What It's Like For A Girl: #YesAllWomen, Male Entitlement, and a Snapshot of Intollerance
We would like to think we are living in a modern world with age appropriate ideals. That Western culture has evolved so rapidly, and we’re at the forefront of Civilization. This is completely false, and anyone with eyes and no biased sense of Patriotism can see that we’re one of the most uncivilized “civilized societies.” Men and women are always going to be at constant odds, and will always hold each other to a standard the other one cannot meet, and by no means can we say there is a superior sex, nor will there ever be 100% compliance and equality between sexes (or races, or genders for that matter).
Just like people like to play the race card, women will play the “It’s because I’m a woman” card, and statistically they are almost always correct. True Life: Some men don’t treat women with respect, and “that’s the way the world works.” That doesn’t excuse one person to treat another poorly, but it’s a common day-to-day lesson, and quite frankly, something we as women realize at some point we have to learn to live with. A decent amount of men have authority issues in regards to a woman in power, and while many women are subordinate to men in the work place, when the tables are turned, the men have a hard time coming to grips with being an obedient coworker when taking direction from a woman. There are currently many powerful leaders that are not of the male persuasion in corporate America, but when you boil it down to the every-day job, we still find men belittling women or compensating for women: “You can’t lift that! It’s too heavy.” “You can’t be in the city after dark!” and indications that “You certainly can’t handle half of this job that we’ve already hired you for because you are a ‘young lady.’” Tools and grunge work? That’s not for you. But yes, we can go work barefoot in your kitchen hoisting a Turkey the size of a full cooler of soil and groundwater samples. To some, having a vagina suggests you are weak. And if you stick up for yourself or attempt to be firm, you are hormonal and are a bitch.
Admittedly, women do request to be treated equally and simultaneously demand chivalry, and that is unfair to the modern man. Respect is important, but a small part of this Male Entitlement Epidemic can be connected with the idea of men wanting to disregard the idea of chivalry and courteous dating – calling it modern dating, but in turn happen to be completely throwing out common human respect as well, looking at women as sex objects rather than partners. Case in point, the most recent of offenses made by one Elliot Rodger, a 22 year old in California who took his lack of respect a million steps further than any common man would. Taken from a New York Post article, quotations from his Manifesto written prior to taking multiple lives included the following:
“‘Women should not have the right to choose who to mate and breed with,’ he fumed in the tome. ‘That decision should made for them by rational men of intelligence. If women continue to have rights, they will only hinder the advancement of the human race by breeding with degenerate men and creating stupid, degenerate offspring.’ ‘Women are like a plague,’’ Rodger wrote. ‘They don’t deserve to have any rights . . . Women are vicious, evil, barbaric animals, and they need to be treated as such.’” – The New York Post, http://nypost.com/2014/05/25/the-twisted-hate-filled-manifesto-of-calif-gunman-elliot-rodger/
Rodger followed a group online specifically referred to as “The Manosphere” by the Washington Post, who’s views stem from “Learning how to be an Alpha Male,” “How Feminism has corrupted culture,” and “How to use Negging (Insulting a Woman to throw off her confidence) to achieve sexual contact.” None of this should be of any surprise to males of current melting pot. It’s been used in sitcoms and illuminated in male magazines to stimulate the confidence and thick skin of what a man should be in the dating world. To be the tough guy, and to care less about the relationship than this helpless, fragile creature of a woman that they are trying to entrap. It also should be no surprise that along with men having issues dealing with authority figures at work, a good chunk of men don’t take kindly to powerful or driven women of any nature (unless they are into that sort of thing in bed). Elliot is a special case, which many people have taken to social media to voice their opinions. Not only are people posting the #YesAllWomen hashtag both on Twitter or on Facebook with examples of male intolerance, but many men are stepping up trying to defend their bruised egos that “Not all men are like this.” And it’s true. But even the “nicest” men out there have inklings of the same behavior, from not only talking and sleeping with many girls, but simultaneously holding women to a different standard. “If she puts out too fast/more often than what I’d like, then she must be a slut.”
Even so, the #YesAllWomen tag has gotten much backlash, suggesting that women are just bashing men, not actually uncovering anything important – once again, devaluing the thoughts of a woman, acting like the things they are “complaining about” are irrational. It’s rare to hear a man talk about being afraid of being raped. It’s uncommon for a guy to be cautious in walking the city streets in fear of being kidnapped. And they most definitely don’t complain about being cat-called or ogled, or groped, or molested when they “dress a certain way” to go out. Non-Feminists will say that some women practically “ask for being raped” when they wear little or revealing clothing, but it more clearly illustrates that some men do not have any self-control, and somehow that lack of self-control is the woman’s fault for being too alluring or looking like a whore.
A constant unbalance in health care has been cause of talk in the last few political years, including a battle of women’s contraceptives being covered under Obamacare. But for some reason, Viagra, a stimulant for men’s erections can be covered, but preventative care for women is a huge battle. Government officials in places like Michigan have exacerbated the problem on a legal level by passing a bill recently that prohibits medical coverage under insurance for abortions. “‘Democrats labeled it the ‘rape insurance bill’ because it would, in effect, require women to buy abortion coverage in advance even if they never expect to need it — such as if a woman becomes pregnant from a rape.’” – Detroit Free Press. With enacting this, the problem becomes the woman’s because she cannot rid herself of a terrible burden of something a man did to her unwillingly, and for 9 whole months, the evidence is under her shirt.
Taking all of this into consideration, people must ask themselves when the actions of men actually equate to being the man’s fault? And why should women have to live in fear, or cater, or be perceived as weak? To exercise the right to speak and be heard without being told their views don’t matter (or to have to create a social media movement with hashtags to do so)? Will we be in an age that devalues the women that raise the next generation of children that further prolong growth of the world? And who will want to live in a society like this when spoiled, self-entitled virgins kill their peers because they don’t feel cool enough or are sexually frustrated outcasts?
It’s an eye opening thought. And I bet you $10 that there’s already a man reading this thinking that I, as a woman, am out of line for something I have said, or think it’s an over exaggeration that women have it harder than they do in regards to torment. I’m not here to stand on my soap box, but some things need to be put into perspective for the general public to truly understand. And if a Man could handle all the emotions, objectification, hormones, children, fear, pain, torment, and still hold their heads high in six inch heels, I would applaud them too for their “burdens.” Until then, think before you speak, but more importantly, hear and understand what is really going on in the world today. You’ll be a better human for it.
Postscript: a great link found after this post was created, written by a man in reference to this same topic: http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/05/27/not_all_men_how_discussing_women_s_issues_gets_derailed.html
