I always find these sorts of threads rather saddening and frustrating, when men raise issues or concerns they are often shouted down, told to stop whining or mocked. Miss Elizabeth is just unusually open about it.
There seems to be a general belief that because to be female is difficult (a proposition I agree with) to be male must be easy (something I very much don’t agree with).
It would be more accurate to say that its difficult to be human but because of societal expectations and other factors men and women experience different, but many overlapping, problems and frustrations in life.
It is treated as zero-sum game where a ‘victory’ for men must be treated as a ‘defeat’ for women, or vice-versa. Too often it appears that to build one gender up it is necessary to tear the other gender down.
When a someone raises a concern about how men are treated they are often met by a 'Ah, yes, but…" argument where their complaint or concern is twisted to somehow actually be a negatively women-centered issue and that while men may have some minor complaints they can be dismissed because the female half of the species has it worse. Its tiresome and tends to shut down debate
In my experience it usually comes down to two negative sides of one coin, to take an example, women often state that they are not treated seriously in the workplace and assumed not to be competent, the flipside of that is that a man may by default be assumed to be competent but god forbid if he admits he’s not 100% sure about something and could do with some help. Its acceptable for a woman to say she needs help, not so for a man, and that extends far beyond the workplace into the life experience of men and women in general. I believe men experience more social isolation and alienation than women and it is in many of the intangibles of life. We are both forced into rigid social roles and expectations and there are plenty of people of both genders who chafe against the restrictions placed upon them.
It is my belief that there seems to be a certain amount of retrenchment on the subject of equality with both sides digging in and hardening their positions along gender based lines, the zero-sum game I mentioned earlier where any gain for men is seen as a loss for women and vice versa.
This idea that we should divide ourselves from the other half of humanity because of an accident of birth or indeed that we somehow share a common goal and interests because we happen to have the same genetalia as some random stranger is frankly bizarre, not to mention dangerous and is a direct cause of many of the problems in the world today.
Making men and women competitors, if not outright enemies, of each other is the most fundemental divide and conquer category of them all. And its such a shame that so many people not only fall for it but believe its the only natural and correct way of things.
Can we not accept that men have legitimate grievances as well as women? Just saying that women have it worse (something I’m very far from convinced is true in 21st century western society) isn’t really an answer.
As a man I am constantly being told that by being born male I have won the great lottery of life, so why doesn’t it feel like it?
edited to add that I haven’t had the opportunity to read all of this thread yet, but I will.
