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.”

  • yeah@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    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.

    • ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
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      8 months ago

      Instead of emancipating from dehumanising and rigid gender norms for men, it seems like these Tate fans and red pillers and sigma, alpha men are trying to turn back the clock.

      You want to tell them: “Stop, you are running into the wrong direction!”

      • mods_are_assholes@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        It’s the same misunderstanding about ‘alpha wolves’, they believe that a powerful self-actualized person is one who acts like wolves driven to mental illness by captivity.

        So much of our media glorifies the ‘hypercompetent power broker’ image, the ‘great man’ concept of Napoleon’s image that in many circles if you do NOT idolize that radioactive image as a goal for self-transformation, you are considered irrelevant and weak.

        It’s all regressive, it’s all a response to stress and shrinking opportunity.

        Humankind only got to where we are now by cooperation, almost zero humans today are truly self-sufficient, yet these chucklefucks think the only worthy person is one who takes advantage of everyone around them to their own self-benefit.

        It is literally the polar opposite of what has lifted man out of naked apes in the savanna.

        ‘return to monke’ is a really terrifying meme if you understood the emotion it harnessed and the direction it flings it.

        • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
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          8 months ago

          I agree with most of what you’re saying but would mention return to monke also refers to the system of capitalism most live under being a crushing weight that we wish we didn’t have to deal with anymore, it is somewhat alluring to return to a time where you just have to survive, rather then waves hands around whatever it is we do now.

          I don’t particularly agree with the sentiment, as I understand how much better off we are, even if capitalism is a soul crushing machine.

          • mods_are_assholes@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            you may not accept it but ‘return to monke’ was stared by the Boogaloo Boys and if you know who they are you know why this is a problem.

            • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
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              8 months ago

              Do you have any source for that? It sounds just like people who think pepe is a hate symbol…

              When in reality, it was just co-opted by the racists and the MSM decided it was then only a hate symbol.

              • mods_are_assholes@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                That depends how comfortable you are with searching the darkweb. Some of their forums are still up.

                shitler co-opted a certain now worldwide hated symbol too, the hard right loves taking innocent things and staining them with blood.

                • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
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                  8 months ago

                  OK, so some “dark web” source that you insist is definitely proof that they created return to monke, as opposed to the alternative on know your meme cataloging the first example?

    • JohnDoe@lemmy.myserv.one
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      8 months ago

      contemporary feminism (and the wave immediately before) have done a lot more for me than how men have told me I ‘ought’ to act. fine, I’m not as manly or a man as far as some are concerned. what is really annoying is the apathy and close-mindedness of most of these men who interacted with me negatively.

      asking a few questions is enough to make them emotional (which is fine when they do it and not ok when others do it in a way unlike their own) and more intensely emotional than nearly all women i’ve interacted with. that too is fine, it becomes a pain when i’m taken to be some kind of enemy or other by standards it seems like they cannot apply to themselves.

      i want to say they are gaslighting, only, i really don’t think it’s intentional. there’s a genuine misunderstanding and that’s annoying as heck.

    • maness300@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I think the difficulty stems from the growing disparity in wealth. As it continues to grow, fewer women are available for most men. They just gravitate towards the top.

      It’s why we have people like Andrew Tate having sex with literally thousands of women while regular men kill themselves.

    • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      In that respect (“this is a problem”) yes, we have commonality with feminists.

      But then, feminists will say “you men need to sort your own shit out”, which is not at all helpful. We need help. And if you’re refusing to help us, while also ridiculing us for needing help, well is it any wonder men don’t identify as feminists?

    • mods_are_assholes@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      There’s sill a ton of ‘rugged individualism’ propaganda to dismantle before they are comfortable enough with their masculinity to admit that everyone is at least a little bit gay. I mean I personally know of at least two redneck ‘good ol boys’ that ended their own life than face the fact that sometimes boys can be cute too.

      And that’s not even mentioning the fact that some states still accept the ‘gay panic’ defense.

      Hypermasculinity has never been a natural aspect of human nature but to the patriarchy it is the ideal man. To become that you must mutilate yourself in a way that erodes empathy and trust in others.

      And many, many men have actively taken that psychic self-mutilation. So many to the point that they are proud of their bleeding wounds.

    • gun
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      8 months ago

      The patriarchy harms everyone.

      A patriarchy has been around for as long as civilization has, and its most harmful effects have clearly diminished over the past 100 years. This does not explain the issues that young people deal with that their parents and grandparents didn’t.