Progress didn’t come from “safe space” endeavors. It was forged in high-testosterone environments where failure was expected, competition was brutal, and glory went to the bold. The same drive that makes men overrepresented in prisons and on battlefields also makes them overrepresented in patents, startups, and Nobel Prizes.
Yet instead of celebrating this record of success, universities have spent the last several decades on a grotesque treasure hunt for “forgotten women” in history. Entire curricula have been rewritten to shoehorn obscure figures into the pantheon or to claim that successful men were really women. Meanwhile, the men who actually moved the needle get airbrushed out or reduced to villains. We’re told to pretend that a handful of overlooked female inventors or scientists were the secret engine of progress.
While women in history may not have gotten their due, rewriting history by ignoring the astounding innovation of great men helps no one. The reality is that the history of high-stakes discovery and innovation is overwhelmingly male. Correcting past discrimination by providing opportunities for girls is great, but self-selection means that boys are likely to be tomorrow’s innovators, as they were in the past.
An article worth your time.
