so why exclude men who are made fun of for feminine expression?
there are definitely socialized negative biases that specifically women deal with, but being exclusionary doesn’t actually help the cause, it just narrows the audience that is allowed to relate to the cause.
and it applies in gender neutral situations, like drawing literally anything in jr.high/highschool would grant the name ____fucker, no matter the benign nature of the variable being drawn.
it’s a good little rule that doesn’t need to devolve into a cultural battle about which group gets to identify with it more.
i constantly talk about the atheist/mra vs feminist war which just put everyone on the defensive, destroying active efforts in fighting groups like the heritage foundation, who are now doing unimaginable systemic harm to women through destruction of academic spaces and scientific efforts around women’s health largely propped up by religious fundamentalist efforts.
sometimes you have to be like “there’s something specific about this group which we don’t want being lost in the current conversation,” but also sometimes it’s good to be less rigid about which generalized group is allowed to identify with or benefit from progressive ideals.
Asetru@feddit.org 1 day ago
If you think boys aren’t ridiculed (for literally anything) you’ve never been to school.
So, boys, might as well do what you want.
did_you_find_violets@lemmy.world 1 day ago
the experiences of boys and girls in society aren’t comparable.
this post is about girls, going “but what about the boys?” on it is just misogyny.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 5 hours ago
It’s not misogyny. Maybe the experiences of boys and girls aren’t comparable, but somethings transcend gender, and getting ridiculed is one of them.
This post unnecessarily genders something that isn’t gendered, so it makes total sense that someone would point out that it’s not restricted to one gender.
Guys are used to having their experiences invalidated when it comes to this kind of stuff. “Oh, be a man. Don’t be so sensitive. No one cares about your feelings. Man up, be stronger, stop being weak and then people won’t make fun of you,” the list goes on.
And then there’s the aspect where bringing up issues that impact men always gets hit with “BUT WHAT ABOUT WOMEN?!? MEN HAVE IT SO GOOD, WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLE HAVE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT?!?”
So when a post directly implies that “girls get ridiculed, to the exclusion of boys,” it makes sense to clarify that “boys get ridiculed too.”
Also, it’s mostly women and girls who judge other women and girls, so trying to make that about misogyny is kind of a stretch. Men and boys get judged by men, women, boys, girls, and everyone else.
Not to mention when a woman or a girl gets made fun of, like thirty people have her back, but when a guy gets made fun of, no one cares.
Just overall, making this a gendered issue from the start was the wrong call, and the people responding by saying this affects other genders too aren’t the ones unnecessarily gendering the issue.
blackbeans@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
I understand the feedback because there’s no need to distinguish between gender when you are talking about something as generic as personal empowerment. The post is not about girls, it’s about human psychology.
TaterTot@piefed.social 1 day ago
I’d disagree with this. Personal empowerment is universal and applies to everyone, sure. But its nature is personal, and shaped by a multitude of factors including (but not limited to) gender. That’s basically the idea behind intersectionality.
Along the various lines that make up someone’s circumstances, groups can share collective barriers to their empowerment. In this case, women (and men) face specific, gender-based obstacles. So when you generalize a conversation about one group’s particular issues, at best you derail something that would’ve been helpful. At worst, you end up with an “All Lives Matter” bumper sticker.
velma@sh.itjust.works 16 hours ago
You’re fucking right. Experiences of men and women in society are absolutely not comparable when we’re talking about societal expectations.
You’re also right that women don’t have to center every conversation around men.
I can’t believe someone told you directly this isn’t a female safe space hahaha
velma@sh.itjust.works 16 hours ago
Boys already do what they want hahaha
The phrase “boys will be boys” is a thing that exists ffs
Soulg@ani.social 1 hour ago
This reads like the kind of tumblr 13 year old that thinks boys don’t have self esteem issues or something