The responses to Eugene Volokh’s question are a bit disappointing. Most of them just restate the problem in a faux-Darwinian language of “signalling” that doesn’t explain anything. Eugene’s favorite answer—it signals lack of success for men but not women—doesn’t tell you why the signal should have that meaning, just that it does. Nobody seems aware that there’s rather a lot of research and thinking on the social organization of gender that might be of use here. At least Josh Chaftez, in a related post, noticed that ambiguity in sexual identity was more tolerated in women than men, and that the situation was different in antiquity. Hey, maybe that means …

Tell you what. Let me ask the same question a few different ways. (1) Why are the men in this article prepared to let their wives take menial jobs but themselves just tend to sit around the house feeling sorry for themselves? (2) Are you surprised to find the first same-sex kiss on daytime TV is between two women? (3) Why are women thought to have “Work-Family Conflicts,” but not men? Perhaps not as exciting as Eugene’s approach, but the same issue in its essentials.