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In the past 50 years, the gender gap in education between men and women has flipped. Men used to be 13% more likely to earn a college degree, now women are 15% more likely to earn a college degree. And while men still are more likely to earn more than women for the same job and hold the majority of high-powered positions in society, women and girls are outpacing men and boys in every facet of society. And the truth is, men aren’t doing very well with this.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/30/whats-the-matter-with-men
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-gender-disparities-are-affecting-men/
While I have been talking about this for a while now, the men are in crisis. They are in crisis because while patriarchy still skews society in their favor, men are not able to function as full humans under the strains of patriarchy. Programs have been created for over 50 years to help girls move past the confines of patriarchy. Teaching girls that they can do anything they put their minds to, however, boys are still expected to follow patriarchal rules. Boys can not express themselves without their masculinity being questioned. They can’t decide for themselves what they want to be in their lives because they are still expected to grow up and “provide” for a family. They are also taught that girls are not their equals and are supposed to help them achieve their goals. So when these boys grow up and realize that they are now in a world where women are their equals, they can’t become what they were told they are supposed to be, and women aren’t helping them, they are left confused and unable to fully express their pain and disappointment because “men can’t cry.”
The worst part is that most men caught in the lies of patriarchy and suffering because of it, can’t see it as the problem. They don’t understand how a system of oppression that was made to oppress women is also oppressing them.
How do we fix it? Men have to learn patriarchy and sexism is real. And then they have to learn to dismantle it.
~ Kai
