When I wrote “Are Men Necessary?” two decades ago, the book’s title was meant to be mischievous.

Sure, men and women seemed in a muddle at the dawn of the millennium. As women climbed up, poking their heads into spaces long dominated by men, the shift in power affected romance.

There was an assumption that courtship rituals, where women “trapped,” “landed” and “bagged” a man, waiting to be chased and expecting to have their restaurant tab picked up, would fade as equality grew.

No more games, like the ones recommended by “The Rules,” the 1995 bible that told women to play hard to get. (“Always end phone calls first.” “Let him take the lead.” Don’t stare at men or talk too much.)

When I wrote my book, women were in a tangle of independence and dependence. But I figured we’d get through it and the battle of the sexes would simmer down.

Boy, was I wrong.

I joked in the book that men were evolving slowly, if at all. But now many men do seem rudderless in an era when they are doing worse than women, by many metrics. More women are enrolled in college than men. And a worrying number of men say they have no close friends. Some women still want men to take care of them. And some men are anxious about being a provider if they can’t even afford a starter home.

Social media and media are bristling with women — and sometimes men — expressing resentment, irritation, frustration and exhaustion about the opposite sex.