the disposable man
I was sitting on facebook when a video was posted in my recent updates that I just couldn’t go past. This video was called Feminism and the disposable man and in continuation of Zoya’s query about the objectification of men and the ever-standing view of equality and definition of feminism that lip upholds, there is much to consider as food for thought.
“Everywhere you look, there are feminists pushing their way to the front line to demand ‘their share’ of the goodies… the loot, the booty, the cookies. Even if women don’t need it, even if women don’t deserve it, and even if somebody else needs it and deserves it more. And they get it, because we give it to them.”
girlwriteswhat also runs a blog called owning your shit, waiting tables during the day and writing erotica at night. A divorced mother of three, she says she’s far from the floral dress wearing, sandwich making image that you may have pictured by reading her anti-feminism, gender equality and masculinity writings. Not only is the woman gorgeous and filming in her kitchen (which seems to be a major commenting point below the video) but also quite ingenious in her approach to the description of this social change.
This 16 minute video really opens up possible flaws in the feminist movement and our quest for equality and perhaps the developed sense of entitlement based on gender alone, feminist self interest and gender roles on a holistic level. Has society perhaps tipped too far in the quest for equal rights for women while batting down the value of men and their rights as human beings?
“It was in humanity’s best interest for women to be essentially self interested, and for men to be essentially self sacrificing. But we don’t need that dynamic anymore,” she says.
“The only difference I see between the traditional role and the new one for men, with respect to disposability, is that maleness, manhood, it used to be celebrated, it used to be admired and it used to be rewarded because it was really fucking necessary and the personal cost of it to individual men was so incredibly high.
“We expect men not to complain about coming last every time, all they get in return is to hear about what assholes they are.”
She asks, “What’s the worst that could happen if we all just collectively decided that men were no more disposable than women, and women were no more valuable then men?”
I think she’s really onto something. What do you think?
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I think the only flaw I have in her argument is that much that she talks about is not just attributable to feminism, but is embraced in more subtle but no less real form by cultural traditionalists and many, many anti-feminists. They’re all guilty of this mentality from what I’ve seen; feminists who seek true equality ought to think about it but my experience is all they do is get angry at this, which is sad, it means real dialogue about the male perspective experience cannot be had.