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The Interview

THE INTERVIEW

Gabriel sat in the panelled library of his triplex apartment located on the top floor of The Pierre Hotel in Manhattan. With five bedrooms and seven bathrooms, the Upper East Side penthouse was too large for a man who lived by himself. He turned on his laptop and pulled up the YouTube video that he’d watched countless times. It was a debate organised by Fox News that had aired on mainstream TV three years ago.

“The latest headlines continue to bring us conflicting and confusing information about the gender divide in education. Only this week, two new reports suggest that girls continue to struggle in the so-called STEM fields—science, technology, engineering and math. Female graduates are still significantly underrepresented in these areas, particularly in engineering and computer science. On the other hand, a recent study argues that boys are underperforming in school, lagging behind girls in reading and writing. The study shows that the gap in science and math is closing fast in fields where boys have historically outperformed girls. To help us make sense of this confusing information, we invited two guests who have been active and outspoken on this topic.

“Morgan Lua is the founder of the Hope Foundation, an advocacy group that focuses on the empowerment of girls. Hope has recently secured a staggering two hundred million dollars in funding from five large tech companies in Silicon Valley. They plan to kick off several global initiatives that will promote STEM with young girls and increase the number of female graduates in these areas.

“Walter Zanus is the speaker for the Men’s Rights Defence, an activist group with chapters in fifty-five countries in the world. The MRD argues that the women’s movement has gone too far and is harming men, particularly boys. Morgan and Walter, welcome to our show.

“Walter, why are organisations such as the Hope Foundation harming boys?”

“The feminisation of the educational system promoted by feminist groups is destroying the future of our young men. Our lads are oppressed by curricula and assessment methods that favour girls. They’re forced to sit in classrooms for hours to study or spend time talking about their feelings. We’re undermining the power of masculinity. We must let boys be boys. They learn better through physical activity. If you want a boy to thrive, you need to engage his male instinct for problem solving, his energy, competitiveness and physical daring. These are the traits of the men that have led this country to wealth and security throughout history. We need to honour the male heritage.”

“Morgan, the data shows boys are struggling in school. Why are you focusing on girls?”

“Boys and girls both struggle with the stereotypes that are passed down to them by society and media. We must evolve our education system to unlock each child’s full potential. There is nothing innate, immutable or inevitable about boys or girls doing particularly well or badly in different subjects. Girls in Shanghai outperform Western boys in math, the same boys that outshine the girls in the US. The variable factor is the educational system, the society and the parents. At the H—”

“You haven’t answered my question.” The tone of the news anchor was somewhat passive aggressive. The smile on his face was tight at the corners as he looked at Morgan.

“Please, let me finish; this topic can’t be explained in a neatly packaged media soundbite.”

Gabriel always loved to watch the passion with which Morgan asserted her position. Unapologetic and direct, she continued to speak, preventing the unwelcome interruption.

“Our initiatives focus on helping girls overcome the limiting beliefs that stop them from thriving in STEM fields. We set up these programmes as a response to the gender stereotypes prevalent in our society, in our media and in the unconscious or conscious biases of parents and teachers. We create the antidote that can break the glass ceilings currently imposed on girls and women. Soon we’ll be launching initiatives for boys as well. We want to ensure that they know that they too can be full-time parents, nurses, teachers and child care workers if they wish to do so. I hope that one day we won’t need special initiatives. We need to fix our educational system to abolish all stereotypes and to focus on getting the best out of every young person regardless of gender, race, s****l orientation or aptitude.”

“In a moment, she’ll be speaking about unicorns and dragons.” Zanus adjusted the two or three locks of hair that remained in his bald, shiny head and continued talking. “Look, I don’t have time for total political correctness just to appease the feminists and the lesbians. I think it would be foolish to expect that women will ever approach equal representation in a large number of areas simply because their abilities and interests are different for physiological reasons. Science backs me up on this. The brains of men and women are different just like our bodies are different. We have muscles and natural physical ability; they have the babies, and are soft both physically and emotionally. It’s that simple.”

“Morgan, studies show that differences exist. Why do you fight this God-given nature?”

“Let’s leave religion out of this. Differences exist, but they are considerably smaller than those previously reported by pop science. The human brain is highly plastic and adaptable; the experiences and beliefs of each child will shape their skills and behaviours. Our goal is to ensure that the potential of each child is not limited. We debunk generalisations about gender that, frankly, belong to the Middle Ages.”

“You sound like you’re reading straight from a poorly researched feminist book. Terrible propaganda. Just terrible. All of it,” Zanus barked in-between gritted teeth.

“Books, yes. Scientifically validated books. I love reading good books. You should try it sometime,” Morgan snapped back at Zanus.

“Nature or nurture: where do you stand on this, Walter?” Asked the news anchor.

“First, let me say that I’m pro-women. I’m the father of two beautiful, sweet, sensitive and very pure daughters. They are my life; let me tell you, if they weren’t my daughters I’d be dating them. They are that gorgeous and kind. They make me a better man and remind me every day to protect women so that they can care for the next generation of children.”

“Why did you call your daughters pure? Why is this important?” Morgan moved forward in her chair; it was an almost imperceptible gesture, but one that didn’t escape Gabriel. He could sense she was impetuous and ready for battle. She was probably aware that both the anchor and Walter were there to undermine her message, and yet she accepted the invitation and was now taking control of the interview.

“Their virginity is the most precious gift that they could give to someone.”

“So you reduce their value to society to their looks, sexuality and ability to reproduce?”

“Morgan, we are here to—”

The news anchor lost his varnished Ken-doll composure for just one second. He attempted to interrupt Morgan’s confrontational line of questioning, but Zanus snapped, leaning over the table, forcefully placing his red face right in front of Morgan’s. He spat his words as he spoke.

“Look, you witch; how are things working out for you? You haven’t been able to satisfy a man enough to coerce him to put a ring on your finger. Where are all these effeminate men that are ready to care for your babies while you work to destroy the traditional family structure, blessed by God?”

Morgan didn’t move; Gabriel noticed her pale complexion turn crimson. Her unruffled exterior carefully hid the frantic pace of her heartbeat. She took only one moment to recover. Morgan held her head high; her demeanour was confident and unapologetic, and her eyes never left the eyes of her opponent. She took a deep breath and spoke.

“Depulso.” Her hands danced in front of her body as the spell she’d learned from Hermione Granger was cast on national TV. She giggled, “Well that didn’t go as planned.” The mischievous response made her relax a little. She composed herself, assuming a serious expression and continued speaking, “Although we still have a lot of work to do, and we haven’t mastered sorcery just yet, I’m certain that we’ve reached a tipping point. There’s no turning back now. Change is here and is only going to accelerate.” She glowed as if she could vividly visualise the future she was predicting. “The bullies and their boxes will be banished from the face of the Earth by people that refused to be anything else but unique.”

“We’ll see about that.” His finger pointed towards her underlining his threat.

“OK, we’re out of time. Thank you, Morgan and Walter, for your time today. What do you think, folks? Are you ready for a world where women wear the pants and men deal with the diapers?” He smiled, showing his bright, over-bleached teeth. “Over to Kelly for an update on today’s news headlines.”