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.

  • Iceblade@lemmy.world
    1·
    9 months ago

    Right, but isn’t it a bit far fetched to be taken literally? That there are a significant amount of women who hate every man in their life?

    It’s enough for me to know that the one who brought that rhetoric into a portion of my friend group, an acquaintance of mine (I won’t call her a friend) actually does mean it, or at least says she does.

    The fact that she got one of the kindest people I ever met to parrot that same misandrist rhetoric hurts.

    It shifted me away from self-indentifying as feminist. Nowadays, I say I’m pro-gender-equality, and embrace the values of classic feminism if someone asks.

    • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
      1·
      9 months ago

      It’s enough for me to know that the one who brought that rhetoric into a portion of my friend group, an acquaintance of mine (I won’t call her a friend) actually does mean it, or at least says she does.

      Right, but isn’t making a judgment call on feminism in general, based on a single anecdotal experience a bit dramatic?

      I have tons of personal experience with racism, I don’t automatically associate all white people with the actions of a few radicals.

      It shifted me away from self-indentifying as feminist. Nowadays, I say I’m pro-gender-equality, and embrace the values of classic feminism if someone asks.

      I think that’s really damaging to the social fabric of progressive politics. I don’t think that anyone who actually studies feminism holds real ill will to all men, it’s just not cohesive with the ideas of mutual support feminism was founded upon.

      Corrupting the social understanding of feminism has been the long term goal of conservative politics for decades. I don’t think there are many people who hold true to this ideology, I just think the ones who do are having their voices amplified by conservative media. And I think the point of this amplification is to interrupt class consciousness among young men, and to make them more sensitive to this messaging.

      I’m not claiming everyone who has a reaction to the problematic generalization of political language is a woman hating conservative. I just think they’re unwittingly amplifying a conservative campaign aimed against protecting women’s rights.

      • Iceblade@lemmy.world
        1·
        9 months ago

        Right, but isn’t making a judgment call on feminism in general, based on a single anecdotal experience a bit dramatic?

        The anecdotal experiences with her (it’s not often I have the luxury of a candid discussion with the type of person who says these things) made me view all the other cases of feminists generalizing about men in another light, and all the cases where someone pointing this out would be told that “No, actually you are the problem because…”.

        I don’t think that anyone who actually studies feminism holds real ill will to all men, it’s just not cohesive with the ideas of mutual support feminism was founded upon.

        Define “real ill will”. Does it actually matter what they want if they are doing real harm? Misandry has become increasingly more common in the past decade, both online and irl, and in my experience, speaking up against it paints a huge target on your back.

        I just think they’re unwittingly amplifying a conservative campaign…

        This right here is part of the problem.

        I’m trying to discuss a serious issue that is harming men, and after three paragraphs of downplaying it as not being a problem, you turn it around and write that the real problem is me bringing it up. That’s fucked up.

        • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
          1·
          9 months ago

          The anecdotal experiences with her (it’s not often I have the luxury of a candid discussion with the type of person who says these things) made me view all the other cases of feminists generalizing about men in another light, and all the cases where someone pointing this out would be told that “No, actually you are the problem because…”.

          Is that opinions not lacking a bit of nuance though? As I’ve said, I’ve experienced racial violence from white men, this doesn’t mean that all white men are racist, and it doesn’t mean that all racist people are violent.

          Define “real ill will”. Does it actually matter what they want if they are doing real harm?

          I think that is dependent on your definition of “real harm”, but as far as ill will I was originally thinking of people who actually blame every single man for all of life’s difficulties.

          Misandry has become increasingly more common in the past decade, both online and irl, and in my experience, speaking up against it paints a huge target on your back.

          How exactly do we define misandry, and how do we know it’s increasingly more common? Could it just be more amplified because there is a political motivation for doing so? The people who tend to “speak up against it” are people like Jordan Peterson and Tate who profit from radicalizing young men.

          trying to discuss a serious issue that is harming men, and after three paragraphs of downplaying it as not being a problem, you turn it around and write that the real problem is me bringing it up. That’s fucked up.

          Right, but we haven’t established that it’s actually happening with anything besides anecdotal evidence. So far my theory is just as valid as yours, except my theory has suspects with clear motive.

          problem, you turn it around and write that the real problem is me bringing it up. That’s fucked up.

          I’m not trying to be dismissive, but I just haven’t been presented any evidence not supplied by personal experience, so my rebuttals are going to seem personal. I’d much rather you present evidence from a third party so we may avoid this situation.