Patriarchy negatively affects men, too. :)
What comes in your mind when someone says the word “feminism”? For many, the first to come in mind might be “women” — after all, women are the advocators and defendants of the equal rights movement (and yes, feminism does not equal to female supremacy).
When we discuss feminism, however, the lot of us solely discuss gender inequality (that is framed by patriarchy) and its impacts towards women — while not many (discussions) are aimed towards how patriarchy-framed gender inequality affects men.
To understand how patriarchy negatively affects men, we first need to understand what patriarchy is. By definition, patriarchy is a “system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it”. In simple words, patriarchy refers to the male domination in both public and private spheres.
While patriarchy is primarily based on the idea of men being in power (supposedly benefitting them), there are many ways it can hurt them.
Toxic Masculinity
Societal standards for women are dangerous, and so are the ones for men. Society expects men to be less expressive of their feelings due to it being seen as a ‘feminine’ trait. Without a society-approved alternative to let out their feelings, lots of men turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as alcohol abuse.
Sexual Harassment
Statistics show that men make up anywhere from 10 to 38 percent of sexual harassment victims — sexual harassment itself does not only include sexual assault and/or rape, it also includes verbal harassment such as sexualisation and catcalling. Unfortunately, the minimisation and dismissal of male sexual harassment discourages men to come forward, impeding their psychological recovery.
Mental Health
Like previously stated, patriarchy is set up to benefit men — however, gender norms set for men can have deadly consequences. Experts have even argued that the high rate of suicide for men could be traced back to the dismissal of emotional problems and sexual harassment.
As much as men may benefit from patriarchal systems, it is much more than clear that there are also disadvantages. Fortunately, lots of people have begin to grow much more aware of the impacts of patriarchy towards both men and women.
Although we as a society have still got a long way to go to reach gender equality, perhaps we can continue to educate one another on sexist matters to find ourselves a society that’ll be able to offer both genders equal opportunities.
