“….She talks about ….. how a raft of gendered assumptions entered into the picture (low voices – manly, courage, high pitched voices – unmanly, cowardice, etc)….”
Historically women (most notably mothers) have always raised boys to be assertive, aggressive, forthright, decisive ‘doers’ and ‘leaders’. As a general rule girl’s identity has always been defined in terms of her femaleness and femininity, whereas a boy’s identity has always been defined by his role in (and to) society (or community or tribe).
This was a necessary survival strategy in harsher times when resources were scarce and life was tough due to lack of technology and knowledge.
If men were not raised to be warriors, leaders, resource gatherers, road builders, miners, farmers etc the whole community would starve. The way to get men to take on these dangerous, gruelling and often life threatening tasks was to raise boys to define their male identity according to their ability to fulfil these roles.
Taking on these roles meant they could claim to be ‘real men’, which is basically a euphemism for gaining the approval of women (and of the community as a whole). Women also raised boys to define the desire for things like comfort, security, safety, appearance, fine clothes, protection, individuality, life expectancy and health as intrinsically ‘feminine’ concerns and therefore undesirable for men (unattractive to women).
Naturally men had to also be given decision making and leadership roles in order to perform their social functions. Feminists today call this ‘male privilege’ but it was really a trade off ….. men gathered most of the resources down mines, out in the fields and in fishing boats…. men did most of the heavy industry… men fought all the wars….. men built most of the infrastructure (mostly by hand) ….. it would be unfair – and completely ridiculous – for women to take charge of the decision making processes that accompanied those jobs.
(it would be the equivalent of men trying to take charge of decision making in food preparation and storage, nursing, midwifery, mending and other work traditionally done by women).
The strict gender roles for men and women were the result of a need to survive. As technology has liberated both men and women from those strict gender roles society has adapted very quickly (in just a dozen or two generations)….. but there is still a great deal of momentum (and biology) which tends to keep those roles fixed.
Boys are still raised (predominantly by females, let’s not forget) to define their masculinity in terms of their service to the community/ society….. except this has now morphed into a far more brutal and violent *hierarchy*.
A man who does not serve the hierarchy or have status within the hierarchy is viewed as essentially worthless – especially by women.
By contrast, a woman can be totally detached from the hierarchy and not serve it at all and yet still retain her identity as a women, and be greatly valued by all, including men.
The main reason why so many men devote their every waking moment to scrabbling up the hierarchy to get into positions of power and authority and earn lots of money, is because they have no other identity as ‘men’ …. and they are just looking for social/ female approval. Many women will not consider them viable as husbands or boyfriends if they do not reach a certain level of wealth and/ or status.
And so men are motivated to reach the top in business or politics (and being filthy rich) in the same way that women are motivated to reach the top in looks and youthfulness (fertility). They are both trying to increase their value to the opposite sex and to society as a whole.
Both men and women spend an unhealthy amount of time and money pursuing these identities … the high status wealthy male…. and the just-stepped-out-of-a-salon goddess female.
To claim the prevalence of men at he top of the business/ political hierarchy is ‘male privilege’ is a bit like claiming the prevalence of women obsessed with fashion, beauty and cosmetic procedures is ‘female privilege’.
“…What is clear is that many more men than women are the perpetrators of this stuff, and they attack women far more than they attack men..”
This is rubbish. We just happen to live in a culture dominated by the feminist victim narrative, that’s all. When men are attacked online for saying idiotic things they generally don’t cry “help I’m a victim of misandry” …. not least because they know that nobody cares if men are the victims of misandry.
When women are attacked for saying idiotic things they often resort to the ‘misogyny’ card because it’s an easy way to avoid engaging with (potentially) fair criticism….. it’s also an instant way of getting sympathy and calling up an army to go and get revenge on the offending person for daring to criticise her.
The myth of men targeting women unfairly online is vile feminist propaganda……. case in point