that girls mature faster than boys. But a new book claims that an increasing number of men never grow up at all. Author Kay S. Hymowitz says that the rise of women at school and in the workplace is fuelling a 'Peter Pan syndrome' in the opposite sex - men who continue to act like teenagers well into adulthood. She says that changing sexual hierarchies mean that today's men are uncertain about their social role. Increased access to higher education and today's lengthy and complicated route into the job market is slowing the road to maturity. But while this has had a negative impact on male 'pre-adults' as Hymowitz calls them, ambitious women are forging ahead with better grades and wages. In her book, Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men Into Boys, she explains: 'Today's pre-adult male is like an actor in a drama in which he only knows what he shouldn't say. 'He has to compete in a fierce job market, but he can't act too bossy or self-confident. He should be sensitive but not paternalistic, smart but not cocky. 'To deepen his predicament, because he is single, his advisers and confidants are generally undomesticated guys just like him. Hymowitz says we now see young adult males in the same way that we viewed adolescents in the last century, and that they have become an aspirational new social demographic. 'Like adolescents in the 20th century, today's pre-adults have been wait-listed for adulthood,' she writes. 'Marketers and culture creators help to promote pre-adulthood as a lifestyle. And like adolescence, pre-adulthood is a class-based social phenomenon, reserved for the relatively well-to-do.' The writer likens the trend to the 2008 film Knocked Up, starring Seth Rogen - a typical man-child - and a career-driven Katherine Heigl who becomes pregnant with his child. 'With women moving ahead in our advanced economy, husbands and fathers are now optional, and the qualities of character men once needed to play their roles - fortitude, stoicism, courage, fidelity - are obsolete, even a little embarrassing. Statistics about education and marriage support her explanation of the man-child trend. The percentage of young adults enrolled in higher education has more than doubled between 1960 and 2000 - but of that number, just 27 per cent of men aged 25 to 34 have a college degree, compared with 34 per cent of women. And while 16 per cent of Americans aged 25-29 were unmarried in 1970, 55 per cent of that age group are unmarried today. 'Unlike adolescents, pre-adults don't know what is supposed to come next,' Hymowitz explains. She says that because single young men are relatively affluent, free of family responsibilities, and are constantly entertained by an array of targeted media, he is free to live in 'pig heaven'. 'Women put up with him for a while, but then in fear and disgust either give up on any idea of a husband and kids or just go to a sperm bank and get the DNA without the troublesome man,' she explains. 'But these rational choices on the part of women only serve to legitimise men's attachment to the sand box. Why should they grow up? No one needs them anyway. There's nothing they have to do. 'They might as well just have another beer,' she concludes. Science Daily - May 3, 2007 “The Wendy behind Peter Pan Psychologist Dan Kiley, who defined ‘Peter Pan Syndrome’ in 1983, also used the term ‘Wendy Syndrome’ to describe women who act like mothers with their partners or people close to them. Humbelina Robles stresses that “Wendy is the woman behind Peter Pan. There must be someone who deals with the things Peter Pan doesn’t do in order for Peter Pan to exist.” The researcher from the UGR states that Wendy “makes every decision and takes on the responsibilities of her partner, thus justifying his unreliability. We can find Wendy people even within the immediate family: the overprotecting mothers.” The professor declares that the biggest disadvantage of both disorders (Peter Pan and Wendy Syndromes) is usually that the person who suffers from them doesn’t feel as though they are part of the problem, they are not aware of it. Robles points out that the only solution for this disease is the right psychological treatment, not only centered on the person who suffers from the disorder but also on his/her partner and family.” .