A growing network of online communities known collectively as the “manosphere” is emerging as a serious threat to gender equality, as toxic digital spaces increasingly influence real-world attitudes, behaviours, and policies, the UN agency dedicated to ending gender discrimination has warned.

  • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    I think it’s far more fundamental than that.

    You’ve got a generation of young men who did what they were supposed to culturally: went to school, got good grades, went to college, never broke any laws, and their choices in life are permanent debt and struggling to afford a roach-infested studio apartment, living with their parents, or joining the military to survive. Here in the United States minimum wage won’t even buy you a cup of coffee in large swaths of the country. (And 2/3 of the states still use that as their standard.)

    The social contract has been broken, and for the first time, you’ve got a generation who are not going to live more fulfilled and enriched lives than their parents largely by no fault of their own.

    Of course they’re pissed. Governments should be addressing this, but it’s more fashionable to blame young men instead, and the right-wingers are the only ones willing to admit there are fundamental economic crises for men.

    • SupaTuba@lemm.ee
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      13 hours ago

      And what about the women in that same boat? I’m confused by your argument

      • doingthestuff@lemy.lol
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        11 hours ago

        If a woman is going homeless there are resources. If it’s a man there’s almost nothing. I work serving the unhoused.

        • SupaTuba@lemm.ee
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          11 hours ago

          Having been homeless before, the resources were not different for me or my partner, male, at the time. Separate sleeping quarters obviously. But the same exact resources.

          Genuinely what are you talking about…Where is this?

          • doingthestuff@lemy.lol
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            11 hours ago

            Ohio. Cincinnati, specifically. It’s not 100 to 0 women resources to men, it’s more like 55 to 5. There are some cold weather shelters for men, and places to eat, but mostly there are zero beds unless you’re willing to sign up for a drug testing program, and even then there are costs and limited spaces. There are quite a few women’s shelters in the area.

            • SupaTuba@lemm.ee
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              7 hours ago

              I mean, there are reasons that women need to be away from men sometimes. And it’s not because we’re having a wonderful time in life. And this “manosphere” is only creating more dangerous situations for us.

          • Breezy@lemmy.world
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            10 hours ago

            I had to do community service in Tennessee, i chose to help feed the homeless at a soup kitchen, anyone could eat there, but there were only permanent beds for women. It was nice they fed the men too but thinking back, where did they go at night?

              • Breezy@lemmy.world
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                9 hours ago

                Im glad to hear it! We have enough empty buildings and houses that there shouldnt be any homeless.

        • SupaTuba@lemm.ee
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          11 hours ago

          I did and it seems to have gotten even more off track and deeply into this magical idea that women and other minorities (not sure why they were brought into it) somehow have easier lives?

          • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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            10 hours ago

            Thank you for reading it.

            There are two factors here in the US that correlate significantly with a person’s lifetime earnings potential: their zip code of birth and attainment of a college degree. It’s exceedingly significant (in a positive way) that women constitute the majority in college enrollment. I think that’s a good thing, but it also demonstrates inequality.

            I want to see policies here that mirror those in more progressive European countries: Free college, a federally-mandated living wage that adjusts with inflation, and universal health care. I also want to see universities’ federal funding tied to expansion of enrollment rates, as there are many that keep them artificially low and yet still raise tuition rates every year. These benefits should target low-income communities without regard to race or gender.

            In short, I want to see the economic ship lifted for the poor, and that’s how it should be done.

            Most young people, and in particular young men, have three choices when entering adulthood: Work for sub-standard wages and struggle alone and/or live with their parents, join the military, or take on permanent debt on the hope of a college degree and an elevated life. (If they’re fortunate enough to land a spot in enrollment to begin with.)

            Rampant misogyny has spread because people who consider themselves progressive have ignored these economic calamities and right-wingers have, conversely, highlighted those inequalities, created communities for young men, and gotten rich in the process. Currently the functional unemployment rate in the United States is 25%.

            The solution, is creating an economy where prosperity is distributed among a more diverse population of people.

            (But I suspect people will continue to vote Democrat and Republican and this conversation won’t matter much in the grand scheme of things.)

            • SupaTuba@lemm.ee
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              7 hours ago

              Correlating education to wealth is fine overall but you are intentionally avoiding more direct metrics of wealth and inequality to make it seem as if this is direct causation for women having some upper hand.

              Women absolutely make less and hold a significantly smaller portion of the overall wealth in this country.

              Women routinely have to leave their careers to manage the home and their family (due to archaic misogynistic gender roles). There is also just straight up bias in management decisions about pay.

              https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/03/01/the-enduring-grip-of-the-gender-pay-gap/

      • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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        12 hours ago

        Exactly…that’s been the status quo for young white men only. People of color and women have been getting the shit end of the stick the whole time.

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      You’ve got a generation of young men who did what they were supposed to culturally: went to school, got good grades, went to college, never broke any laws, and their choices in life are permanent debt and struggling to afford a roach-infested studio apartment, living with their parents, or joining the military to survive. Here in the United States minimum wage won’t even buy you a cup of coffee in large swaths of the country.

      And? Why should they be special? You’re arguing that because young men were given special status before we should bend over backwards by sacrificing others to their success? Women should continue to be underpaid, undervalued, treated as secondary to men’s success? Nevermind the barriers to any sort of professional and societal success as a woman to begin with.

      What social contract? Again, the one that puts male wants and needs ahead of others?

      That is what you’re arguing, no?

      • biocoder.ronin@lemmy.ml
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        16 hours ago

        Your argument and vitriole is a nice example of weaponized self-righteousness. You think because you’re aware of a class of people that has a disadvantage in labor, that makes your opinion on that group more valuable than others, and instead of having the conversation about labor or why some men fall prey to bullshit, because of vitriole like this that serves only to alienate, you’re playing right into the hands of people who divide labor and reap profits.

        Instead of stating anything at all respectfully and with a level head, you’re shoving things down someone’s throat (LMAO) for having something to say about what misogyny is to a group of people (some men) that understand where misogyny comes from, how young men internalize misogyny and then go into management to perpetuate it, and how’s it’s used in terms of capital markets to sell vibes to people (men and women) that feel attacked by a real issue.

        People like you are a dime a dozen.

        • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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          13 hours ago

          I think this person sees someone pointing out the problems facing young men and automatically thinks ‘incel’. It can be disorienting to see people who don’t hate women advocating for young men.

        • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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          12 hours ago

          Your argument and vitriole is a nice example of weaponized self-righteousness. You think because you’re aware of a class of people that has a disadvantage in labor, that makes your opinion on that group more valuable than others, and instead of having the conversation about labor or why some men fall prey to bullshit, because of vitriole like this that serves only to alienate, you’re playing right into the hands of people who divide labor and reap profits.

          Lol, you aren’t accepting their argument because they didn’t say please and thank you?

          You are accepting that women are a more disadvantaged labour class, but are being a prissy little prick because they are upset about it? That’s the softest shit I’ve ever seen.

          Show some class solidarity for your sisters, the most disadvantaged need to be lifted first. Stop whining like a 4 year old, we men have every advantage in this system compared to our counterparts. Though I’d hardly acknowledge nearly anyone in this thread as a man. Weak shit.

          • barsoap@lemm.ee
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            10 hours ago

            Though I’d hardly acknowledge nearly anyone in this thread as a man. Weak shit.

            Speaking of toxic masculinity…

              • barsoap@lemm.ee
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                9 hours ago

                Sure. Real men don’t cry. Real men aren’t weak. Real men toughen up and don’t complain. Real men don’t care about injustice if it’s them who are affected. That’s you.

                Nothing to do with people in this thread being sexist: That’s your addition to justify your toxicity to yourself. Even if that is the case, that this threat is full of sexist assholes: You’re still taking a toxic approach to facing it.

                • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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                  6 hours ago

                  Sure. Real men don’t cry. Real men aren’t weak. Real men toughen up and don’t complain. Real men don’t care about injustice if it’s them who are affected. That’s you.

                  Lol, falsely conflating me telling you not to blame POC and women for late stage capitalism with telling you not to cry is pretty hilarious.

                  What injustice are you facing that generations of women and immigrants haven’t been receiving the whole time?

                  I’m not telling you not to communicate or build support networks, I’m saying don’t blame minorities for the lack of those support networks.

                  • WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today
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                    3 hours ago

                    And as usual, in an act of irony, men are the biggest misandrist, and my biggest source of pain. I don’t like this social contract where I get fucked over no matter what. I’m just going to abandon it, and lead a massive exile with me. I already have a solar panel, and plan to get more.

                  • barsoap@lemm.ee
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                    5 hours ago

                    Lol, falsely conflating me telling you not to blame POC and women for late stage capitalism with telling you not to cry is pretty hilarious.

                    I did what?

                    What injustice are you facing that generations of women and immigrants haven’t been receiving the whole time?

                    I’ve been using this thread as an opportunity to talk about a positive example, and that’s the marked increase in male childcare workers in Germany. I pointed out some masculine influencers doing good work. I bemoaned that much “X for women/girls” stuff is half-assed feel-good BS, prone to causing more harm than good (because half-assed, because it’s done for optics instead of the thing itself).

                    I’ve been constructive. I didn’t lash out and try to put people down for caring about their issues. I didn’t wrap people up in ass-long back and forth threads demanding justification after justification why they care just to find an excuse to pounce, then ride my high horse into the sunset.

                    Oh, and I also shot the horse of some guy.

        • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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          15 hours ago

          That’s not what I said. That’s not what I said at all. And “falling for bullshit” was encompassed by the premise that men have been told since forever that they are special, not necessarily directly but often indirectly by omitting the difficulties others face. Of course you’d make up some redpill crap that even discussing the outgroups that somehow the act places them above men’s issues. But hey, whatever smug rationalizations you’d prefer for your narrative instead of discussing the substance of what was written.

      • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        No, this is a misrepresentation of my argument.

        From the 70’s to a few months ago, governments have made it a fundamental priority to elevate women and minorities, and it’s worked. (Go look at the demographics of college enrollment, at least here in the US, if you don’t believe me.)

        I’m arguing that to fix misogyny you have to fix the fundamental economic crises affecting young people.

        But I appreciate that you were very quick to demonstrate the point I made about the fashionability of blaming young men and pretending these problems simply don’t exist.

        • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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          12 hours ago

          From the 70’s to a few months ago, governments have made it a fundamental priority to elevate women and minorities, and it’s worked. (Go look at the demographics of college enrollment, at least here in the US, if you don’t believe me.)

          And when exactly did those college enrollment demographics change? Oh yeah, the moment college degrees became worthless. White men are choosing not to go to college, they aren’t being forced, were not running out of colleges.

          I’m arguing that to fix misogyny you have to fix the fundamental economic crises affecting young people

          Well, you’re not just saying that… If we were to say start a program to fix the economic crisis that is effecting the youth, how would you go about doing that? Oh by targeting the most disadvantaged demographics…oh no, that would be…DEI.

          blaming young men and pretending these problems simply don’t exist.

          You are the one pretending as if this was only a problem for young white men. You’re just taking your licks for the first time and being a baby about it.

        • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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          15 hours ago

          Way to misrepresent my argument. Thanks for the downvotes without trying to have a discussion.

          My opinion is that society in general has elevated men above others. That is still mostly true, from entertainment to employment. Yes, there is no argument that there has been effort, more or less to offer others some of the same benefits men get, but it’s still token in many ways.

          Now pay attention, I said society, I did not blame men for this (though they had a hand by aiding and abetting the status quo), there’s an huge cultural momentum behind male over-representation.

          As far as the economy, a nebulous “we need to fix it” is gesturing nebulously at an economy that effects everyone, but it’s hard to take you seriously when you only discuss the economy needing to be fixed in the context dealing only with young men.

          • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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            13 hours ago

            Respectfully, your hostile and reactionary tone demonstrated quite well that you had no intention of discussing things in a rational manner. You toss around terms like ‘redpill’ like they’re Halloween candy, and it demonstrates that even having the discussion is enough to set off your temper. I even gave you an example of the imbalance in economic opportunity favoring women and minorities, and you just ignored it.

            And that’s fine.

            Be angry, but the least you could do is try to be productive.

            The problem is the systemic impoverishment of young men is the root cause of all this, and that is what needs to be fixed if you want to fix misogyny.

            • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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              6 hours ago

              Again failure to discuss the substance of the argument and just making it personal. It’s crystal clear what your objectives are here.

            • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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              11 hours ago

              In nearly every society on earth, since the beginning of recorded history… Men have achieved nearly a totalitarian monopoly in nearly every hierarchy of power.

              Even today, what gender are the majority of ceo, the congressmen, the senator, the judges, prosecutors, and the police? Examine the leadership of nearly any hierarchical body of control and the majority of these positions are men… So what power is attacking men, what industry, what laws…If it’s men attacking young men…then it’s not a gender issue, it’s a class issue you fucking children.

              problem is the systemic impoverishment of young men is the root cause of all this, and that is what needs to be fixed if you want to fix misogyny.

              You are using misogyny as a negotiation tactic? “Guess will just have to let bad things happen to you until boys get their treats again…”

              What a fucking loser. Can’t cope with not getting insta middle class for nothing so they become a reactionary chode… Real great class solidarity bro.

          • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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            12 hours ago

            I can’t believe how much shit you are getting while having perfectly valid and rational claims. The fact this fucking chode is claiming your being reactionary while he froths at the mouth with accusations nof misandry is making me feel insane.

            You are being too kind, but I will use the privilege reserved for middle aged man to fucking yell at emotional little boys throwing tantrums.

            • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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              6 hours ago

              Surrounded by incels, I guess. Mad they aren’t special anymore.

              “When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” – Franklin Leonard

              • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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                6 hours ago

                Yeah… I didn’t think the culture was as ubiquitous. Kinda scary to see on a platform with so many self professed “leftist”. You can’t seriously think you are on the left when you only care about providing for your specific demographic.

                The kids are not alright apparently.

                • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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                  5 hours ago

                  IMO the limited subset arguing here support authoritarianism. Generally a male dominated profession. Seems to be a burgeoning market these days.

                  • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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                    5 hours ago

                    a male dominated profession

                    True, but does that make Giorgia Meloni a fascist DEI hire?

                    Yeah, they seem to be more on the side of “national socialism” than actual socialism. Socialism…but only for a certain demographic that happens to encompass me and people who look and act like me.

                    Well If it helps I think you made really good points, and in a much more civil manner than what that guy deserved…and he still tried to frame you as having a “hostile tone”. Misogynistic never fucking change.

                    Keep up the good fight