Note that this poll only targetted around 3000 UK adults aged 16+. Nonetheless I personally think the trend this poll highlights is worrying and worthy of discussion.

Also note I changed the original title to not use the terms “Gen Z” and “baby boomers” since I think putting in the ages is clearer.


Some choice quotes:

On feminism, 16% of [16 to 29-year-old] males felt it had done more harm than good. Among over-60s the figure was 13%.

One in four UK males aged 16 to 29 believe it is harder to be a man than a woman.

37% of men aged 16 to 29 consider “toxic masculinity” an unhelpful phrase, roughly double the number of young women who don’t like it.

The figures emerged from Ipsos polling for King’s College London’s Policy Institute and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership.

“This is a new and unusual generational pattern,” said Prof Bobby Duffy, director of the Policy Institute. “Normally, it tends to be the case that younger generations are consistently more comfortable with emerging social norms, as they grew up with these as a natural part of their lives.”

But Duffy said: “There is a consistent minority of between one-fifth and one-third who hold the opposite view. This points to a real risk of fractious division among this coming generation.”

Prof Rosie Campbell, director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s, said: “The fact that this group is the first to derive most of their information from social media is likely to be at least part of the explanation.

In the meantime, social media algorithms are filling the vacuum, she said. “This could be something that changes when young men enter the workforce but we can’t take that for granted given how important social media is in the way we understand ourselves.”

  • raccoona_nongrata@beehaw.org
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    10 months ago

    It’s probably a result of ignorance. People like Steve Bannon, Jordan Peterson, Tim Pool etc. have preyed on a generation of young men to create this narrative that they’ve been victimized by feminism. In reality, the vast majority of normal men are themselves victims of the patriarchal cultural.

    They’re victimized in a different way than women, but all the negative things they complain about (pressure to fit certain unrealistic roles, their dependence on status and heirarchy, the low priority placed on abused men by society etc.) are all symptoms of patriarchal system. That’s where the confusion is seeded because it’s difficult to concisely explain to men how a system designed to priviledge men is also one that victimizes men, because it’s not for all men, not really.

    Men also benefit from the liberty of women and the re-valuation of feminine characteristics.

    • Elise@beehaw.org
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      10 months ago

      As a transwoman this strikes close to home. I’ve always felt that if I am able to be free, that means that everyone is free. Specifically by giving up privilege. When you see me I hope that’s what you feel, including men. It’s added value.

      But well, for others it somehow attacks their identity.

      • raccoona_nongrata@beehaw.org
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        10 months ago

        Yes, and I think trans people, trans women in particular, so flagrantly flout the patriarchal rule merely by existing as themselves honestly that it’s no great wonder they’ve become a lightning rod for the far-right.

        The right needs society to reject trans people because the acceptance of them and their ability to live happy, fulfilling lives undermines the foundations of the right’s entire worldview – it neutralizes the fear they use to control men and women by showing that no, actually, the stakes of performing your assigned role are not as high or unchangeable as you thought.