Please note: This post contains my own emotions and thoughts. I did not write this post to be inflammatory or cause drama. Also contains SA
I 100% believe the left can only succeed if we accept all people, regardless of identity. This includes men. I also believe that the only way we can keep young men from going alt-right is empathy for their plights.
That said, I've been dealing with a lot of irrational anger towards men as a group even though I don't want to be. Every time I read/listen to opinions by men on women's issues it drives me up the wall. It makes me so mad. These people have mothers, daughters, wives, friends who have most likely experienced assault or rape and they can't even be assed to believe women when they talk about their experiences.
It makes me angry that men have to be center of everything. I'd be so embarrassed if I interjected "what about meeeeeee" every time someone talked about their own issues. It makes me wonder how self-centered you must experience the world to do this.
I read a comment the other day by a woman on reddit. She wrote something a long the lines of "It took me 50 years of life experience and raising a daughter to realize that most men do not like women". I think I agree. I especially find porn extremely telling of this. As someone in their 20s I do notice how boomer men treat me like a stupid child, but have no issues sexualizing me.
Thoughts?
I don’t know if there is a solution. There are so many aspects to this problem, and most solutions will bring about more violence against women in the process.
There’s so much to this, and it hits differently in different demographics. Different reasons for resentment. Some who need to be approached with humor as a dialectical tool, others who need to be bashed in culturally (which there isn’t much hope of turning barstool sports into a feminist media apparatus, so there goes that), some who can be re-educated, and others who are beyond redemption.
All in all, I can’t offer much hope because women’s liberation must come as a result of men losing power and influence. I have seen glimpses of this in the black community here, and so much of this Latin America. It would be interesting to study situations like Appalachia where women have been forced to be the bread winners, decision makers, and bear all of the familial load because men have checked out or died from drug overdose. They have no political power and little financial power, but it seems they are less disrespected from a misogyny point of view. This doesn’t solve SA matters of course.
Idk. Rambling now
I like this post a lot. It reminds me that men on the left need to use their privilege to talk about this stuff with men. It can be really, really awkward to be in a male only environment and call out sexism but I have never regretted it. Only regretted not calling out more. And really regretting the shitty things I've said in the past, teenage boys are gross monsters.
Women and non-binary and trans folks could probably do communism if there were no CIS men, but here we are instead.