Let me start with acknowledging that sexism has negative consequences for both sexes. However women overall have the shorter end of the stick so I will be focusing on women. I am writing this as a male.
I could write the long list of each way society is sexist however I want to hone in on hypocrisies. Beginning with sexual acts. It is sad to see that to this day women are expected to “stay pure” as in not have any sex until after marriage meanwhile males are less to be held by this standard and in fact many are celebrated as being able to “have a large body count.”
Not all think like this but women in many places do have to face this hypocritical mindset and suffer the consequences.
Another hypocritical aspect of sexual relationships are cheaters. More and more places are becoming more consistent with the hatred of cheaters of both sexes but in some nations like Japan a married man is not considered a cheater if he “has fun” with prostitutes meanwhile a women would be considered “slurs.” Women are expected to please their husbands and being cheated on is simply a consequence.
Another form of hypocrisy takes place in the workforce. Many men’s rights advocates will complain that they take up the most dangerous jobs. This is a true fact but the reality is that most would be horrified or embarrassed at the idea of a woman taking up these types of jobs. So which is it? Men must pick up the slack because of the exclusion of women or be more accepting of the idea of more women taking up these jobs? Well many want neither and simply don’t like hearing about rights and prefer if women would stay silent.
I would love to discuss more about more forms of hypocrisy. This is Bishop The Saint. Peace out.
Thanks for your willingness to be so open about this. You make good points about how gendered double standards remain embedded in our everyday, oh-so-modern life. For so much talk in our society about “equality”, there always seems to be some novel loophole that lets one gender (historically men) off the hook and keeps women locked in.
Looking more broadly, I believe this dynamic spills over into politics. At least here in the USA. The “manosphere” stuff we see online is not just a fringe thing, it’s becoming a genuine recruiting ground for the American political right. If Democrats, and I speak unironically here, wish to recoup their losses with younger, especially working-class men, they probably need to bear more “tough real men” figures. These are guys who project strength without all the toxic baggage.
Otherwise, I fear the right is just going to keep branding the left as soft, too “feminized”, or worse yet “anti-men” or what have you. This may come off as shallow, but I do believe it is no small part of what is moving votes, especially in the younger, more sensitive generations.
Just a thought. Would love to hear what you or others think about the political side of all this.
For the USA democrats are really going to find a way to find a balance. A major problem is that the whole catering to younger men objective will be very difficult.
There are many who are influenced by a very toxic and dangerous people like Andrew Tate and fall victim to the toxic sexist views that we hoped would disappear and be a thing of the past.
There are many factors behind the return of many of the awful views in which the dangerous influencers take advantage of but one of the main factors is the fact that many young men are having trouble finding a partner. Influencers put the blame on women when in reality there is no one reason why.
Obviously democrats can not walk back on equality rhetoric and I wouldn’t want that but how will democrats swing back the vote of younger men? That is something they’ll have to figure out and work hard on as simple “tough men” rhetoric is not as attractive as it was in the past.
My reply is American centric but I think this trend to an extent is accurate in other nations. Some more than others.
Obviously not all single men who want a partner fall into the sexist thinking but the increasing number is worrying enough.
This is Bishop The Saint. Peace out.
It’s also worth mentioning that it seems like some Americans, particularly those who lean left, like to say the story of The Handmaid’s Tale — a story wherein women are subjugated to a male-led theocracy — is imminent for the US with the policy decisions made in favor of the religious right in recent years. While I think this is hyperbolic at best, the fears behind it do not seem entirely baseless in my opinion.
Part of it is the erosion of secularist norms, which we’ve not seen before. The notion of the Ten Commandments or the Bible being taught in schools would’ve been thrown out before, but is now being revitalized in some conservative states. A lack of secularism goes hand in hand with a reversion to sexist, male-centric social norms, placing women at a distinct disadvantage.
The concerned opposition to this erosion of secularist norms and return of archaic, sexist ones, needs a proper pushback that is not so academic sounding if they’re going to win over the people they’ve lost. The figure you mentioned, Andrew Tate, didn’t win over so many men with academic works, he won by appealing to their emotions they felt had been neglected for so long.
I am not expecting the opposition (Democrats and also concerned others) to walk back America’s strides in social equality, not at all. That is not how you do it. You do it, I believe, by reframing the issues in a manner more digestible for everyday people — including outsiders, not just those already within your circles. As for how to do this, well, that’s not exactly for me to figure out.