How Feminism Is Stifling Our Sons

Submitted by Mastodon on Sat, 2019-02-23 19:13

Article here. Excerpt:

'"Mommy, can only girls be legendary?"

My three-year-old son, glued to the Disney Channel's DuckTales, had spotted a commercial break with a group of young female stars dancing around a school campus, singing about how “you can be legendary."

"No baby, of course you can be too," I replied, thinking nothing of his comment.

“Mommy, can you see her?” he asked a few days later during his beloved PAW Patrol.

“Huh?” I stopped folding clothes and looked up at the TV to see Nickelodeon advertising a hashtag: #SeeHer.

A quick Google search revealed that the initiative, launched by Association of National Advertisers and its Alliance for Family Entertainment, aims to show a positive, unbiased portrayal of women in media.

“Basically it means girls can be anything they want to be,” I explained to my son.

And it made me think—as the mother of a seven-year-old girl, I had been so consumed with female empowerment in the fight for gender equality that I had overlooked my son. At just three years old, he was already picking up on the saturation of the media’s “girl power” messaging, and was now confused about his own role in the world.
...
These questions took me back to a story I wrote last year about men, boys and gender stereotypes; and how the emotional needs of boys in today’s younger generations are being ignored. It's no surprise that along with being harmful to girls, gender stereotypes put boys' self-confidence at risk too. Studies from the past two decades confirm that our focus on girls can leave boys behind in regards to education and well-being. The truth is, boys actually need more emotional support than girls.'

Like1 Dislike0

Comments

While I appreciate most of what this woman has to say, I feel that she loses all credibility when she refers to the recent gillette ad as an example of male positive media.

Really? Did we watch the same ad?

Then again, the ad wasn't being condescending toward her gender.

If only there was an equivalent ad for women, she might understand.
I sincerely hope in the name of equality that such an ad can be made, asking women if they've done enough to hold violent females, false accusers, abusive mothers, and toxic exes working the family court accountable. Make sure that it says "some women are doing the right thing . . . but some is not enough. Bonus points if all of the villains in the ad are white women.

Then when the ladies start protesting, just say, "oh, calm down. If you don't act like one of the bad women portrayed in the ad, why are you offended? It's just saying you don't have to be constrained to traditional femininity, and acting like this . . ."

Cue feminist heads exploding.

It's truly sad that even a woman who sympathize with the plight of boys fails to see what is wrong with the Gillette ad. It just goes to show you just how much misandry has been embedded into North American women.

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by xtrnl on Thu, 2019-02-28 10:35