Examples include:

If they really wanted it to stop, they'd just stop doing it

or

They can't seem to help themselves

and the clincher

The prevalence of their violence shows their true nature.

It makes sense that they'd sound so similar because both feminism and racist conservatives are swimming in the waters of biological essentialism - a belief that a person's biological traits such as race or sex is what determines what kind of person they are, or even what kind of person they are even capable of being.

If you doubt the last, here's EJ Dickson, a writer for Rolling Stone, on the character of her own son:

there is strong evidence that our society is so steeped in toxic masculinity, so drenched in the primordial ooze of white male supremacy, that it doesn't matter how many dolls you buy your kid or how many times he reads A Is For Activist.

A white man born to uber-woke, uber feminist parents is still a white man, and he will enjoy the privileges afforded to white men. And with this privilege comes the inherently limited ability to empathize or identify with the lived experiences of women, LGBT people, and people of color.

Or this model in Vogue talking about the depression she fell into upon learning she'd be bearing 'yet another white male' into the world

Feminists see men as a problem to be solved, not understood. Which is exactly how racist Republicans look at black people.

When the left wing (or, you know: science) looks at "inner city crime", it looks at a history of racism, the capitalist reality that poverty will beget poverty for generations, the social and psychological effects of legal and financial oppression and come to an understanding.

There is no room to say "Black communities are more violent because black people are more violent" because it's axiomatic that biological essentialism has no place in a democratic and/or scientific society.

Entire identity groups aren't inherently bad because of their biology. Any suggestion of such would be bigotry by any definition.

Nobody says this because nobody has to. It's well-understood.

 

And yet. And yet...

 

When it comes to men, suddenly there's no need to understand WHY male violence occurs. It's like everybody already assumes the reason: male violence happens because men are men.

There's no talk about sexual dimorphism forcing men into the role of 'meat shield' for our entire physical and social evolution.

There's no mention of the fact that every person alive today is only here because one of their ancestors was a better killer than some other poor schmuck.

There's no talk about the inter-generational trauma caused by wars at least once every generation or even the day-to-day violence from which women were mostly protected.

Men have caught the brunt of almost all this societal violence since men began. How is it possible that a society so concerned about mental health cannot see the accumulated toll this violence would take over the course of 300,000 years?

Nobody says anything about modern society's abusive relationship with men either.

There's still the physical abuse - the dying, the mangling, the maiming, all to make profit for the rich - but now there's also the verbal and mental abuse via social media that men face on a daily basis.

Another psychic load for men to carry in a society where they are far more likely to be isolated than women, less educated than women, less cared about than women.

All of these are relevant factors behind 'male violence' but they are never discussed because it would require for feminists and society to look upon men with empathy and consideration.

And nobody talks about men with empathy and consideration not just due to hate but also because too many powerful people and organizations need men to play the role of oppressor, never victim. Anything else kicks the foundation of their power out from under them.

So it's not just hate that men are up against, but power too.

Because of the recent shooting, you are going to hear a lot of ironically-weaponized talk about 'male violence' over the course of the next week or two.

When you do, remember that you're hearing the voice of biological essentialism, that which has sat on the shoulder of every bigot in history and whispered sweet reductionisms into their ear.

You are hearing incomplete facts and the result of unconsidered perspectives.

You are hearing a naked lack of empathy for half the people in the world.

You are hearing bigotry, and you don't deserve it.

 

Love and strength, everyone.