this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2024
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Teachers describe a deterioration in behaviour and attitudes that has proved to be fertile terrain for misogynistic influencers

“As soon as I mention feminism, you can feel the shift in the room; they’re shuffling in their seats.” Mike Nicholson holds workshops with teenage boys about the challenges of impending manhood. Standing up for the sisterhood, it seems, is the last thing on their minds.

When Nicholson says he is a feminist himself, “I can see them look at me, like, ‘I used to like you.’”

Once Nicholson, whose programme is called Progressive Masculinity, unpacks the fact that feminism means equal rights and opportunities for women, many of the boys with whom he works are won over.

“A lot of it is bred from misunderstanding and how the word is smeared,” he says.

But he is battling against what he calls a “dominance-based model” of masculinity. “These old-fashioned, regressive ideas are having a renaissance, through your masculinity influencers – your grifters, like Andrew Tate.”

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[–] [email protected] 177 points 9 months ago (30 children)

“A lot of it is bred from misunderstanding and how the word is smeared,”

The same could be said about "communism" and "socialism". The words have been turned dirty, such that people shy away from what is objectively a good thing when done honestly and to the letter of the principle.

[–] [email protected] 105 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Kind of like Critical Race Theory. If properly understood and applied, people would benefit from the knowledge and empathy.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Pretty much exactly the same, except CRT got knocked down before it even had established itself as a positive thing.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 9 months ago (2 children)

It was already established. It's just a theoretical framework in various social studies. It was deliberately bastardized by the right as they were seeking something to hate. It wasn't even in the public consciousness, just something academics used and that get taught in some higher ed classes. It's a very useful framework but it's not something that you'd actually teach a kid.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I bought the actual book because it was on sale and because I thought it would be hilarious to put out on my coffee table for when my conservative dad came to visit my house. I also figured I'd try to read it, because I should be informed about what it is so that I can argue for it, right?

Holy shit, it's a lot of dense legal theory. I knew it was graduate material, but the book is a collection some of the most complex ideas, studies, and legal theory that I've ever read. I'm not going to lie that I won't even make it a third of the way through it.

Anyone who argues that CRT is being taught in elementary schools and is being used to brainwash children hasn't seen how high-level the material actually is and has no idea what they're talking about.

In reality, the material is not that controversial. What I have read of it has been quite unbiased.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Funnily, Capitalism could work too but I don't expect billionaires to be honest or have any principles apart from hoarding for themselves.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

I mean you could also say that Capitalism is a dirty word in some circles. And yet, it addresses many of the aspects of trade, which are needed through all societal systems.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago (4 children)

give it 50 years and the arms race of language will have its own sub arms race

you'll coin a politically charged term, someone will coin an antonym, the original will shift to change the subject, the antonym will change to match the new, someone will point out the process and both sides will deny its happening

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[–] [email protected] 119 points 9 months ago (3 children)

If you don't want to parent your own son, there is someone out there willing to do it for you. They will not do a good job.

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[–] [email protected] 80 points 9 months ago (7 children)

In all honesty, 3rd wave feminism chased away a lot of male allies. Like a whole lot.

But I don't think that's what led to Andrew Tate, that is no failure of feminism.

Andrew Tate is the product of hyper capitalistic individualism being held up in all forms and media and real life as 'the ideal lifestyle', a rich, aggressive asshole that has enough clout that most people can't back them down.

The Tates, Trumps, Elons of the world are having their day because our current generation conflates wealth with competence.

And it's going to ruin our world.

That said, feminism as it stands now is far more welcoming and inclusive to men than it has been in 25 years and I applaud the change.

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 9 months ago (29 children)

I actually agree.... We simply ignore the needs of men who are suffering. When was the last time you read a story about a male domestic abuse victim who WASN'T laughed at.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (4 children)

Or like how Google has a doodle for international women's day but never international men's day. Not to be dismissive or insensitive to women's issues, but I've seen boys and young men talk about how little things like that give them the impression that their thoughts and feelings are not valid.

There are ofc men's issues still like how the overwhelming majority workplaces deaths are men or how more men die from suicide than women. Men are more likely to be homeless than women etc

The sexes are supposed to compliment one another. Not compete against one another. We can acknowledge that there are issues for both sides while still being sensitive and respectful.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

There's more to then even that. Fight Club predicted it. Mass media pushing this expectation onto young boys, but then as teenager and young adults, they have no outlet for machoism. No wood to split, no animals to kill for food, no fascists to kill(yet). Hollywood pushes the Action Hero, and neglects the Science Hero and the Guile Hero.

BTW, isn't it sad that the stand-in for toxic masculinity in fiction is still more positive then real life toxic masculinity symbols. But fiction has to be believable.

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (11 children)

People hyperfocus on the 1% of crazy feminists instead of the other 99% who are actually normal and reasonable. Sadly that 1% are doing more harm to the public image of feminism than good.

We live in an age of twitter screenshot outrage and that pathetically emboldens some peoples beliefs so the root cause really is social media. Nothing more nothing less.

[–] [email protected] 53 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (6 children)

The only time I ever hear about that 1% is from the conservative propaganda machine, or MSM rebuttal. They hold zero power outside of the conservative cinematic universe.

At this point I consider it nothing more than manufactured outrage.

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 9 months ago (10 children)

As a (formerly young) man myself, I can say with experience that boys are gullible. If something just had a veneer of plausibility, then that was good enough for me!

Still, this hit hard, because it’s so true:

He says [about boys]: “It’s not showing that emotional weakness. It’s also the expectation to always be right. Like you are not able to show that you can fail; that there’s more shame in doing something and making a mistake than there is just sort of sitting it out or dropping out.”

He stresses that many of the men he deals with have positive attitudes to women and feminism, but he says some can feel they are being stereotyped, or blamed for others’ actions.

I faced a lot of pressure to be “tough” and “perfect” (I’m not sure where that pressure came from. My parents weren’t the problem). I also misunderstood that feminism only means fairness and equality. “Fortunately”, I was trying to control an anger management issue, and I only recently realized that the experience had the side effect of teaching me that imperfections are normal and nothing to be ashamed of. Being fair was, well, only fair, so although I didn’t notice it, I never had an issue with basic feminism. I didn’t know much about it, but I wasn’t against it, and recognized that guys who were proudly anti-feminist were almost always jerks that I didn’t want to emulate.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I think a lot of it comes from schools, and in particular physical education and competitive sports. There is nothing wrong with competitive sports but the attitudes around it in schools can be so toxic, and in particular it can be used to create hierarchies. The idea of being good at sports and that being masculine was something I certainly experienced a lot at school. Also people who weren't as academic but thrived in sports were lauded.

My school had various sports teams and clubs, and fuck all academic activities. Sports aren't toxic but the attitudes around them can be, and particularly adults who feed in toxic attitudes and values around it.

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (10 children)

I also blame CBC and other supposedly legit sources for giving this fuck air time and even asking him about the Israel/Palestine war as if his opinion matters.

Also so called journalists like this who remove all responsibility from Tate for being a rapist piece of shit

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 9 months ago (20 children)

So Andrew Tate is a human trafficker scum of the earth, and we are trying to combat his message. That's alright, I agree, he's not a disease but a symptom.

Tate is taking an existing problem, which is the fact that young boys feel left out by society at large with feminism being mainstream. Don't get me wrong, go and empower women, but when boys have "a growing sense that somehow they must be mistreated and hated because they are boys and men" and "some can feel they are being stereotyped, or blamed for others’ actions", and things like “My son is reluctant to go to school due to bullying by a group of girls, he feels that there is a big power difference in schools, where boys are always punished, not listened to, and not believed.” happen, then that's a problem separate from the problems that feminism wants to solve.

Telling boys to help solve women's issues in response to them telling you they have problems of their own is what's causing this. And it's either you listening to them, or it's going to be people like Tate or Trump.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Don’t get me wrong, go and empower women, but when boys have “a growing sense that somehow they must be mistreated and hated because they are boys and men” and “some can feel they are being stereotyped, or blamed for others’ actions”, and things like “My son is reluctant to go to school due to bullying by a group of girls, he feels that there is a big power difference in schools, where boys are always punished, not listened to, and not believed.” happen, then that’s a problem separate from the problems that feminism wants to solve.

The Me Too movement opened a lot of eyes to just how widespread sexual violence against women is. And how women see men, justifiably, as threats until proven otherwise.

But as the person who is perceived as a threat and isn’t, that doesn’t feel good. Thinking that my gender makes me a horrible scary monster would definitely fuck a boy up.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago

The Me Too movement opened a lot of eyes to just how widespread sexual violence against women is. And how women see men, justifiably, as threats until proven otherwise.

But there is another truth not mentioned: Males who were victims of sexual violence and rightfully thought the MeToo movement would help bring that to light as well were instead ridiculed and thrown out. Male victims of both male and female sexual violence are still not heard, which should have been part of the movement's focus. The recent reminder post about the man who tried to found a shelter for male victims but ended up broke and his efforts ignored and eventually disbanded should have been a strong ally for the movement, so the push for feminism rings somewhat hollow for those victims, even as they do support the message presented, but will not benefit from the movement's successes.

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 9 months ago (18 children)

YouTube Algorithms, facebook Algorithms, etc. make them all publishers responsible for their content.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago (2 children)

the algorithms just rewards "shocking" content; it generates conversation.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 9 months ago (18 children)

I feel like a lot of people confuse feminism for straight up misandry. #killallmen? #maletears? These were started by so called "feminists" but this is the definition of misandry.

And people wonder why young men don't like feminism when this might have been their only exposure to it.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I think slacktivist corporate feminism is an easy punching bag which makes it an easy case to dismiss the message.

That and with internet allowing every village idiot a voice, it is very easy for someone to say something incredibly batshit insane which becomes a punching bag for the rest of the people.

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I really think that tate is an imbecil, and his fanbase are just being manipulated.

It is sad to see that boys think that this idiot is someone who deserve attention.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago (15 children)

They equate money with competence ignoring the fact that a lot of his money was illegally made.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Is it really that hard not to be a fucking cunt?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 9 months ago

For a teenager, yes. That's why this is important.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 9 months ago (27 children)

If men and boys are finding current models of masculinity to be difficult - which is what Tate et al prey on - perhaps they have more in common with feminists. The patriarchy harms everyone.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 9 months ago (11 children)

I’ve always felt like these things are cyclical in a way - just in that people are constantly rebelling against the last generation.

When I went to high school in the early 2010s there was this huge movement of like… positivity and sunshine and wellness and feminism and good times for all. Bob Ross was on everyone’s mind and Pharrell’s “Happy” blasted on the stereo, people wore really bright and mismatched and often gaudy outfits.

This was seemingly “in response” to that mid 2000s emo/grunge/depressed aesthetic which was very dark and moody. And now, in response to that 2010s positivity we seem to get this really jaded, “actually, feminism sucks and becoming a ‘trad catholic’ is chic” movement.

It’s annoying, and I’m sure we’ll see an opposite shift again in 5 years.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I’ve always felt like these things are cyclical in a way - just in that people are constantly rebelling against the last generation.

That implies that it's somehow a natural cycle, but this is dangerous because it ignores and "Laissez-faire" the fascist propaganda that is blasted deliberately into our global society. It started with fox news and talk radio where funding from fascists helped spread "misinformation" and now continues on social media, where the same funding takes place. The strategy behind this funding is that fascism works when socio-economic circumstances get worse and worse, and allow further exploitation.

Additionally, controversial viewpoints are rewarded by more engagement and clicks - and so become part of the strategy of AI algorithms.

You should absolutely not assume it gets better on it's own, without enough people pushing back against it and without the rules of how the system is allowed to work being changed. Gen Z is just as susceptible to propaganda as Boomers.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 9 months ago (8 children)

A big problem - for ages now - is, that young men just don't have fathers. There's a male around, often, but these are rarely "fathers" that convey a whole picture of a male person. I grew up without one, and I can tell you, how confusing that can be. You attach yourself very easily to ideas other male persons have. Thinking for yourself is another skill that's kinda rare, not only today, it was at any time. It's hard to navigate these years.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 9 months ago (2 children)

If you cannot name, let alone quote, a single piece of feminist literature, are you really against feminism, or are you just railing against your own fucked up projections?

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This shit stain can be both.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Andrew Tate himself is absolutely a problem, that doesn't preclude there from also being other, related, broader, problems. Usually, when you see an argument in the form of "X thing (small, defined, addressable) isn't the problem, Y thing (large, nebulous, intractable) is the problem!" Then what is happening is someone is re-framing the debate from a cognizable issue to an unsolvable issue, to defuse any actual action. It's a great tactic!

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Lack of actually good and well-known male role models leads to scum filling the vacuum. Disproportional push in favor of girls and to the detriment of boys is also to blame. Doesn't look like it's gonna fix itself anytime soon though.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (32 children)

Role models

Boys traditionally are taught from a very young age that uncompromising, and 'unfeeling' toxic males are what we need to look up to. So that's what they gravitate towards. It's a whole other discussion about unburdening and unpacking toxic views in men that is the core issue actually at play.

Disproportional push in favor of girls and to the detriment of boys is also to blame.

Women pushing for equal rights isn't to blame for men not unpacking their own toxic baggage. If no one is standing up for boys look at the men. It's not girls' fault that no one is trying to reachout to troubled boys. The ones who are reaching out are toxic gross assholes like Tate or Rogan who are using these boys as a means to line their bank accounts.

Doesn't look like it's gonna fix itself anytime soon though.

Social inequality is never going to fix itself. There isn't a single issue in the world that is going to just fix itself.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Men benefit significantly from feminism, through the breakdown of male stereotypes, and the expansion of how normative masculinity is defined. Not that benefiting cishet men is necessarily the most important thing in the world, but the idea that feminism puts men on the losing end of some zero sum game is simply wrong.

Honestly it could not be more clear in my own experience. There is a ton of diversity in the human experience, and the masculine experience is part of that. You deny your own freedom when you put yourself and others in a conformity pigeonhole. And you additionally deny yourself access to this diversity of experience when you do it to others. But I also kind of understand why this nuance is initially lost on children, and suspect that experience plus education will help immensely.

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