This is a concept I've been mulling over lately, and seems pretty obvious once I integrate it into my worldview.

Social issues are often grouped into the "isms" (even if they don't end in ism). These are racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism and classism.

In American culture, racism is subconsciously the "default" ism, since it is often the first issue we learn about. Racism is extremely important in American history, be it a justification of colonialism or slavery.

Racism is pretty clearly a binary issue, at least in some regards. As a white male, I can't say I have ever seriously thought "this would be so much easier if I was black". White people in the US have zero unique disadvantages, and sometimes have unique advantages. Black people have no unique advantages, and often experience unique disadvantages.

This is a pretty clear 1 and 0, on and off, black and white (no pun intended) problem. One group is marginalized, the other is not. Obviously, if one got into the details of different races, intersectionality, etc. things would get more complicated. But in general conversation, this is quite simple.

This binary way of thinking becomes the default for every issue. It pretty clearly carries over well to ableism, classism and homophobia. Why not gender, too?

It's only natural to apply this to gender if you haven't had the male experience. Zoomed out to a large, generalized scale, women have had far more unique difficulties than men throughout history. This is reinforced time and time again through current progressive rhetoric, mainstream media and social media.

But... I can say I've thought "this would be easier if I was a woman". Hell, I experience that on a regular, near-daily basis. I won't get into a list, but just having my own personal struggles validated or taken seriously by other young progressives would make a night and day difference in my life. Even a tiny amount of reciprocation of the effort I've put into understanding women's daily struggles would vastly improve my mental well-being.

That's not going to happen, though. Sometimes, progressives will acknowledge men's unique issues. To me, this always feels performative. "Feminism cares about men's issues, too", but if you try to talk about them for more than 5 seconds, you're invalidated, victim-blamed or angrily refuted. Acknowledging men's issues is a cheap, easy way to look good and feel good about yourself. "See, I care about them too". Going beyond an acknowledgement is too much, because it would actually validate the issues and make it clear effort is needed.

Gender issues are not the same as race issues. None of the isms are the same. This should be obvious to anyone who cares enough to think about them critically. But young, performative progressives that have their beliefs for social reasons rather than principles don't have any reason to examine them further.

Socially, you will be appreciated by your progressive peers for caring about women's issues, encouraging the behavior. Even if you're personally invested or affected, there is no social pressure to care about men. One may even say it is discouraged. The caring must come from within and happen regardless of the movement's approval.

I have some faith that things will slowly correct themselves. The movement can't afford to keep invalidating male experiences. Progressive people run the mainstream cultural zeitgeist, so if men are moving away instead of naturally with the current, it'll become apparent it's the mainstream's fault. Whether it's progress on gender issues stalling out, or more trans folks speaking about it on social media (like James Barnes' viral video), things have to change.

What can we do to highlight this difference? Is there any hope in getting through to someone who thinks being born male is analogous to being born white or straight? The acknowledgement of men's issues is a crack in the door. No anti-racist ever says they "care about white issues too", so clearly they recognize there is a difference. Can we pry it open?