"Girl Cooties" - Is Toxic Masculinity Keeping Men out of University?

Well, that was depressing. I don't recommend googling the phrase "en-stupidification of the USA" as I did, on this the eve of the inauguration of the FOTUS [Felon of the US]. Thousands of articles come up, from 2009 onwards, discussing this downward trend of intelligence in the United States. 

This Canadian is aware that intelligence does exist in the population of our neighbours to the south, but tonight it seems bleak. 

Just yesterday, PZ Myers on his Pharyngula blog asks the question "Why are fewer men going to college?" It's an interesting question with a seemingly simple answer: girl cooties. 

Turns out, the answer is that once a field gets a tipping point of women involved in it, it is no longer appealing to men. Higher education in the United States has seen an increase in the number of woman attending, so men are deciding to not attend as much. While the studies cited here are only in the USA, a cursory look at the numbers for Canada shows a similar increase in women since the 90s, as noted in this article:

In the early 1990s, a significant shift occurred in Canada as women started earning more degrees than men. Since then, female graduation rates in Canadian colleges and institutes have consistently remained above or around half, marking a lasting and positive trend (Statistics Canada, 2022). The most recent data from 2021/22 reveals women represent 55% of college and institute enrolment and nearly 60% of graduates across various disciplines.

(This Stats Can piece also logs the percentage of non-binary and trans students in Canadian universities based on 2021/22 census data.)

One of the underlying reasons for this trend? In this article by Celeste Davis, the author points out: 

"As we've seen with teachers, nurses and interior design, once an institution is majority female, the public perception of its value plummets."

What field haven't we seen it in? Davis also points out that "similar patterns of male flight have occurred in...cheerleading, social work, architecture, gymnastics, library sciences and psychology." 

I'm not going to address the whole history of how men have built the nest they are now living in -- toxic masculinity and all -- but this is just an absurd result. No one wins if half the human race eschews the values of the other half.