I can imagine this sub gets posts like this one a lot, but I just have to say it.

I scroll on TikTok for about 10 minutes before I have to just close the app in disbelief. When I see posts of people “advocating” for women’s rights, it just makes me think of 2020. It was around that time when advocacy began holding a lot of value to society…but at some point in between then and now, this “advocacy” has (generally even, not just in regards to feminism) grown into biased, uneducated, and thoughtless opinions that often lack basic context or moral reasoning.

I thought that the whole idea of this movement was to engrave into society that women are capable and deserving of opportunities and equal treatment, as a man would be. That women are entitled to making decisions for themselves and that women should be able to go through their daily lives safely and comfortably. I don’t see any incorrectness there; these are all values that society really can benefit and improve from. Over the past year or two, though, it seems as though people on social media have shifted their focus over to just flat out misandry and irrationality.

I have seen several posts of men speaking up about assault or injustice, only to open the comments finding thousands of women openly mocking and hating on them. It doesn’t even make any sense. I get the idea behind it, of course. Men do this to women, treat people the way they treat you, all of that. But did none of these people grow up hearing the phrases “two wrongs don’t make a right” or “you can’t fight fire with fire”? Okay, I also understand not wanting to be the bigger person; not wanting to have to feel responsible for yourself and the opposing party, but it still doesn’t make any rational sense whatsoever. Firstly, the thousands of people mocking these men don’t even know the men they’re mocking. They see a male on their for you page advocating for himself, hate on it solely because he is a male, and that is the simple truth that they have no shame in admitting. These people don’t know if this man is a raging misogynist, or if for all we know, he’s studying to become a women’s rights lawyer in college right now! They hide behind their screens preaching exactly what they’ve been preaching AGAINST because of an assumption they made based off of his gender! And it just gets worse by the day. There is no shame in the comments that they leave. Whether they’re discussing their excruciating hatred for men, or laughing at male suicide rates, or asking what they were wearing under posts of men speaking up, the comments get thousands of likes every time without fail.

This is what I don’t understand. They do that and then go on to later post about how unfair and tragic it is to live life as a woman. Own it at the very least. If you’re going to repeat the actions of those you complain about, you’re a hypocrite and you should at LEAST own your actions instead of living in an endless loop of victim mentality. (Let me quickly add that by saying ‘victim mentality’, I mean that If you’re repeating words/actions you wouldn’t want said/done to you and then complaining about it, it is because you have a victim complex.) From the looks of it, most of these people who once advocated for women’s rights devolved into people thoughtlessly projecting their anger onto the internet.

I saw a comment thread where a user was arguing to another user that it was belittling to women that they acknowledged men being taken less seriously when it comes to sexual assault. It was under a post about the Menendez brothers.

A common phrase that people used to quote was “it’s not all men, but it’s some, and that is the problem.” So, wouldn’t that apply to women too? Or is the idea that no woman in history has ever assaulted or verbally abused another person? I guess what I’m trying to say is everything is just so backwards. The whole idea of modern feminism is a disorganized, ineffective, and opinionated mess. I feel that the statements people make in their posts are no longer educated and rational, but just a mix of emotion and blind rage.

The solution here isn’t to split into teams of opposite genders and throw rocks at eachother like savages. It’s a neverending cycle of chaos that leads to literally nowhere. Like, please do not even get me started on the man vs. bear situation or the ‘I hate my boyfriend’ bullshit. I know they’re stupid trends made by mindless people but it’s just so ridiculous.

TikTok is just a swamp of brainwashed and uneducated people making harmfully ignorant statements, and the problem isn’t whether or not I find it offensive. This huge circulation of negativity and irrationality can only leave me worried how this may influence our youth and further push society backwards rather than forwards. What are your thoughts?