I hate being grouped into an all-encompassing definitive. I am completely capable of knowing when my rights are in threat of infringement. Do these type of women just think men are stupid?

I know this sounds something that everybody already seems to know, but that realisation hit me two days ago and I cannot get it out of my head and I feel I’m getting more and more angrier about it.

Many here have probably either watched or heard about the TV show that deals with women’s place in a dystopian world, based on a book (I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say the title). Well, I finally watched the last two seasons after being completely distraught when I watched the first two seasons and needed to distance myself. It was in the middle of the previous US presidency and everything just felt too gloomy and I couldn’t watch it, so I did it now and it made me want to discuss the show in length.

I spoke with someone who is dear to me, who is pro-women and pro-women’s rights and who happens to be male.

And he told me that he doesn’t see how these things could happen or would happen in the place where we live right now, which isn’t the US, but it is in Europe.

To say that we had a disagreement over this topic would be an understatement. Despite everything I said, all the examples I brought out - both from modern and historic - he was pretty adamant that it wouldn’t happen where we were and if the first signs were there “women should protest” and I felt like everything I tried to explain about the book, the series, the whole point just flew past his head. Because he couldn’t even entertain the thought that this could happen where we were, even with women protesting and disagreeing with this.

And it made me realise that I, as a woman, have grown up to know that my rights aren’t given, that I need to support expanding those rights and that even when these rights have been achieved, one has to be loud and ensure that the rights are being kept as they’ve been achieved. And men... just haven’t. He’s never had to worry that a doctor will think he’s being hysterical or overwhelmed. He’s never had to seriously worry that he won’t be listened to. He doesn’t even entertain the thought that someone would not allow him to use his own hard earned money or not allow him to have a bank account, because that’s what happens in dictatorships and we live in modern times.

And it makes me so angry, even now, two days later, because I see the book and the TV show as a warning of what might happen if fundamental religiousness is allowed to control the society or adherence to restrictive societal expectations of women can lead to remaking of society and for him it’s all fictional. Never mind that the examples are there even from modern times! Never mind that we have people who practice extreme religiousness within their own lives and there are women who are subjugated, against their will, to these rules even today and now. Nope, not gonna happen.

And he’s a good guy - educated, pro-women, pro-choice, gender equality et cetera. There are so many who believe in even less. It just makes me both sad and mad and I feel like the only people who understand why the show and book freak me out are.... other women.

Idk why I wanted to post this, his reaction has made me rant about men and their perception of the world and thinking that their heads are in clouds sometimes.