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The Forum > Article Comments > Men after retirement > Comments

Men after retirement : Comments

By Peter West, published 19/7/2007

What do we need so that men can have a happier and more productive retirement?

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The idea that anyone gets 'bored' is so foreign to me. How can anyone run out of things to read, see, hear, play, build, destroy, explore etc etc? You could never work a day in your life and still not have enough time to do all the interesting things out there. Anyone who gets 'bored' or can't think of something to do should really address the underlying problem and broaden their horizons. God, I could spend a lifetime on the internet alone :P
Posted by StabInTheDark, Thursday, 19 July 2007 5:09:36 PM
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I cannot begin to imagine why men are not incensed by this load of political spin.

It is OK for Westie and the young Christopher Pyne who doubtless will retire in their own time and with good pensions and investments, but there are thousands of men out there who are victims of the restructuring that has been going on for years. Most of these men have families and were caught in mid-stream without the lifejackets that others more fortunate might have and have found to their cost that they are scrap-heaped - unemployable through age.

The authors opine that men are nothing without work. If only men would contribute more to superannuation to have a better lifestyle etc etc. Maybe they could have a chat with some of Chris Pyne's senior colleagues, say Joe Hockey and Peter Costello about how, in the midst of claimed abundance, many men at either end of the age range - youth and 'seniors' - are outcasts who find it impossible to get full-time jobs. So contributing more super so as not to be a bother to themselves (and the public purse of course) is hardly an option.

Try spinning the same guff about women and see how far it goes before being solidly challenged. Y'know, something along the lines that women are insensitive automatons who depend on men, work and sex for meaning in their lives. Add that women need to be kept working because if they stop to think they are 'gonners'.

It must be great being a man with blokes like Westie on your side!
Posted by Cornflower, Thursday, 19 July 2007 9:24:07 PM
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I too found the Prof's narrow definition of men's interests - work, sport and sex - a little hard to subscribe to, but, then I think about the way the media portrays things and, well perhaps the bulk of material 'spun' in our direction means that we really haven't progressed far from the bread & circuses of Roman antiquity!

That said, the general issue raised is important, as is the feedback noting that older men in more stable (and not necessarily, happier) relationships (both with partner and economic security)are in a far better position than younger, divorced or 'unpartnerable' men on the lower rungs of the aspirational ladder. (Often finding that a lot of the rungs in the middle have gone missing or are never likely to be there for them!)

Anyway, who needs sport and work...
Posted by Reality Check, Monday, 23 July 2007 2:19:01 PM
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Oh Cornflower, you know men are so stoopid. Pay more attention to the commercials. If we didn't have the govermint look'n out fer us fellas we'd spend all day in the house pick'n at the lint in our navels.
Posted by aqvarivs, Monday, 23 July 2007 4:04:10 PM
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