The Political Divide Between Men and Women Is Getting Wild. One Party Is Primed to Take Advantage.
The Political Divide Between Men and Women Is Getting Wild. One Party Is Primed to Take Advantage.
It's like two separate worlds.
It has long been the case that American women are generally more liberal than American men. But among young Americans, this gender gap has widened into an enormous rift: According to recent Gallup polling, there is a 30-point differencebetween the number of women age 18–30 who self-identify as liberal and the number of men in that demographic who do the same.
That’s largely because young women have gotten much more liberal, while young men have stayed ideologically more consistent—or, according to other analyses, become more conservative and anti-feminist. (Of course, not every person identifies as a man or woman. But gender roles still play a big part in shaping our lives and politics, and in the context of this column, I am focusing mostly on the vast majority of Americans who identify as one or the other.) It’s not happening just here either; the political divide between the sexes is a trend that researchers are observing in some other countries too.
As a relatively young woman, I like being treated as an equal in a partnership, rather than as a utility in a relationship. I'd rather be alone than a grown adult's nanny. This is a wild idea to many young men who have trouble respecting women, but insist they are the most respectful to women because they hold the door open sometimes.
The bar sure is in hell and some people get really mad when you acknowledge it
Well when who you are is being directly attacked, of course it’s going to radicalize you (I’m not using that word in a negative manner either). But look at at what is happening around reproductive rights from abortion, to birth control, to maternity leave, etc. These affect a core of a person and you have a large group of people saying “we want to control this for you”.
My exact first thought. After decades of (uneven) improvement, women’s rights are globally taking a massive hit. No wonder women are becoming more left leaning.
Remember, remember the coming of ROEvember
Isn’t this the one that was shown to have biased data due to opt-in polling? Randomized polling shows less of a divide and more liberal views amongst young people. I can’t find it right now though
Modern feminism is evil af. If they wanna accomplish things without causing men to hate them, they need to rethink their strategy. Else, the internet will keep saying that women want the benefits of men but with the accountability of a child. /S
Can't they go back to the first waves of feminism? That seemed less cringe
The problem with sarcastic right-wing rhetoric is that lots of people miss the sarcasm.
Even if the /s is there.
I am not even sure if the American right is the same right as in my third world country lol.
Terfs have poisoned the feminist name and cause. My tin foil hat says that it was an intentional act by fascist elites to infiltrate the movement to destroy it.
Is this the same Gallup poll from a few months ago that showed that compared to a few years ago all women are getting more right wing except for older women, and the opposite for men yet was framed as such that men were trending right when it clearly didn’t actually show that?
I can’t tell because this article is paywalled, but I suspect it is.
In the future, copy the URL for the article that you cannot read and paste it into https://12ft.io/ and presto, no more paywall. Try it now. It's actually easier than whining about paywalls. Then you too will be able to meaningfully participate in the debate.
Wow thanks mate!
I ended up using archive.is and they don’t even link to Gallup poll in the article!
So instead I googled to find the poll I had already seen last month and guess what’s it was exactly as I already knew it was.
Wow, the information I already knew pointing out the only group of women becoming more Liberal are older women was as I said it was.
Gee golly look at that, the data is very different from the premise of the article like I had said in my original post.
I’m so glad I had your snarky arse fucking response to help me realise what I already knew.
The same Gallup poll you have no links for?
I think it's pretty straightforward why this happens - liberal politics as a hive mind talks to women, but it does not talk to men. Even this piece, look at the following quote.
Actor Johnny Depp sued his ex-wife Amber Heard after she wrote a #MeToo op-ed in the Washington Post; even though the piece didn’t name him, Depp argued that it was defamatory, and legions of his fans (including plenty of women) engaged in a monthslong campaign of vicious harassment, threats, and vilification of Heard and anyone who might stand up for her.
The one case where it was at mutual abuse by both parties, they talk about Depp abusing Heard, but not Heard abusing Depp. That's why there is a divide. The problem is framed as "violence against women", instead of "domestic violence against people".
To be clear, modern society presents all people with new problems. But while generic problems like stagnating wages are being talked about as a generic issue, and women's issues get space as at least a successful special interest issue, issues disproportionately affecting men don't. This results in shitheads like Tate fleecing them and fucking up society at large as well.
I'm struggling to understand how you can take one section from examples they're giving of misogyny and extrapolate that it's a message emanating from "liberal politics as a hive mind." This is not an article describing Depp and Heard's relationship, this is an article describing the asymmetrical response of the public toward Depp vs toward Heard before any trial happened.
But the trial has happened, and it turned out it was both of them that were shitty, and the article still doesn't bring that up. It brings a very contentious case up as a way to drive engagement into a stupid gender war issue, and takes the side of one of the abusers instead of denouncing all abuse as bad. That's my issue.
And absolutely no recognition of the problem with the statement that most college students are women.
There are parity issues on both sides of the gender divide. Both can be recognized. It's not a zero-sum game.
It’s not a zero-sum game.
This is the big point that is missed by common discourse. The problem is that men have gender-specific issues too, and those are not even being acknowledged as even being valid. Domestic abuse against men doesn't exist. The fact that homelessness or suicides affect men disproportionately, or that the alienation of people from each other affect men in different ways than women, is a taboo topic, because people feel it takes away from the focus on women's rights, or worse, that men "deserve" this as some kind of "reparations" in kind for suffering.
I disagree. The divide is not because we talk about "violence against women." Violence against women is a sadly vastly bigger problem rooted in eons of misogyny. That does NOT take a damn thing away from men and nbs who are abused.
Maybe the left can do more to capture the minds of young men, but how? Conservatism plays at people's base instincts, fear and ingrained culture. It's easier to avoid the cognitive dissonance of recognizing that hey, toxic masculinity does kinda suck. Or perhaps that the social construct of women in the home rearing kids is demeaning and repressive and has nothing to do with nature.
I think men have a lot of reflecting to do, and it's very hard to do that when it's uncomfortable and challenges you to think differently. Conservatism simply maintains the status quo which places men higher, and that's a lot more convenient than introspection.
All this isnt to say that men aren't being left behind when it comes to body positivity, mental health, etc. These are things that are vitally important for men too.
Also, I would avoid the Heard topic which is a beacon of misinformation and misogyny. I exclusively read negativity about Heard from news outlets and Reddit. It was like Depp was everyone's best friend as they suddenly rushed to his defense against "feminism". Blegh.
Violence against women is a sadly vastly bigger problem rooted in eons of misogyny.
According to the CDC, more than one in three women (35.6 percent) and more than one in four men (28.5 percent) in the U.S. have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
So the proportion isn't vastly bigger, only about 7%. Also men are much more likely to be the victims of violence generally.
That does NOT take a damn thing away from men and nbs who are abused.
That's the point, it doesn't. But popular discourse pretends that it does in the inverse, that talking about abused men somehow weakens women's rights.
Maybe the left can do more to capture the minds of young men, but how?
As the culture war goes, the right tells men they get to become either a head of a happy family with a loving wife and kids who give meaning to your blood sweat and tears in your hard work, or they tell you that you get to become a hedonistic macho guy using and abusing all that male privilege.
What does the left tell you? For women, they have the "successful single girlboss" trope to aspire to, or even the "hardworking single mom" thing. As a man who is supposed to catch on to the liberal side of the culture war, what is my role in society?
Even the term "toxic masculinity" sucks as a lot of people misunderstand it as "societal woes caused by men", using it as a cudgel telling men that they are the cause for whatever way society sucks.
All this isnt to say that men aren’t being left behind when it comes to body positivity, mental health, etc. These are things that are vitally important for men too.
Look, that's exactly the problem. It is only okay to help men as a byproduct of something that helps women. Just look at domestic violence again. Let's say that the rates at which men experience domestic violence as a victim is not underreported for various reasons. There are still men out there being victimized. Are there any shelters out there for men?
Also, I would avoid the Heard topic which is a beacon of misinformation and misogyny.
I didn't bring it up, the article did. What I came away with was that both sides sucked they both are abusers, but a lot of media either only covers one side or the other, depending on what they want to say. My point is that they brought up the case, and they took a side, and they took the side of an abuser. If they took the opposite side, that would still be taking the side of an abuser.
Which is why some men are becoming "anti-feminist". It's not that they're anti-women, it's that they are anti-"A movement that tells them they are the source of all problems and offers them no support". Why support a cause that openly tells you you're the bad guy just for what private parts you have while simultaneously shouting that private parts are irrelevant and shouldnt be part of the conversation.
But nah, guys are just hateful and terrible. Keep up the divide 👍
Which is why some men are becoming "anti-feminist". It's not that they're anti-women, it's that they are anti-"A movement that tells them they are the source of all problems and offers them no support".
I think the problem is more inherent in how America interprets liberalism. We don't include things like class consciousness into liberal ideology, here it's all about addressing specific systemic inequalities between certain demographics.
When you define liberalism as only fixing these inequalities then of course a large population of men aren't going to involve themselves, they don't reap any benefit, they're not experiencing any systemic abuse.
However, if we accommodate socioeconomic realities of class into the equation, things start making a bit more sense. By protecting the most disadvantaged demographic in your class, you also strengthen your own interests.
I think it's important to keep in mind exactly who people are talking about when they make general criticism about men. If you aren't participating in misogyny, then they really aren't talking about you. They just aren't vocalizing the division in class that separates us all from the reigns of power.
Yep because the feminist movement in the US has been corrupted to only serve women. The messaging is all women centric and the men that are feminists have a tendency to be submissive to women.
This is something I have witnessed over time. I know the origins of feminism. It started in the UK by a man and a woman because domestic violence was getting bad. Over time it has been co-opted by psychos who turned it into the bullshit it is today.
I have done a lot of work for women in my lifetime but never saw it reciprocated and that a societal thing.
They (the movement) promotes nonsense about how we (men) have all of the privileges but that’s myopic and untrue.
I sure hope it changes because that shit is fucked up.