January 24, 2025
Research suggests that 'woke' Gen Z men are actually more likely than Baby Boomers to believe that feminism causes more harm than good.

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Gen Z is often referred to as the most inclusive generation ever. This is the demographic that is leading the discussion on mental health, sexual experiences, and politics. But new research shows that feminism doesn’t cut it for their progressive views.

For a growing group of young men, the radical belief that women should be given the same rights, power and opportunities as their male counterparts is even more damaging.

That’s according to a new study from King’s College London’s Policy Institute and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, in partnership with Ipsos UK, which revealed that older men are actually less likely than men in the next generation to be about equality between the sexes. Has more progressive views.

Perhaps surprisingly, Gen Z men are more likely than older children to believe that feminism has caused more harm than good.

In fact, one in four men aged 16 to 29 in Britain believe it is more difficult to be a man than a woman and among those who have heard of self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate The fifth man looks at him kindly.

didn’t expect

The research says the data is the exact opposite of what men today perceive about their “pale, stale and male” predecessors: the public was most likely to think that the oldest group of men believed That equal opportunities for women have gone too far. However, Millennial men, followed by Gen Zers, were actually more likely to feel this way.

It’s clear that young men – who are seeing pressure for women to pull up the ranks – are concerned about their future careers: Nearly 20% of Gen It will be a difficult 20 years. In comparison, for men above 60 years of age, it has dropped to only 9%.

“This is a new and unusual generational pattern – generally, what happens is that younger generations are more comfortable with constantly evolving social norms, because they have grown up with these as a natural part of their lives,” Professor Bobby. said Duffy, director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London. “This points to a real risk of disruptive division among the next generation of young people.”

The rise of misogynistic influencers

At the same time as young men are turning away from feminism, the online popularity of misogynistic men is rising. According to Duffy, men who are feeling neglected are filling that “void” by connecting with influencers like Tate and validating their views.

Despite facing charges in Romania of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, which he denies, Tate still has a following of fans with 8.7 million followers on social media platform X alone. There is a loyal army. His popular Instagram and Facebook accounts were deleted, and while he was banned from ever having a TikTok account, content posted under the hashtag #AndrewTate has been viewed billions of times.

In a video, which led to his ouster from the British version of Big Brother, he was seen hitting a woman with a belt. He claimed that it was a consensual act.

Since then, the British-American kickboxer-turned-influencer, who proudly calls himself the “King of Toxic Masculinity,” has openly said that women are men’s “property” and “belong in the house” — and teacher threats. As a result, misogyny increased in the classroom.

And Tate is one of many anti-feminist podcasters whose popularity has grown in recent years. Another name that resonated with more than a third of the young men included in the study is best-selling author, influencer and Canadian academic Jordan Peterson, who speaks for “disillusioned young men” and says Tate ” Offers “blatant aggression” as an alternative to “a crushing defeat”. ,

Meanwhile, female influencer Pearl Davis has amassed nearly 2 million followers on YouTube, where she frequently collaborates with Tate on videos arguing that women should not vote, men being able to answer to women. and elaborated on “the problem of diversity hiring”.

What does this mean for the future of women in the workplace?

Previous research has suggested that Gen Z are likely to view increased diversity as a “good thing” and that they will “take a stand” against outdated workplace practices such as sexism.

So young business women are pinning their hopes on Gen Z to help make the workforce more equitable to them and speed up the dial on gender equality – only seven of the UK’s top 100 companies are led by women – new data Can be crushed by.

So how can workplaces become more inclusive when the next wave of men coming into them hold less progressive views than their predecessors?

While it might be easy to say this is a phase that will pass, “unusual generational patterns” can be seen beyond the UK: half of young men in the US also believe they face some form of discrimination. , and less than half identify themselves as feminists, according to analysis by Danielle Cox, director of the Survey on American Life. Meanwhile, only half of women support the #MeToo movement, compared to nearly three-quarters of women.

Similarly, Gallup data shows that young men around the world are becoming increasingly conservative, while women are becoming more progressive.

Young men today are entering the workplace at a time when women are holding senior positions for the first time in the history of some companies – and that may be why Gen Z men are feeling sidelined and, in turn, feminism. Feeling threatened by.

In his 1991 book Backlash: The undeclared war against American womenFeminist writer Susan Faludi argued that the backlash against women’s rights was “a recurring phenomenon” that “comes back every time women begin to make some progress toward equality.”

Are you someone who believes that feminism has done more harm than good in the workplace? We would like to hear your experiences. Email: [email protected]

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Source: fortune.com

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