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‘Be a man and vote for a woman’: Kamala Harris’s unlikely edge in America’s masculinity election
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2024
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Men's Liberation
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Almost every time I read an article from a liberally coded publication of how gender affects political affiliation, it comes off as both hopelessly out of touch and extremely patronizing.
I feel like this article fundamentally misunderstands the issues it is trying to claim expertise on. There was no discussion of the very real struggles men face today. There was also extremely limited discussion on how young men vs older men view gender in politics, a genuine answer on why conservative claims of masculinity under attack resonate with Gen Z men in particular, or a discussion of how some liberals behave in a sexist way themselves.
The part about "benevolent sexism" was downright insulting. A huge complaint among younger conservative men is "benevolent sexism" towards women in the democratic party. Even a lot of liberals will admit that there's way too much of the "women are wonderful" effect going around without any real checks on biases.
This is all of course coming from the guardian, which has had some of the most insufferable takes on gender over the past decade. It's frustrating enough when some op ed shames every single man for the actions of a few, like the guardian did with catcalling. It's on another level when they then publish another article by the same author where she complains about not being catcalled after 30 somehow blames men for that too.
I personally think Trump will underperform with men. I specifically think he himself doesn't understand the issues young men have, a small minority of his older base have his tuned out without telling anyone, his surrogates focus on the wrong things, and his turnout machine is gonna end up being trash. However I think that going forward democrats will have to put in real genuine work to win over male voters, and that will require acknowledging some uncomfortable truths that they are unable to do.
As a sidenote, I encourage everyone to read Christine Emba's op-ed in the Washington Post. It provides a lot better a framework on what's happening.
Unfortunately convincing people to understand all this requires a very strongly pushed but very moderate opinion, which is difficult to express in a meaningfully correct way
Yeah. One of the lowkey things I'm hoping in a Trump loss is a more nuanced discussion. I feel like you can't criticize certain things without being called some far right maga incel. It's exhausting.
I feel like it's difficult to have a nuanced discussion because people feel a sense of urgency. If the world's always in crisis, it's hard to step back and slow down.
Yeah but that ends up making everything worse. There's a whole industry of people who feed off of outrage to grift and push radical opinions. The biggest offenses aren't even related to gender. As a society we aren't even able to have a nuanced conversation about benign issues like gas stoves. I don't know how we're ever really supposed to tackle bigger issues such as gender when shit like that causes mass outrage.
Yeah. Here's hoping we can solve a few of the ongoing crises and get back to more nuanced discourse
Couldn't have said any of this better myself.
I just went to look for the catcalling article you mentioned (it's this one) and she is obviously not "complaining" about not getting catcalled. Instead, she's talking about how her ageing affects her sense of self-worth. Her getting catcalled less often is only the impetus of this reflection, not the actual source of her negative feelings.
I'm pretty sure the subtitle of this article was altered since the initial release. The first one was something like "I feel worse now that I'm not being catcalled, and I hate the patriarchy for making me feel that way".
Her articles generally consisted of some valid points on feminism mixed with absolutely outrageous statements and claims. The latter was intentionally designed to offend, because the mid 2010s was the peak ragebait era for news.
As a sidenote I think a huge portion of toxicity in the culture war is just bad faith actors trying to use it to make a profit.
In your opinion what are those uncomfortable truths?
The uncomfortable truths I was referring to was a culture of anti male sexism in parts of the democratic party, as well as a consistent minimization of issues affecting young men.x
I notice that your big comment only mentions liberals and conservatives. If you don't like the way liberals and conservatives approach men's issues, here are some leftist descriptions of issues facing men:
Men are dying in pointless wars. We need to end predatory military recruiting strategies, and pursue a culture of international peace. Downsizing the military is also a top priority.
Men are having trouble affording houses. We need to build more high density housing, which will require ending R1 zoning laws and investing heavily in public transit. We should also pursue serious reforms to reduce or eliminate the profitability of landlording.
Men's mental health is suffering. We need to open up psychologist and psychiatrist registration criteria to get more professionals in the workforce, and we need to mandate more paid time off for workers. Single payer healthcare will also help.
Men are finding it difficult to provide for families. We need to increase sex education and access to birth control. We should also reduce the number of hours in a full workweek and raise the minimum wage, now that housewives are no longer the norm. Basic income for children would greatly alleviate financial issues for fathers.
Infant males are receiving genital mutilation for religious reasons or in an attempt to reduce masturbation. We need to criminalise infant circumcision.
Maybe start by assuming it's what was mentioned in the beginning of the post?
Maybe I'm just tired or being dense but I have no idea what you are referring to in the post.
I was interested in hearing his/her opinion because I enjoyed reading his comment and it sounded like theyd thought about this a decent amount.