Fuck every single person who has ever made a man feel like his trauma didn’t count because he was a man. I’m serious, fuck you all.
Hi it’s op, it’s been years and I just logged back into my old tumblr for a little bit and saw this post hit 30,000 notes. Holy shit. But I actually have a few problems with it.
This post presents the problem as if men are more likely to be dismissed about trauma sheerly because they’re men, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. Men as a whole aren’t more likely to be dismissed about abuse than women as a whole.
I think the reason I keep seeing this narrative that women are believed while men are ignored about trauma and abuse is because of the #metoo movement. I think this call to “recognize men’s suffering” is a reaction to the realization that our society is having about how horribly women are treated when it comes to abuse and trauma. Men see this realization as giving women’s claims more credibility than men’s because it’s easier to see it that way than to try to grapple with what it means to be privileged.
If everyone is equally mistreated then it’s easy to understand your place in society. It makes sense emotionally too, you’ve experienced hardships and you’ve known other people like you who have, so why would people talk more about women’s? It feels unfair for someone to bring up abuse against women and women’s trauma without mentioning men’s, so it must be an attack.
The #metoo movement and the sudden attention placed on abuse against women and women’s mental health hasn’t given women more rights than men. It hasn’t made women more likely to be believed than men. It’s goals aren’t to throw men that are abuse victims under the bus while women are helped. Its only demands are that survivors be treated with respect and care. The reason you’re hearing so much about women’s mental health and abuse against women isn’t because society is ignoring men, it’s because women are abused so often and dismissed about abuse so often.
