eg “not all men” weirdos

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Edit: to further clarify the example above since it set off some brainworms, this can be seen when people respond to discussions about patriarchy and the way it shapes toxic masculinity with defensive “not all men” statements.

When we discuss systems, we are aware that not everyone who has privilege within them internalizes it the same way.

Men are not somehow evil. Masculinity is not somehow evil. Feminism is about liberation of everyone from patriarchy. The issue is that you can wind up needing to “protect” or cater to very fragile expectations of individuals and that can sometimes wind up recentering discussion on purely men and their feelings about patriarchy.

That is an important aspect of the discussion, but it cannot be the only one. Given that one of the patriarchal behaviors that many men are taught is to talk over anyone who is not a man, space must be intentionally created for others.

Anyway, this would be better covered in a dedicated effort post on feminism and positive masculinity.

This is however a meme featuring Josie and the pussy cats with a comments section that proves the meme is accurate lol

  • BolsheWitch [she/her, they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Not all men,’ as a phrase usually refers to the act of objecting to a casually unqualified statement about men.

    Although systems of oppression degrade all participants, there’s often a hierarchy. People of all genders are subordinated to capital, but within that system all other genders are subordinated to cis men. So when people criticize ‘men’ as an identity they generally mean cis men in the context of their societal role as mid-level oppressors. Men aren’t forced to participate in the oppression, and many do their best not to with wildly-varying degrees of success.

    ‘All men are predators,’ for instance is reactionary. ‘Men are predators,’ is not reactionary by virtue of referring not to ‘all men,’ but to ‘men’ as a social construct at the peak of its own hierarchy of predation.

    In short, it isn’t ‘all men,’ so much as ‘it’s not necessary to qualify which men.’

    Appreciate the systemic aspect you outlined here, although the example of men as predators is a pretty intense one. I also want to emphasize that I most often hear the “not all men” line in response to conversations about patriarchy and how it conditions men to behave and act.