According to Lin Fang-mei, the primordial physical competition for survival between men--whether with swords and axes or guns and cannon--is no longer suited to our historical era. The arrival of a knowledge- and service-based economy means that a competition of strength in the workplace has changed into a competition of knowledge, detail, and attentiveness; it also means that the empathy and tenderness locked within men has been "liberated," too.
林芳玫指出，千百年來男人拿著刀劍斧頭、槍砲彈藥進行面對面的肉搏戰，如今已經不符時代所需；知識經濟與服務業時代來臨，職場競爭力從以往的比力氣，轉向比智慧、比細膩與貼心，也意外「解放」了男性深藏千年的感性與溫柔。