"Performative misogyny is still misogyny."
Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2023 2:04 am
Some excerpts:
How Shock-Value Misogyny Is Being Pushed as “Male Empowerment”
Misogyny gone viral, once again
For a while, openly misogynistic beliefs were confined mainly to the most obscure corners of the internet — incel forums and other manosphere-friendly places like Reddit.
But now, they’re virtually everywhere and rapidly accruing popularity.
...While I agree that most — if not all — of them seem to be doing it for attention and to sell their ‘coaching’ services, books and other merch, that doesn’t discredit the fact that what they say, joke or not, can have a serious, real-life impact. In particular, on the younger generations of men.
Performative misogyny is still misogyny.
And this particular brand of it clearly teaches men to be emotionally and physically abusive, controlling, self-serving, and distrust their female partners. It normalises cheating and treating women in an inferior, condescending way. And it also perpetuates a plethora of rape and purity culture myths that, in turn, contribute to already disturbingly high rates of sexual violence against women and girls.
No, feminism isn’t to blame — but it can help
I’m sure some people will defend all these male empowerment coaches and probably even blame women and feminism for their existence. Just like it was in the case of Andrew Tate.
Because it’s apparently all our fault that men feel so lonely, miserable and worthless these days that they would listen to anyone as long as they promise to sell them some ‘magic beans’ that will cure all that. Sigh.
There are many reasons why so many men today are single and feel discarded or totally forgotten.
A big part of it, though, has to do with shifting gender relations and changing domestic patterns, which according to sociologist Michael Kimmel leads men to develop ‘aggrieved entitlement’ — a state of anger and fear that they are losing their social status and privilege. Yup, they’re essentially upset that we’re living in a more equal world today.
But this aggrieved entitlement then can make men feel like there’s a ‘war on men’ and ‘war on masculinity’ and that women are conspiring against them and will likely one day kill them all.
And if you genuinely believe in it, or someone just told you all that and promised to help you reclaim your ‘lost’ masculinity and reassert masculine authority over others to prevent that from happening, why not go for it, right?
It doesn’t seem to matter that feminists have been repeating time and time that achieving gender equality is good for everyone. And that no one is trying to eradicate masculinity, but point out how some forms of it can be harmful.
(After all, the same men who scare other men into buying their ‘coaching’ are the ones who say you should never, ever, listen to women, so…)
So what can be done about it all? How do we stop this wave of online shock-value misogyny that too often translates into real-life behaviour?
A recent report published by the Global Boyhood Initiative suggests that the way to steer young men clear of this trap is to help them see the benefits of feminism and abandoning certain norms related to ‘traditional’ masculinity. It also found that destigmatising close friendships between boys — often discouraged by homophobic ideals of masculinity — can be equally helpful as it provides opportunities for boys to learn reciprocity, empathy and intimacy.
This issue of widespread misogyny should also be taken more seriously by social media platforms, which, although they claim they don’t support it, they rarely do much about it.
Most of the videos and posts that openly call for the subjugation of women are never taken down. The same goes for accounts that post them.
....And as long as that’s the case, and young boys and men aren’t taught how not to fall prey to all that content, viral misogyny will, unfortunately, continue to poison their minds.
https://medium.com/the-no%C3%B6sphere/h ... 0647b1fb11