• Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    In the 18th century, men (like George Washington) wore make-up, frilly clothes, fancy wigs and stockings. Why do they hate our founders so much?

    • bane_killgrind
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      1 year ago

      Things like that used to be an expression of wealth and power. Now with commodification and increased productivity, how will they express how powerful, resourceful, and therefore desirable they really are? What’s the differentiation?

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        > how will they express how powerful, resourceful, and therefore desirable they really are?

        Well the first step would be to come to terms with how powerless, unresourceful, and therefore undesirable they really are. From there they can take action to become what they want by improving themselves not by comparison with others, but by comparison to where they themselves were the day before.

        The idea of exceptionalism is toxic if its not recognized as an ideal to aspire to, but likely never fully achieve. However, the journey there, and your realized gains in the effort are the real payoff. You become a better version of yourself by trying to improve, but circling back to the beginning: no improvement can occur if you don’t recognize and acknowledge where we all start: Powerless and unresourceful.

        All of the above applies irrespective of gender. If some men want to hang onto the idea of superiority over women simply because they are men, then they can take their old ideas with them to the dustbin of history.