"b-but bears are actually dangerous!" Shut the hell up.
this post was submitted on 11 May 2024
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Yes, this is the correct take.
The bear meme is meant to make men uncomfortable and surprised by how they are seen as a generalization among women. It isn't meant to be anti-men or anything, it's just meant to show the lived experience of women to men in a hypothetical absurdity.
The cure to sexism is definitely more sexism.
What part is sexist? There can be no equality if uncomfortable realities are brushed aside, illuminating the very real lived experience that women are constantly wary of the average man allows us to confront said issue. Telling women that they are "wrong" and just need to feel different about the issue just perpetuates this distrust.
Listen to women.
The part where there's 3.8 billion men on the planet, and although the stats are hard to put together, lots of contradictions, they point to less than 1% of them being incarcerated (for all crime not just crime against women) even vastly exaggerating that to 5% (to account for men not being caught etc) leaves 95% of the general male population being decent and no threat. Blaming men, when men aren't the issue is sexist. Blaming religion, poor education etc would be less sexist and aimed more towards what the actual issue is and help work towards a cure, man Vs bear does nothing but divide and spread fear. Stats show that black people perform a higher amount of crime than other races, does this mean we should be racist? Does this mean you'd pick a random bear over a random black person? I don't think it does, because it's not the colour of their skin, nor is it the apparatus between some bodies legs that defines them. Blaming the wrong thing is sexist, or racist in both these cases. I'm not saying women aren't walking around terrified, but a lot of that has to do with polar discussion that doesn't help like man Vs bear telling them they should live in fear and does nothing to help the actual problems. And if you don't believe that to be true you are part of a much bigger problem humanity is facing, misinformation and fear mongering.
This is just an elaborate "not all men," and just shuts women up.
You said it yourself accurately, women are walking around terrified. The average woman heavily distrusts the average man. This isn't a call to demonize men, but to showcase that collective distrust so we can move beyond it.
What good does it do unless we look at the causes. All this does is divide people. Why is that the right thing to do? We should be joining together to extinguish toxic masculinity, stamp out religion and improve education. Not radicalising toxic femanisity
Again, you're missing the forest for the trees. The fact is, many men think that equality has already been achieved, despite systemic power imbalances.
Radical feminism is a good thing, "toxic feminisity" is largely a strawman myth.
I think you're missing the point entirely. The man Vs bear argument serves no purpose but to divide. And when people fight with emotion, exactly what you're doing, women lose the right to abortions, to vote. There's no logic behind these decisions, they are fueled only by the emotions of closed minded people. Adding to the fire helps nobody and in fact takes things a step backwards. Misinformation and fear mongering isn't the way to solve this issue. Alienating the 95% of decent men that want the same thing as women won't help the cause. You're blaming the wrong group of people with polar blanket statements like man Vs bear
No, lol.
You are rejecting the purpose, which is to force men to acknowledge the fear the average woman has for the average man. The purpose isn't to divide, that's stupid and a strawman.
I am not "fighting with emotion," I am telling you in no uncertain terms that the average woman distrusts the average man due to systemic power imbalances.
Pretending everyone is just using "misinformation and fearmongering" is reactionary nonsense that should not be taken seriously by anyone trying to fix these issues. Men are working actively against women even without knowingly trying to by supporting a patriarchial system without criticizing it.
You are going one step further, and actively trying to shut down the voice of women.
"NOT ALL MEN!" Screams the men who think themselves decent for simply not assaulting women, rather than doing the bare minimum and listening and supporting women.
Fine don't blame the things responsible..this isn't an argument I can win when you're attacking with emotion and ignoring anything factual. Men aren't working against women, the vast majority want the same thing. You are misinformed, because you're basing your evidence solely on emotion and teaching people they should hate men, rather than work together to fix the issues which time and time again I have explained isn't men, but systems put in place by things like religion and poor education. You're making enemies where there are allies because you will not listen to reason. But you go on hating and blaming men, see if it solves your issues or if you actually only aid in retaliation and lose more rights.
Every single one of your points has been nothing but vibes, lol. Please, explain how I have been "arguing emotionally" instead of logically.
There are 3.8 billion men on the planet. A tiny % of them (less than 1%) want to harm women. Miniscule in fact, the vast majority want women to have all the rights they have, me included. You don't know what the average woman wants any more than I do. I know loads of women none of them afraid of men, some are even married to men. They don't go about their days in fear you are just telling me they are and I should accept that because that's how you feel, because you feel it doesn't make it true. I also know loads of men and none of them have any hatred towards women they are in fact allies. Yes historically men have had more power and it is still very much the case, we need to work together to change this, denying that change hasn't or isn't happening is fear mongering when in fact everyday battles are won in the fight for women's rights. Statistically and logically you are wrong, so the only thing you have is emotions, that's why I am telling you that you are attacking with emotions.
You can't even acknowledge that I'm on your side, this is the right discussion to be having, you just need to aim your hatred at the right people. The politicians that want to take away rights, the religious fanatics who quote bible verses like women shouldn't speak unless spoken to, the toxic masculinity that makes fathers teach their sons the wrong life lessons. We need to work together not blame men for something that the majority of men want to fix as much as you do.
Wow, lots of anecdotes, and yet most women are picking the bear. I never said all women fear all men, but that the average woman fears the average man. Pretty huge distinction!
Secondly, there's a massive difference between simply wanting equal rights, and being willing to tackle highly imbalanced social power structures.
I am not blaming men. I am blaming the partiarchial system, and hoping fellow men can also correctly point the blame at systemic issues, rather than telling women to shut the fuck up and explaining to them what they should be fighting.
You aren't an ally yet, because you are dedicated to silencing women. Sit back, listen, and then support. Easy as that. Yes, religion and conservativism are also bad, but those are also products of systemic issues. You say we need to look at the cause, yet you're contributing to it by invalidating the lived experience of women.
Basically, I'm telling you to touch grass and stop contributing to the reasons why the average woman is picking the bear.
I never once tried to silence you, I'm actually enjoying our discussion very much and think it's a very important one to have. All I'm trying to say is you're not alone in what you are fighting for and there are many many men on your side statistics back this up. But when you pick the bear you are actively working against the men trying to help. By not acknowledging the majority of men are on your side you are causing division, you are making things worse for yourself by not accepting we are trying to change things for the better for everyone.
Basically telling you to touch grass and stop contributing to the fire that's taking women's rights away by blaming the issue on the wrong thing. You are teaching young women they should be afraid of men, when statistics and reality say the opposite is true and we should be all working together for a common goal.
You are trying to silence me though, telling me I can only sit down and listen to obvious sexism. When what people should do when they experience sexism is speaking up and speak loud.
I am not a woman, by the way.
I am going to restate my thesis, perhaps wording it in an alternative manner may help you: most men do not intentionally side against women. That is why the bear discourse has been so polarizing and shocking for men like yourself. You believe yourself to be supportive of women, but as you aren't actually listening to the many women picking the bear, you serve to silence them.
When society changes, fragments of past society remain. Just because there are few if any legal limits on women in developed countries does not mean that they hold equal societal power. Few women are CEOs or world leaders.
The path to the liberation of women cannot be done via simply making men and women equal under the law. This ignores the entirety of patriarchial history and results in power remaining in the hands of men.
That is the crux of the issue you are silencing by silencing women. Telling women that they are stupid for fearing men, who hold far more societal power than they do, is in fact sexist of you, even if unintentional. I am not teaching women anything, the Bear Discourse has purely been an opportunity for me to listen to women.
Honestly you are coming across very aggressively, very toxic and seem unwilling to listen to any of the facts. so I'm going to end my part in this discussion, you can live in your fantasy world where change isn't happening. In my world we've had women running the country multiple times. They appear and excel in every career, and it's very easy to see things are happening, I'll admit slower than I'd like, but they definitely are. Just the other day women won the right to go topless on beaches in Belgium, another win in the fight against sexism. I feel you're just a stubborn argumentative person, so any mention of facts or any calls to reality fall on deaf ears.
What facts have you presented, and why is your response to women telling you they feel unsafe alone around the average man "shut the fuck up, they are on your side, actually" and not "wow, that's horrible, I wonder why that is?"
Dude calm down I said I'm done.
I never once said my response is shut the fuck up. Stop putting words in my mouth. My response was, wow that's terrible I wonder what caused that, is it religion, politics should we be fighting that instead. The facts were it's only a very low percentage of men lower than 1% That every day battles are won in the fight against equality That we've had women in power in my country and all over the world That the majority of women I know do not fear men That things are moving in the right direction (albeit slowly)
This does not even move the needle in accomplishing that in any way. It is divisive BS.
I get that, and you're right. But a lot of people are taking the meme too far, and taking something that was originally good, and making it it anti-men. Men's feelings actually matter, and we as society need to start actually thinking about them, rather than just telling them to man up all the time.
I've talked to a whole bunch of anti-bear men, and all of them accept the point when told in an empathetic way that acknowledges their right to feel the way they do. You can take that feeling and channel it as a force for good, rather them antagonising them and pushing them further away
(Not saying you in particular are doing this)
Edit: Please respond instead of downvoting. I'm failing to see the problem with identifying that there's a enough antagonistic commenters that maybe it's pushing people in the wrong direction. And we now require an over-correction of empathy to undo that damage.