Well, certainly it is the wise among men who follow gods slain by sorcerers. I think they call that an indicator of high emotional intelligence.
The relationship between the sexes is certainly not its healthiest.
However…. I'm not sure that men are afraid of strong women. Look at male fantasy series - women who are quick of wit, sharp with both blade and tongue… Almost every male fantasy has women who stand as equals or even superiors to the men.
From card games to magical battlefields to mecha - men have always chosen to populate their fantasies with women who stood beside them as their equals or rivals spurring them to greater heights.
I know I certainly want a girl in my life who can draw a circle of equals in a debate or a spar - someone who won't just be a pet or thrall serving me.
The question is… Are we actually teaching women to be strong?
When I see women chasing careers and passing up opportunities to raise families with men who actually want to be proper fathers and husbands … I have to ask if they understand why men chase career opportunities in the first place.
I don't get up and go to work because it is fun. I mean - it isn't miserable - but there are a lot of other things I would rather be doing. I need to have, however, the means to provide for myself, for a home - for a family. Everything I have worked for has been -to- provide for a family that was never guaranteed to me - children whose mother I do not yet know, a wife whose name and interests I can only guess at.
And then there is the other tragic opposite… The "strong woman" who is actually a broken mess, but tries to convince herself she chose and enjoys the life of a trafficked whore or whatever heap of a mess she is in. Culturally, there is the idea that strong women will be promiscuous and rule over men with their vagina - but that is twisted logic.
However, I will also say that guys are the victim of an unfair stereotype. It is expected that we are all horny monkeys who can't stop ourselves from hitting on women or that we will fuck nearly anything that moves. This has manifested in two negative things. First - if a girl isn't being hit on by a guy, she assumes he isn't interested in her. The locus of male/female relationships has been hyper-sexualized in culture so as to create a completely distorted expectation. A number of extremely beautiful (and intimidating) girls end up going for trash simply because the trash are the only ones who are willing to hit on anything that moves - whereas others are trying to appraise their own worth. Consider, also, the scenario where a girl thinks all she has to do is expose a vulnerability and a guy will seize on it. When that does not happen (because he doesn't interpret every scenario to be an opportunity for him to extract sex) - she befins to become self-conscious and concerned about her appeal as a woman. Imagine believing that all girls were obsessed with touching a guy's penis and would take any opportunity to indulge in that curiosity. Then believing you must be a failure as a man because your date didn't flip around and prod at your crotch after sitting in your lap. … But if guys are supposed to be obsessed with touching boobs and he doesn't "press his luck" when given the opportunity to give a massage… Then are your boobs not boobly enough, or something?
The second way this manifests is in the unjustified expectation that a male who is interested in a female will relentlessly pursue her and be willing to extract sex from her at any opportunity. Any time a girl thinks you express undue interest in her - you're suddenly the villain in a feminist version of Fatal Attraction.
I always grew up admiring the tomboys - or at least the more athletic of my peers. Girls who were smart, practical, and able to not just be pushed over physically and/or mentally were noteworthy. But guys are also aware of class. The smart kid who is not generally high in the pecking order - is he going to go up and ask out the platinum blonde soccer captain on the girls' team? Probably not. Maybe once he has a job and is more confident in his standing as a man - but that also assumes she's not been picked over by the jocks or dickhead sons of feudal pricks.