Can the left win back men?

OrangleyOrange · 2023-04-04T12:07:33+00:00

The bar is so low to help men, like just basic accountability from the left to hold our gender discussion to a higher more inclusive standard for men could easily win over so many men.

Also doesn’t help that people are socially positively rewarded for shitting on men

matrixislife · 2023-04-04T15:44:24+00:00

It feels like the left has lost a generation of support, especially in the UK. The anti-male narrative has been so toxic that many men have just bowed out of the discussion, while others have gone the full hog and voted for the right.

This is likely to continue as long as the left refuses to address the problems men face. The idea that "we can ignore these people and their concerns will disappear" isn't working and will only make things worse in the long run.

Expecting men to forgive and forget the last few decades is not going to happen, politicians who have supported the abuse of men are marked and will not get support. Sooner or later they'll get the message, or a P45, one or the other.

didnotbuyWinRar · 2023-04-04T12:40:12+00:00

We absolutely need to come up with better messaging. Ask the average leftist why the problems on slide 5 exist and they'll say "toxic masculinity" or something like "why would we focus on mens' issues right now when there is still so much to be done for womens' issues?"

It feels like these people never actually cared about the principle of equality in the first place, and were only using feminism as a vessel for woman supremacy. Bring up any mens' issue in a left space and you'll be called an "MRA" as an insult. Imagine being part of a social justice movement and calling someone a RIGHTS ADVOCATE as an insult. I feel lied to.

The right is no better, I don't want to return to the days of women being subservient bangmaids, but at least they're acknowledging that men are facing issues today. I'd like to think for most voters, the prospect of equality is still something people want and once you point out the hard facts of inequality, peoples' minds will shift.

That's the idealist in me though, the cynic in me says men will always be viewed as disposable and people will always be more sympathetic to womens' issues. I hope I'm wrong for my son's sake, but every time I see an article like this (happened yesterday) pop up it makes me fear that we're just careening down the path of societal misandry.

agiganticpanda · 2023-04-04T23:55:11+00:00

Honestly? The left community is something I actively avoid. I'll never be right wing because they actively campaign against so many issues I care about - but when the left always eats itself and constantly prioritizes the dumbest shit - I can't interact with it.

The concept of a "safe space" is the idea that we can discuss ideas without personal attacks and snap judgments. They've turned it into a "who can pretend to be offended first" in literally any left leaning space. It's exhausting

Professional-You2968 · 2023-04-04T13:49:29+00:00

The left lost this train years ago, I see it very clearly in the country I am from. It's not just men's issues, it's also overall working class issues they don't care about any more, so the only thing that the right has to do is to hang a carrot in front of the starved donkey and people will vote them. Like you, I was always a leftist, but I cannot vote for people that actively work against men.

Njaulv · 2023-04-04T21:46:40+00:00

Men don't really care about each other the way they care about women. So, left or right it does not matter. Men won't stand up for other men as a whole. Women as a whole don't care about us either. Left or right. We are cannon fodder.

TheTinMenBlog · 2023-04-04T10:52:01+00:00

A Work in Progress – so feedback / corrections welcome.

As a Londoner and a-life-long-labour-voting-leftie-and-passionate-remainer, it’s safe to say we live in a bubble.

Be it elections or referendums, I have quite literally never had a single thing I vote for win. Not even once.

And before every crushing defeat, we have the same god damn conversation every time. The same electrified chatter, the same self congratulatory back patting, the same hopes and dreams blabbered away.

A room of optimistic lefties rings with excitement; firing off the party poppers, and prematurity cracking open the Champagne as the vote count begins.

But mere hours later the party is over; replaced instead by tears, tantrums and bewilderment. Our dreams lay smashed beside the confetti, as our latest prognosticator gets stomped into the dirt, to be washed away by the ridicule of tomorrow’s newspaper headlines.

Again. And again. And again.

It’s happened enough times now for me to safely say we are deluded, and to question what the hell is going on?

Most importantly I want to ask, how do we win next time?

So I wonder – as much as the political landscape has been shaped by the advocacy of women over the last hundred years, perhaps the next tide of progress might be shaped by men and boys?

The men and boys for who nobody advocates, and whose votes are the low hanging fruit for whoever dares pick them.