Do you guys think feminism still encourages male gender roles?

AskingToFeminists · 2025-04-24T17:51:50+00:00

'#HeForShe...

Feminism is built on a premise that, if it was true and feminists believed it, feminism would not be possible the way it is.

The whole principle is that they are aware, at least on some level, that men are willing to sacrifice themselves in service of women, and they exploit it through victim narratives. It absolutely reinforces traditional gender roles.

Like I said long ago, feminism is just traditionalism adapted to a modern environment

MelissaMiranti · 2025-04-24T18:49:03+00:00

Feminism actively runs on the ideas that women are wonderful and men are savage, and the ideas of feminine hypoagency and masculine hyperagency. All of that enforces traditional gender roles.

ThePrimordialSource · 2025-04-24T17:02:09+00:00

Yea, that's kinda the whole thing.

Initial_Zebra100 · 2025-04-24T17:24:06+00:00

It does seem fairly biased. The women who do advocate for men's rights or equal treatment are often labelled 'pick me's' or pandering. They receive a lot of backlash.

I've seen elements from some feminists who do actually care about mens negative double standards, but equally I've seen and heard plenty having very self-centered opinions about treatment.

Does it still encourage gender roles? Yeah. Absolutely, it can. Plenty still think men are lazy or incompetent in the same role ie stay at home dad.

It's worth noting that we really need more women calling out the toxic stuff.

WeEatBabies · 2025-04-24T17:39:45+00:00

The male gender roles of providers are legislated into law by feminists groups : https://youtu.be/meu9o6loZVw?si=DSvu9K2wI90_bO7P

Competitive_Side6301 · 2025-04-24T20:06:43+00:00

Yes.

I think that a lot of women want to and are pursuing things that are traditionally seen as male and I’m glad they are because I don’t see them as less feminine for it.

But the actual feminist activists these days as well as certain deranged subreddits will deliberately promote gender essentialism when it works in their favour and will completely throw away the idea that men and women are equal.

“Male leaders cause all problems in the world so women should be leaders”

“Women are more empathetic and compassionate”

“Women earn things legitimately whereas most men are mediocre and had it handed to them”

“Female friendships are strong and male friendships are weak”

And a list of other ridiculously stupid absolute statements that you can easily see by spending a few minutes scrolling TwoX.

They don’t care about equality, or equity, or men, or women who like men.

They care about their side winning. That’s why most of their talking points are based on:

Lying with statistics.
False Revisionist History.
Ungodliest strawman arguments.
Utterly baseless conjecture.

- And for a recent case, using a goddamn drama series made by boomers as a “documentary” for young men.

Feminists will actively enjoy all the benefits of patriarchy they receive, because they don’t care about change. They care about their side winning. When they say they want emotional intelligence from men, they mean they want emotional support, a shoulder to cry on. Come the man’s turn wanting love from his partner and now it’s suddenly:

“Oh my gawwddd all this emotional labor! Women put up with so much!!!”

And then they scratch their head wondering why they aren’t taken seriously.

It’s pathetic, but society has deemed them and their hypocrisy acceptable. And now they are resorting to demonizing little boys, deeming guilty until proven innocent.

So what can we do but hold our head up high and put up with it?

EDIT: someone just replied to me with a long message but I can’t see it anymore so just DM me so we can discuss if you ever see this.

Punder_man · 2025-04-24T20:57:42+00:00

Feminists claim that women are "Strong" and "Independent" and "Don't need men" until they do need men..
Then.. when those men having heard how they are NOT needed refuse to help.. suddenly they are all about gender roles.

There was a somewhat recent example of a woman who was mugged and nearby there was a group of 3 men who did not involve themselves..
Many women in the comments called them cowards for not stepping in to protect the women's property.. for not risking their own health and safety for POSESSIONS

Many even said "Men should step up in these situations and protect women!"

I also have seen a video of a lawyer on Youtube who pointed out the staunchest feminists magically 180's into extreme conservatism the moment they learn that they may have to pay their ex male partner alimony in a divorce.. suddenly when its women paying alimony and child support equality is "Unfair"

You also have feminists who claim that men should make the first move when it comes to relationships and should pay for all dates.. usually citing the debunked "Wage Gap" as "Balancing the scales"

But by far the worst of all is how feminists claim to be "Fighting for men to be more open with their emotions" which is a flat out lie..
How many feminists say this.. but then turn around on any man opening up and use any of the following:

- Fragile Masculinity
- Male Tears
- Emotional Labor
- Trauma Dumping

Yet men, in relationships with women are STILL expected to be the calm, stoic emotionally stable "Rock" for women to cling to and "Trauma Dump" or saddle with "Emotional Labor" all without complaint or expectation of it being reciprocated...

So yeah.. Feminism does encourage male gender roles, especially the ones which directly benefit women..
The only male gender roles feminism is interested in ending are the ones they deem directly harmful to women.

Disastrous_Average91 · 2025-04-24T18:39:24+00:00

Yes, even toxic/positive masculinity is just gender roles.

Both_Relationship_62 · 2025-04-24T19:47:14+00:00

Feminism feeds on traditional gender expectations, according to which women should be cared for and protected, while men should not complain or whine and must solve their problems on their own. Feminism—especially in the context of its dominance in the mainstream culture and its monopoly on gender discourse at the level of international organizations like the UN and the governments of democratic countries—reproduces slightly modified traditional ideas about gender roles. Compared to openly traditional societies, the only thing that has changed is the explanation of why exactly women should be protected and men shouldn’t complain. In traditional societies, it was explained by saying that women are weak and men must be strong. Now, it is explained by saying that women are oppressed and men are "privileged." But the core idea remains the same.

BKEnjoyerV2 · 2025-04-24T18:56:57+00:00

Yeah- read the comments on Scott Galloway’s most recent instagram post on dating, none of the women will recognize that they are attracted to men with money and status and say it’s because men aren’t emotionally available or mature. Plenty of men are the latter but it’s hard to get over the biological desire for that kind of protection and those qualities and attributes

Previous-Artist-9252 · 2025-04-24T17:25:13+00:00

I don’t think feminism-the-political-theory necessarily pushes gender roles, but women definitely encourage and even rely on men performing masculine gender roles.

Rucs3 · 2025-04-24T20:06:22+00:00

Some feminists definitly do.

Just see the whole will smith slap polemic, when so many self entitled feminists said men SHOULD be agressive, defend perceived honors and shit.

Way too many feminists saying if their man didn't go slapping people for offenses then they would ditch him.

If this is not encouraging (toxic)gender roles I don't know what it is

ChaosCron1 · 2025-04-24T22:06:24+00:00

I think many feminists do encourage certain gender roles however I don't think feminism in its entirety does. There's a solid study that goes into this topic. Endorsements of male gender roles seem to come from more conservative men and women. Or those that hold traditional views of gender in the first place.

When predicting the endorsement of behaviors as traditionally female gender roles (i.e., believing that these behaviors are more appropriate for a women), Idealized Attitudes of Women was found to be a significant positive predictor (greater endorsement of idealized beliefs about women predicts greater endorsement of traditionally female gender roles as being more appropriate for females), and Collective Action was found to be a significant negative predictor (the more Collective Action engaged in, the lower the endorsement of traditionally female gender roles as being more appropriate for females). No gender differences emerged.

When predicting the endorsement of traditionally male gender roles (i.e., believing that these behaviors are more appropriate for a man), greater endorsement of Aversive Attitudes Toward Women, higher levels of Conservative Religiosity, and less engagement in Collective action were predictive of greater endorsement of traditionally male gender roles as being more appropriate for males. The main predictive effects of Aversive Attitudes Toward Women and Collective Action were qualified by an interaction with participant sex. As can be seen in Table 12, Aversive Attitudes Toward Women was a significant positive predictor for female, but not male, participants, and Collective Action was a stronger predictor for male participants than for female participants. Further, there was a significant interaction between Individual Differences and Sex. For male participants, higher levels of the Individual Differences factor (higher self-esteem, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness to experience and extraversion with lower levels of neuroticism) significantly predicted greater endorsement of traditionally male gender roles as being more appropriate for males. This was not a significant predictor for female participants.

We examined how the underlying components, in conjunction with the other included (attitudinal and individual difference) measures, related to the endorsement of behaviors as traditionally male and female. Endorsing stereotypically feminine behaviors (like putting marriage before career or doing the dishes) as being more appropriate for females was predicted by holding idealized attitudes toward women and not having engaged in collective action, for both male and female participants. This is in line with our predictions. We predicted (and found) (1) that stereotypes of womanhood (part of the Idealized Attitudes Toward Women factor) would positively predict endorsing stereotypically feminine behaviors as being more appropriate for females because this measure includes items related to women being caretakers (e.g., desire to have children and nurturing) and (2) that Collective Action would negatively predict endorsing stereotypically feminine behaviors as being more appropriate for females as Collective Action is a measure of engaging in behaviors that support gender equality. One of our predictions regarding the endorsement of behaviors as traditionally female was not supported: we predicted that Attitudes towards Women’s Liberation, a component of Aversive Attitudes toward Women, would be positively related to endorsement of traditionally female gender roles (more traditional views on women’s liberation would be related to greater endorsement of traditionally feminine gender roles.

Predicting the endorsement of behaviors as traditionally male was influenced by several factors and, in some cases, differed as a function of sex of participant. As predicted, Aversive Attitudes Toward Women (our prediction specifically targeted Attitudes Towards Women who Work, which is one part of Aversive Attitudes Toward Women) was a significant positive predictor of endorsing traditional male gender roles, but only for female participants: women who hold more aversive attitudes toward women (like believing that a woman’s place is in the home) are more likely to agree that traditionally male behaviors (like paying on the first date and putting career before marriage) are more appropriate for men

Collective Action was found to be a negative predictor of endorsement of behaviors as typically male for both male and female participants, though it was a stronger predictor for males than for females. That collective action was significantly negatively related to endorsing traditional sex roles (both masculine and feminine) for both males and females is perhaps not surprising. Although we cannot explore a causal explanation in our data, it is possible that this is just self-perception theory at play: that is, we often infer our attitudes from our actions [6]. Individuals who are already engaged in activities that could be seen as leveling the playing field for women and men (speaking out for women’s rights, for example) may infer, based on these actions, that they are opposed to traditional gender roles. Of course reversing the causal arrow may also be true: being opposed to traditional gender roles may lead people to engage in collective action for feminist-related causes. This would be inline with research by Duncan [17] that found that (feminist) attitudes predicted (collective action) behavior.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12147-019-09240-4

DesoLina · 2025-04-24T22:45:07+00:00

Because it’s created to benefit women, not for equality

publicdefecation · 2025-04-24T23:18:42+00:00

It does, but in a much more political way.

Before it was "men should provide for the household and take care of his family" and now it's "men should vote for X or support Y if they love the women in their lives".

CuclGooner · 2025-04-24T23:42:26+00:00

'feminism' is a very broad term. Probably the most well-respected feminist academic is Judith Butler, who does the majority of her work specifically on recognising and discouraging gender roles both male and female

Imakemyownnamereddit · 2025-04-27T06:20:37+00:00

Words mean nothing, actions are what count.

Women can go on about feminism liberating men as much as they like, it means nothing if they are only attracted to men who fit into traditional gender norms.

BernardoDeLaPaz · 2025-04-25T05:58:12+00:00

I don't think feminism does. I think women do currently - but that's different from feminism's goals.

sunyata150 · 2025-04-25T19:52:56+00:00

Yes, because at least in its mainstream form, feminism often sends the message that men must not only solve their own problems but also take responsibility for everyone else’s, even when systemic issues affecting men and boys are ignored or reinforced by women and girls.

This expectation aligns with the ideal man being someone who is self-sufficient and a white knight which is baked into male gender roles. From an early age, men are conditioned not to be a burden and to always be ready to rescue, fix, and problem-solve regardless of the personal cost for the sake of others

Emotional-Self-8387 · 2025-04-29T14:32:09+00:00

Yes. Look at how common it is for “progressive” women to call men gay or sassy anytime they exhibit an iota of feminine behavior. Feminists have always been in it for themselves since the beginning. I mean white women in general didn’t give two fucks about voting until black men earned that right. Then they started the women’s suffrage movement out of jealousy since their former property could vote before them, then that branched out and became the female KKK in the late 19th/early 20th century

2025-04-24T17:08:34+00:00

I don't think that's feminism pushing most of the things you mentioned. But most do come from some attitudes that are influenced by it.

The old saying about antisemitism being the socialism of fools is kind of analogous to what's happened now.

What is understood as feminism and also what's perceived as feminism by those who are opposed and those in favor is a kind of pastiche what feminism is. Or at least what the textbook definition of it is.

These kinds of "demand" politics aren't feminism. It's just the manifestation of women influenced by certain ideas but are not committed to the broader program. Their politics is more a reflection of personal grievance and prejudice than a holistic outlook on how society should be changed.

If anything, most of these demands are about maintaining dynamics that already exist between men and women. There's nothing more conservative than keeping things the same, just the way you want them.

vegetables-10000 · 2025-04-24T21:47:36+00:00

2025-04-24T23:55:32+00:00

Yes feminists are blinded by their hypocrisy

2025-04-24T23:56:11+00:00

feminists =/= feminism

Most people are hypocritical garbage

Sionsickle006 · 2025-04-24T20:30:40+00:00

Feminism as I understood it wasn't very really against gendered roles in general. But that they shouldnt be as strictly enforced. It's basically social equality. If a woman wants or needs to do a "man's job" let her and pay her equally for her work. Don't stop women from doing things purely because it's typically a socially masculine job and visa versa men should be able to like things that might be considered feminine in social gender. It doesn't make either less than they are as men or women. Egalitarianism of the sexes. That's what I was sold on. Not exactly the complete destruction of the concept of sex or socially gendered role stuff.

2025-04-25T14:01:08+00:00

As a core concept feminism doesn't care about what males do with their own roles but aim that women are not confined to there's but in practice most women feminist included still encourage and expect male gender roles.

Rare-Discipline3774 · 2025-04-26T20:06:31+00:00

Yes and no, depends on the type of feminist.

Solanas straight up endorsed genocide.

Hooks endorsed genocide, but by promoting the feminization of males.

Baby_Arrow · 2025-04-26T23:22:45+00:00

Feminism is indifferent to male gender roles. It only seeks to abolish female gender roles. Which amounts to an abandonment of responsibility and virtue (key signs of a dying civilization). Women on the other hand, feminist or not, will indirectly and sometimes subconsciously enforce male gender roles, as men in general will do to women.

Lord_0F_Pedanticism · 2025-04-28T14:29:43+00:00

Yes. A lot of Feminists and Progressives either intentionally or inadvertently uphold and contribute to male gender roles, and punish or discriminate against Men who deviate from them.

PassengerCultural421 · 2025-09-05T22:20:31+00:00

Fuck yes.

"Positive masculinity" is just traditional masculinity with a feminist gaze.

HumbleAd1720 · 2025-04-25T01:32:37+00:00

Feminists do, I don't think ideal form of what is supposed to be feminism does.

LadyMorwenDaebrethil · 2025-12-14T03:07:14+00:00

Trans woman here.

YES. Definitely yes.

But I don't see it as a problem of feminism itself, but of the current generation of feminism. The feminism of the 80s and 90s was very focused on deconstructing gender roles, not only feminine but also masculine. This feminism, popularly known as "third wave," was more pro-queer and sex-positive. The feminism that emerged in the last decade is generally more anti-sex, moralistic, with transphobic tendencies, and also believes in traditional gender roles, as it believes that women are inherently vulnerable and need to be protected by a strong state. Many women who call themselves feminists also suffer from Cinderella complex and select partners based on idealized images of men and also based on daddy issues (dare to try being the submissive baby boy of your heterosexual girlfriend, she will say she wants a "real man" - the only thing that will generate a more sexist reaction from her is you coming out as bisexual).

I don't believe in current feminism. I believe it's a reactionary movement funded and driven on social media by wealthy people interested in dividing the working class along gender lines. The function that feminism had in society, of confronting established gender norms, is now exercised by the queer movement. Every time I agree with a feminist, it's because she's either a queer feminist, or a "third-generation" Black feminist, or because she defends some environmental cause, or because she's a sex worker. In other words, she's someone who has the same goals as the queer movement: to abolish gender roles, blur gender boundaries, create a libertarian collectivist solution to the negative side effects of sexual liberation (competition, individualism, disposability, and advantage for dominant males). The problem is that current feminism is dominated by radical feminists who have a project of gender separatism. They believe that if men and women are increasingly segregated from spaces, it would mean female liberation, but at the same time they believe that gender roles and behaviors are biologically determined in a very caricatured way. In my view, as long as radical feminist hegemony exists within feminism, it will be a harmless movement that contributes to conservative causes, and an effective alliance between feminism and the queer movement will not be possible, only with the sectors of feminism already mentioned, or on specific agendas. In general, feminism needs to give up at least three things: transphobia, gender separatism, and the anti-sex work stance. Feminism also needs to embrace at least a more universalist critique of gender roles – although I think it's too late, this should have been done in 2015.

Title	Do you guys think feminism still encourages male gender roles?
Author	Ok_Structure2545
Upvotes	127
Comments	55
Date	April 23, 2025 6:02 PM UTC (1 year ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates/comments/1k65vlt/do_you_guys_think_feminism_still_encourages_male/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates/do-you-guys-think-feminism-still-encourages-male.1550496 https://theredarchive.com/post/1550496

Comments

- And for a recent case, using a goddamn drama series made by boomers as a “documentary” for young men.