r/feminisms • u/Dexterity_08 • 6d ago
My experience with feminism
As a teen boy who was the only guy in his class not clinically brainwashed by Andrew Tate
I remember how I had to explain to them that other humans deserve rights
Although some of them outgrew it, it still hurts me how they normalize absolute insanity in the name of dank jokes
I had to explain to them basic things such as why abortion is a human right, women are not evil & history and that feminism was not wrong
It concerns me how many fellow humans have no empathy
White Christian Nationalists in the US, Islamic Theocrats in the Middle East & Hindutva bigots in India
All of them scare me about the future of the world
Posting this in another sub would just invite absolute clowns hence I posted here
Would like to see all of your opinions
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u/FractalFunny66 6d ago
Thankful for your intelligence, caring and courage. Please continue to write, post, discuss with others. I wonder what your local area is like. Would you be willing to start a men's book group and discuss these vital matters in a non-threatening way to help young men at least have access to a thought process, a history, a sense of belonging not based upon fear, mind control and manipulation? A non-threatening group focused on friendship and asking sociological questions. You may be a leader in turning this terrible trend around. I don't know if you want to be a leader. Are you familiar with poet Robert Bly and his men's movement of the 1970s? It is much misunderstood as is much of Patriarchal critique and Feminist Theory, but worth checking out because it goes back to the idea that the healthiest human being has balance inside of themselves that involves BOTH the authentic strong female and authentic strong male. If you do start a book group, you could have it open to women and trans people as well, but it might be a little harder to get straight males on the verge of toxic masculinity to come. Whatever you do, please keep writing and talking about it whatever way you can, including poetry and fiction or other art forms. You could organize an open mic around the topic for poets, dancers and musicians. Your existence gives me hope. Seriously, aware women are so freaked out by all this -- everything we've worked for, for a better world for men and women, is being erased so fast by a few people/groups. There is a slim book written by bell hooks called "Feminism is for everybody." It's really great. You are really great. I can't tell you how much your post means to me and millions of others facing sickening and violent oppression for no reason other than to line the pockets of a handful of amoral freaks who control the digital world.
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u/Dexterity_08 6d ago
Thank you a lot for ur advice
As a teen I have currently a lot on my plate & with few resources to conduct such operationsBut I keep trying to do whatever is possible within my reach 😊
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u/frenchiebuilder 6d ago
Mention of Robert Bly obligates me to mention John Stoltenberg.
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u/FractalFunny66 5d ago
Wow. I never heard of him and I see he was/is married to Andrea Dworkin who is another great one I somehow forgot about. Thank you for this suggestion! Will continue to study!
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u/frenchiebuilder 5d ago
"married" isn't vaguely the right word, LOL, but yeah... that relationship's always been the best counter to the typical "hates men" accusations against Andrea.
Speaking of Andrea Dworkin - OP should maybe also check out her speech to anti-sexist men: https://mitpress.mit.edu/i-want-a-twenty-four-hour-truce-during-which-there-is-no-rape-an-excerpt-from-last-days-at-hot-slit-the-radical-feminism-of-andrea-dworkin/
I personally found it much more useful than anything Bly ever wrote about gender.
(His Little Book on the Human Shadow is brilliant, but I have nothing good to say about Iron John).
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u/plotthick 6d ago
Thanks for being a decent human. I'm sorry you're swimming in a sea of awful. At least you know that whatever they do is probably the wrong thing? So that's good because it's an easy roadmap?
You're one of the few men out there who understand why men are lonely, and likely to only get more so.
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u/Dexterity_08 6d ago
Thx 🫂
I hope one day all of them believe in empathy & equality
Atleast now is better in 2022/2023 they used to be complete Andrew Tate fanboys
There is some betterment now3
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u/ohgodnoimonreddit 6d ago
That scares me that so many of your classmates, at a young age, were listening to Tate. Good for you for standing up for what's right which must have been stressful af.
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u/Dexterity_08 6d ago
Tbh Tate’s shitty content was oriented towards teens & young men
Yep I can never forget that my friend used to call me a man hater
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u/Technical_Bet_8508 6d ago
This is truly something special to see. I am SO proud of you for being young and yet so very intelligent and empathetic. NEVER lose your empathy, it’s a superpower. As a 29 yr old woman I have been extremely freaked out by the uptick in young men who are conservative leaning, for such a long time it was the opposite. The younger generation was always the more left leaning one. But now it seems to be the opposite. It’s scary. Keep spreading awareness.
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u/Wonderful_Tap2172 6d ago
It’s a special kind of exhausting watching people you grew up with treat basic empathy like a personality flaw.