Russ G
2 min readApr 6, 2022

The problem you're referencing is real, and the bad actors in this particular case are indeed almost exclusively men.

That said, I think most men do not hate women.

These specific men you're writing about do hate women, but they also hate men. Name an ethnic or social group, and they probably hate them too. Indeed, they're fairly equal opportunity in their hatred.

These dregs of society have always existed, but for most of US history they didn't have the kind of mainstream visibility or influence they seem to be wielding now.

In my opinion, we can thank the social platforms themselves for this resurgance of misogyny and their lax and irresponsible approach to content curation and moderation. (And yes, I'll concede most of them are run by men.)

That isn't to discount the very real and serious societal and social structures that promote misogyny and racism, but it's the social platforms that have acted as an accelerant to them recently.

The life strategies employed by the people you mention in your article used to result in living a solitary life in a parent's basement, and their antisocial behavior would prevent them from encountering more than a small number of others.

Their "influence" was restricted to calling radio station request lines or making public comment at local council meetings. That is to say, easily ignored and dismissed.

Unfortunately, thanks to platforms like Twitter and Reddit those people now have a gathering place online where they're free not only to organize with other useless dregs, but recruit from the parts of that platform that are well managed enough to attract new users.

In reality, many if not most men love and respect women.

In terms of solving this: It's going to take men and women working together. A headline like yours doesn't help with that, quite the opposite in fact.

Again: The problem is real and the perpetrators are indeed men. That said, the 50% of the population who are male aren't your enemy, despite your headline.

Sign up to discover human stories that deepen your understanding of the world.

Free

Distraction-free reading. No ads.

Organize your knowledge with lists and highlights.

Tell your story. Find your audience.

Membership

Read member-only stories

Support writers you read most

Earn money for your writing

Listen to audio narrations

Read offline with the Medium app

Russ G
Russ G

Written by Russ G

Autodidact on most topics. Just doing the best I can to figure stuff out.

Responses (1)

Write a response