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Cake day: June 23rd, 2023

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  • For me this is the crux of the issue:

    To Galloway, neither the left nor the right — which can seem compelling to rudderless young men — are providing a genuine alternative. “The far right conflate masculinity with cruelty,” he says, referencing Tate and Vladimir Putin. “The far left thinks that men should, quite frankly, act more like women. Neither of those is productive.”

    Men, especially young men, today are stuck in a no man’s land where they know that the toxicity of the past is not what’s socially acceptable, but no one’s giving them a model of what they can be. They are collateral damage of the culture wars.

    Andrew Tate (just writing that name feels dirty) and his clique are exploiting this to cultivate hate and toxicity, but the traditional feminist approach that “Men should get in touch with their feminine side” will leave them isolated socially from their peers and emotionally.

    The middle road will not be feminine and won’t be the traditional masculine role that’s still very present in culture, but will be a place where men can confidently own their vulnerability.

    Edit: spelling






  • The answer is in the article I think.

    These groups thrive in the void that is self help for men.

    The classic feminist discourse doesn’t speak to men as it was designed by and for women to allow emancipation.

    The disconnect with classical feminism is best evocked by the trans community where trans men explain how surprised they were at the reality of being a man in today’s world.

    There isn’t much if anything around to help young men learn how to be a man in the 21st century, so they are inevitably drawn to the simple but toxic solutions people like Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson provide.

    This void used to be filled with the pick-up artist community, so this issue isn’t new.

    The obvious counter would be for feminist groups like ours to also provide non toxic solutions to the issues boys and men face so that they can go into the world.

    There is a way to be manly and tolerant and express your needs and wants healthily. We’re learning it the hard way. We need to make it easier for the next generation. I’m saying this as a father of 3 boys.

    Pet peeve, but even the name feminism is going to be a hard sell when you’re trying to explain to boys how to be men.


  • I see your point and I agree with it, but that is not at all what I read in the quote where the author dismisses the assertion that most men aren’t violent by asserting that they are “programmed from birth” to be violent, and as such the fact that they haven’t been is no reason to not treat them as if they had been.

    As for the expectation of violence in media, I’d say that the expectation is, today, far more gender neutral as we have violent and non violent protagonists of both genders in media. In some respects, the expectation is for men to show more restraint since inter-gender violence is not seen the same way depending on the gender of the aggressor (the fact that men are topically stronger obviously plays a role here).

    That said I agree with you that better role models are needed (we need more loving male protagonists and we need to see them triumph over situations where muscle fails). We also, as you shared in another post, need to do everything we can to get more men into services and care, as those men will be on the front lines to help give boys a more nuanced view on what it means to be a man.






  • Summery for those interested:

    • Francis Bacon called for scientific control over nature to exploit it.
    • Patriarchal masculinities pervade politics and action surrounding climate crisis and capitalist extraction.
    • We need to consider what might be driving us recklessly over the edge in the environmental crisis.
    • Patriarchy is a political-social system that insists on male dominance.
    • The structural and cultural system of gender leads us down the path of environmental destruction.
    • Anyone, not just cisgender men, can be wedded to patriarchal thinking and action.
    • Under our patriarchal system, there is a prevailing vision of what manhood should be, called hegemonic masculinity.
    • Traits like overconfidence, dominance, aloneness, disconnection, anger, and strength are core to what it means to “be a man” under patriarchy.

    The video explores the role of patriarchal masculinities in driving the planet to the brink of extinction. The video traces the concept of patriarchy to Francis Bacon’s call for scientific control of nature and highlights how patriarchal thinking has pervaded climate crisis politics and action. The video argues that a structural and cultural system of gender is leading us down the path of environmental destruction, a system that these men buy into, and a system through which they maintain their power. The video also explains the concept of hegemonic masculinity, which is a prevailing vision of what manhood should be, and how traits like overconfidence, dominance, aloneness, disconnection, anger, and strength are core to what it means to “be a man” under patriarchy. The video concludes by discussing how we might forge a world beyond the obstacles of gender.

    Bullet Summary:

    • Patriarchal masculinities drive the planet to the brink of extinction
    • Francis Bacon’s call for scientific control of nature foreshadowed patriarchal thinking
    • A structural and cultural system of gender leads us down the path of environmental destruction
    • Hegemonic masculinity is a prevailing vision of what manhood should be
    • Traits like overconfidence, dominance, aloneness, disconnection, anger, and strength are core to what it means to “be a man” under patriarchy
    • We need to forge a world beyond the obstacles of gender.