Why do some feminists and BPers react negatively to the idea that men are expendable?

duckyhunter · 2015-12-02T01:35:57+00:00

Women are a protected class. We saw the outrage Reddit had when it was learned that women were being "tricked" into joining ISIS to become sex slaves. Not nearly as much moral outrage was generated at men being rounded up and forced to go to war and die for a faction they hate.

Fictional stories cast men as characters by default. A character is only written as a woman if it's important to her character. Thus the trope: men are average, women are special. Men are defined by their actions, women by their being. A man doing nothing is worthless, subhuman. A woman doing nothing is still special because she's a woman.

Nevertheless, women are celebrated for being hard workers and strong, sovereign people of achievement. Society couldn't give two shits about a man who achieves great things anywhere but sports. It's just what he's supposed to do. His measure as a man comes from how good a father, brother, or son he is. He's only as good as how he treats the women in his life.

Men are expected to give of themselves so that freedom can live, our enemies can die, our infrastructure can remain standing, our phones can get a good signal, our children can grow with as little obstacles to their development as possible, their wives can be happy, their mothers can be supported. Women are only asked to be what they want to be, damn the glass ceiling.

Men live lonelier lives on average. Men kill themselves more often. Men are currently performing worse in school and having a harder time finding jobs than women. Men being raped in prison is the butt of jokes on Family Guy and The Boondocks. None of these things phase anyone because men suffering is considered normal. We blame them for being weak, or losers, invalidating their problems and blaming them as perpetrators of their own victimization. They're just not that important to the world.

Hence, the prevailing sentiment that men are expendable. It's not feminism's fault. It's a result of traditionally conservative gender roles. But to say it isn't real is delusional.

I think the whole notion, though, does undermine what feminists are trying to do as a "distraction" from women's issues, which are seen as more important, since...well, the expendable thing.

lurfly · 2015-12-02T00:46:06+00:00

When you say "react negatively" I'm not 100% sure what you mean.

But I'll take a guess and say that they don't think men are expendable and men being treated as expendable is upsetting to them?

wuboo · 2015-12-02T03:19:09+00:00

I think this may be due to people having a set of values where one believes that all lives are valuable, and to dictate that some are more valuable than others based on gender, or race, or sexuality, or whatever, is an affront to those values. Regardless of the whole men are expendable because sperm is cheap blah blah blah, I don't see that as making men inherently less valuable than women.

[deleted] · Tue Dec 1 21:06:01 2015 UTC

[permanently deleted]

angels_fan · 2015-12-02T04:40:09+00:00

What about in the East where women are most definitely treated as sub human?

China kills babies when they find out they are girls.

A woman that is raped can be beheaded in the middle East because she is no longer a virgin.

Now tell me again how women aren't expendable?

bromance946 · 2015-12-01T21:40:25+00:00

Everyone is disposable.

Can RP clarify the notion of what is meant by men are expendable? Does it just mean that since women have more options in relationships, they can always have the "abundance mentality", and hence an individual man is less valuable to her, or is there something more to the idea?

coratoad · 2015-12-02T00:23:15+00:00

Because you aren't expendable. I love every last one of you unless you are in ISIS or a RP mod.

Amethhyst · 2015-12-02T00:01:18+00:00

Because I don't consider men to be any more disposable than women and I object to the suggestion that they are?

Does this undermine the idea that genders are equal?

Yes.

Rufus_Reddit · 2015-12-02T16:29:19+00:00

Does this undermine the idea that genders are equal?

Even worse, it undermines the narrative that men are recipients of pure privilege and that men enjoy infinite agency.

midnightvulpine · 2015-12-02T17:16:56+00:00

Personally, I find the notion short sighted and rather cold. People in general aren't expendable. Because what you have between your legs does not dictate what you will do for your fellow man. Science and technology show us that everyone has a chance to change the equation in large or small ways.

Title	Why do some feminists and BPers react negatively to the idea that men are expendable?
Author	PM_me_ur_rape_tweets
Upvotes	5
Comments	75
Date	December 1, 2015 9:02 PM UTC (10 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/PurplePillDebate
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/PurplePillDebate/comments/3v1so4/why_do_some_feminists_and_bpers_react_negatively/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/PurplePillDebate/why-do-some-feminists-and-bpers-react-negatively.278164 https://theredarchive.com/post/278164

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