I don't believe our society values women more than men at all. Not really. "Man will protect woman" tries to make it seem that way, but that attitude or perspective is consistent with the Madonna/whore way a society views women. Protecting the idea of a woman, or the theoretical woman (perfect, helpless, defenseless, moral, beautiful, fragile, gag), is fine, but what about the "whore," the not-Madonna, who is the woman getting beat on and raped and assaulted and sold into sex slavery all over the country?

If society loved women more than it did men, assault/rape/sex trafficking would get harsher sentences, and fewer men would do it.

My question about whether men's lives mean less was mostly rhetorical. While the headlines do make them seem valueless (as do many other ways we treat men), I think many men, themselves, see their deaths and their protective roles as heroic responsibilities or duties. And being a woman's protector also means women need protecting, which means women must be more feeble, in one way or the other, and which leads to men reasoning that they need to "protect" us in other ways, such as by "leading" us (unless they're talking to their friends, when suddenly women are responsible for keeping men out of trouble and being the morality police).

As convoluted as that all was, I believe the end game is to secure (or keep secure) the role of men (and you know what kind of men want this) as Heads of Household and Deciders of Things, because women(andchildren) aren't equipped.