Both Parties Are Getting Men Wrong (www.politico.com)

submitted 2 days ago by IndustryStandard@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

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There is a real political opportunity right now for a party to craft an agenda that speaks to men — and addresses their real problems.

Contrary to progressive belief, young men are not turning into a generation of misogynists. Support for gender equality continues to rise, including among men under 30. The problem seems more to be that many men simply don’t see much recognition of their issues, or even of their identity, on the political left.

If the Democrats are the “women’s party,” as one party strategist claimed, it might not be surprising that men are looking in another direction. The official party platform lists the groups it is proud to serve; women are listed but men are not. There is a new Gender Policy Council in the White House, but it has not addressed a single issue facing boys or men.

The failure to engage with men’s issues is proving to be a costly mistake, particularly in our politics and culture. The challenges facing many men, especially working-class men and men of color, are not the confections of the online “manosphere.” They are real. But they have not been sufficiently addressed, or sometimes even acknowledged. This has left a vacuum, which has been filled, in many cases, by more reactionary voices from the manosphere.

When problems are neglected, they metastasize into grievances. And grievances can be weaponized in service of reactionary goals. The solution, then, is almost comically simple: Don’t neglect the problems.

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[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 54 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

You know, it'd be real nice, if the first comment on a posted article about how men are being pigeonholed and stereotyped into Raging Right Wing Misogynist Dipshits™️despite the fact that most younger men are in fact far more progressive than older men.... wasn't pigeonholing men into raging misogynists.

Are you wrong? not really. But that doesn't make this the place to share that particular "message." Actually. it kind of makes it the dumbest place to share it.

which, point of fact, is exactly what this article is talking about.

some highlights from the article:

Contrary to progressive belief, young men are not turning into a generation of misogynists. Support for gender equality continues to rise, including among men under 30. The problem seems more to be that many men simply don’t see much recognition of their issues, or even of their identity, on the political left.
...(snip)...
The mistake being made on both sides is to see gender equality as a zero-sum game; that to do more for boys and men means doing less on behalf of girls and women. There is so much more to do for girls and women, and not just on the health care front: investing in the care economy to help working mothers especially; increasing the share of women in critical occupations, not least the worlds of tech and politics; modernizing career ladders to reduce the “parenting penalty”; reducing barriers to accessing capital for women entrepreneurs and much more.

But working on behalf of women doesn’t require politicians to turn their backs on men. In the real world, the interests of men and women are not pitted against each other, however much our culture warriors tell us otherwise. There are plenty of progressive young women out there worried about their brother’s mental health, plenty of working-class women concerned about their husband’s job prospects. It is hard to create a society of flourishing women if men are floundering.

It goes on to talk about specific issues affecting men. it's a very good read. You should read it.

(Edit, tidied the quote for formatting.)

this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2024

27 points (70.1% liked)

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