Languages
Equality:
All genders have the same opportunities.
Without disadvantage. Without preference. Without exception.
Unless it comes to medicine.
Military
Germany:1
The Bundestag has passed the Military Service Modernization Act.
From January 2026, all 18-year-old men must complete a military questionnaire. Fines up to €1,000 for refusal. Conscription. Must be available.
For women, it is voluntary.
USA:2
Men must register.
If the state needs soldiers again, men will be drafted.
For women, it is voluntary.
And in other countries, it is similar.
It would only be fair if women were also required to serve or if the military were voluntary for everyone.
Feminists do not discuss these points. Why?
Why don’t feminists protest this?
These laws have not been abolished. So feminists could still speak out and fight against them.
Psychological Warfare
Speech
Many feminists use terms like “Mansplaining”, “Toxic Masculinity”, “Patriarchy”, etc.
Notice something?
It is almost always directed AGAINST men.
When you invent or use words to attack a gender, in this case men, rather than individuals, that has nothing to do with equality. It is an excuse to play the victim and blame men.
When terms address only one gender, equality is broken.
Patriarchy
Meaning:
A societal model in which men hold leading positions in family, law, politics, and economy.
Historically:
The problem was that women were considered incapable, and many “important professions” could only be held by men. But it was not always black and white.
Example: Ann Hopkins was denied partnership at Price Waterhouse in 1989 because she was a woman despite better performance than male colleagues.3
It was wrong, and it must be criticized.
Today:
But today (at least in the West), this term is no longer valid.
There are so many women in leadership positions and governments, e.g., Angela Merkel, Hillary Clinton, etc.4
Why is the term still used so forcefully?
If someone is discriminated against because of their gender, they can report it.
When every conflict is called “Patriarchy”, the term loses its sharpness. It becomes an excuse. And it ignores that power, responsibility, and influence are no longer distributed one-sidedly today.
It then means: “The man got it because he is a man, not because of his performance.”
Men’s achievements are dismissed, and women are preferred.5
That has nothing to do with equality anymore.
Masculinity
I believe that words like “masculine” and “feminine” do not exist by nature. They are a social construct.
That means we must discard these terms.
Thus, constructs like “toxic masculinity/femininity” would no longer exist.
That is the very core of equality.
Words:
Mansplaining6 = A man explains something to a woman as if she were stupid. But not the other way around.
Manspreading7 = A man sits wide, taking up space. But no word for the same behavior by women.
Toxic Masculinity = The man is toxic.
Toxic Femininity = The woman is toxic. But rarely used.
Patriarchy = Men rule. Women suffer.
Matriarchy = Women rule. But rarely discussed.
…
Victim-Perpetrator
Perpetrator
In discourse, women are almost exclusively portrayed as victims.
Men as perpetrators. As part of the problem.
When a man suffers: Privilege.
When a woman suffers: Systemic issue.
Where are the gray areas?
Example: Domestic Violence.8
Statistics 2023:
29.5% of domestic violence victims are male.
In partnership violence, it is 19.9% – almost every fifth.
In intrafamilial violence: 46% male, 54% female. Almost balanced.
But:
Women as victims: Immediate support services, media attention, laws.
Men as victims: 12 shelters nationwide in Germany.
Hardly any resources. Hardly any visibility. Hardly any belief.
In 2023, 24 men were killed by their female partners.
How many shelters are there for them?
How many support hotlines?
How much media attention?
This narrative is rarely questioned.
Why?
If equality is the goal, why is empathy distributed one-sidedly?
Why does feminism not address this topic?
I do not want to downplay violence against women. But I want to make clear: Which gender is seen as the victim directly influences how the system responds. And responses differ.
Victim
Weak
Many women see themselves as the weaker sex and thus automatically feel more threatened than men.
Various sources9 (use with caution, as feelings are hard to measure) show:
Women perceive disadvantage in more areas of life than men.
Women are more sensitive to discrimination. This perception has even increased over time.
But that does not mean that what is felt matches reality.
When asked who feels unsafe at night, news outlets always write something like:
“X women feel unsafe.”
But men are not asked.
This reveals something:
It is assumed that men are stronger, and thus their feelings are irrelevant.
Their fear does not count.
If only one side is asked, how can the picture be complete?
It also shows that society perceives women as weak.
As people who cannot defend themselves.
And men are the opposite.
I have a question:
Can a woman lift 10 kg?
Can a woman run, walk, jump, etc.?
If you assume women are weak, then I’d like to know:
Where exactly?
If a perpetrator comes with a knife, then everyone in that situation is at risk.
A woman just as much as a man.
It goes without saying that I recommend self-defense to everyone.
Regardless of gender.
Competition10
Sometimes it feels like a competition:
Who has it worse?
Who deserves more empathy?
Who gets more resources?
Therefore, it becomes acceptable to be unfair to the other gender.
That is no longer equality.
It is an excuse for radicalization and sexism.
Radicalization
Much on the internet, but also in newspapers and news, is exaggerated.
To get clicks or ratings. To increase reach.
It is hard to say:
Is that intentional?
Is it honest?
Or just ragebait?
Internet
Mostly on the internet, there are many man-hating movements.
I assume 90 percent is ragebait.
Exaggerations and lies for reach.
And 10 percent, what people actually think.
So I won’t take it seriously.
Still, it must be addressed, because it influences children.
“Kill all men”11
Self-explanatory that you shouldn’t say that. Regardless of whether it’s meant as a joke.
It is neither funny nor creative.
And generally, you don’t wish death on anyone.
“Not all men, but always men”12
Men are broadly framed as perpetrators.
So all men are lumped together.
A rapist is equated with an ordinary man.
Not “some men”.
Not “certain men”.
But implicitly: men as a group.
Is this still criticism?
Or already collective guilt?
I would conduct an experiment.
How would women feel if I wrote:
“Gold Digger”: Women who marry only for money.
Not all women, but always women.
So all women would have to be under suspicion of only being after money and not caring about character.
How would they feel?
Others:
There is also something like:
“Who would you go into the woods with: a bear or a man?”
There is also the other:
“Who would you go into the woods with: a tiger or a woman?”
And other variants.
But this is mostly ragebait.
Or one tries to get reach through provocation.
Mirror
The following section is meant to hold up a mirror.
It is purely a stylistic device.
It is meant metaphorically and rhetorically.
No opinions are represented here.
It is strange that men have to go to war and die.
Shouldn’t we change that?
It is about time to turn it around.
All women to the front. And men will wait at home for the survivors.
The women are womansplaining again and womansitting on their money, which they got through womanlying.
“Women are to blame for everything; as mothers, they raised all men wrong.”
Definition
It is hard to define what a feminist is.
There is no central assembly.
Anyone can call themselves a feminist and hold different values.
This creates tension and makes the definition more complicated.
Some claim they are the “real” feminists, and those on TV are not.
Some call themselves feminists. Others are labeled “Femnazis”.
But feminists fight for equality.
However, as mentioned above, I find that questionable.
Conclusion
The word feminism is contradictory.
It only says woman—feminine. But where is the word man? Masculine?
If one is for equality, shouldn’t that be reflected in the word itself?
Feminism can be a good entry point to equality.
But because of radicalization, I would recommend considering other approaches, such as humanism.
One can support equality without being a feminist.
- https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/wehrpflicht-fragebogen-maenner-100.html ↩︎
- https://www.sss.gov/register/who-needs-to-register/ ↩︎
- https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-05-15-fi-278-story.html ↩︎
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elected_or_appointed_female_heads_of_state_or_government
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_women ↩︎ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMM1pujwwoM ↩︎
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/features/the-english-we-speak/ep-161129
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20180727-mansplaining-explained-in-one-chart ↩︎ - https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/manspreading ↩︎
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08862605251321003
https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=144054
https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/pressemitteilungen/DE/2024/06/bundeslagebild-haeuslichegewalt.html ↩︎ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_empathy_gap
https://www.ivoryresearch.com/sample-files/exam_notes_masters_distinction.pdf
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07352166.2021.1923372#d1e368 ↩︎ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppression_Olympics ↩︎
- https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kill+all+man
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskFeminists/comments/uobt1v/why_is_it_okay_for_women_to_say_kill_all_men_but ↩︎ - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=not+all+men+but+always+men ↩︎