One in three men thinks feminism does more harm than good. Surprise, surprise | Arwa Mahdawi

Research shows that while progress has been made in terms of attitudes towards womens rights, theres still a long way to go Since its almost International Womens Day, shall we play a quick themed quiz? Question number one: does gender inequality exist?

OpinionUS news This article is more than 1 year old

One in three men thinks feminism does more harm than good. Surprise, surprise

This article is more than 1 year old

Research shows that while progress has been made in terms of attitudes towards women’s rights, there’s still a long way to go

One in three men believe feminism does more harm than good

Since it’s almost International Women’s Day, shall we play a quick themed quiz? Question number one: does gender inequality exist?

Tough question, really. On the one hand women in many countries are still paid and promoted less than men; expected to carry the burden of unpaid caregiving; subjected to a “pink tax”, which means they may more for common household items; under-represented in government and the executive suite; receive far less funding for startups; have their reproductive rights curtailed; are at greater risk for sexual harassment and domestic violence; are more likely to live in poverty; and are also more likely to be illiterate adults thanks to gendered disparities in access to education. On the other hand, some men reckon women have it pretty good these days. So, like I said, tough question.

Whatever’s happening with Kanye and Kim, his behavior shouldn’t be normalized | Arwa MahdawiRead more

The research firm Ipsos, along with the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London, asked this and several other questions to over 20,000 people in 30 countries ahead of IWD. The answers show that while much progress has been made in terms of attitudes towards women’s rights, there is still a long way to go.

Let’s start with the existence of gender inequality, shall we? The good-ish news is that a majority of people around the world believe that it exists. (Hooray for recognizing the obvious!) Nevertheless, it’s still a little depressing that a not-insignificant 18% believe it does not. Surprise, surprise, men are more likely to think that gender inequality is a fiction (21% v 14%). Saudi Arabia, where women were only recently allowed to travel without a male guardian’s approval, is top of the charts when it comes to men saying that gender inequality doesn’t exist. Thirty-seven per cent of men in Saudi Arabia believe that compared to 30% of men in Australia, 22% of men in the US, 19% of men in Great Britain and 7% of men in Japan.

More goodish news is that, despite the rantings and ravings of conservatives like Josh Hawley and Tucker Carlson, most men don’t see gender equality as a threat. A third of men in the countries surveyed think feminism does more harm than good (32%) and that traditional masculinity is under threat (33%); a fifth of men (23%) believe feminism has resulted in men losing out in terms of economic or political power or socially. While those numbers are uncomfortably large, it’s still worth taking solace in the fact that the majority of men don’t feel this way.

Where in the world has the men with the most fragile feelings? Russia leads the charts. Fifty-eight per cent of Russian men believe that traditional masculinity is under threat–although it’s worth noting that 58% of Russian women agreed. Fifty-six per cent of Russian men believe feminism does more harm than good.

There are lots of interesting insights in the Ipsos research, and the report is well worth a dig through. What stood out the most for me, however, was the worrying suggestion that the internet has normalized abusive behaviour among younger generations. The survey found that while the vast majority of people considered harmful and abusive online behaviour to be unacceptable, younger generations were more likely to find it acceptable; perhaps because they have grown up in a digital world, and more frequent internet usage was associated with viewing online harm as acceptable. Similarly, while 78% of people think women should not have to put up with online abuse, agreement is lower among men and younger generations. Alarmingly, the report also found that while victim-blaming attitudes toward violence against women are held by a minority, they are more common among men and younger generations.

In today’s connected world, the lines between digital life and “real” life are increasingly blurred. When tech companies shrug their shoulders at abuse online, they help to normalize abuse offline. When you normalize harassment on the internet, you normalize it everywhere. Tech bros are constantly telling us how their products are propelling us into the future, but it seems increasingly clear that, when it comes to gender relations, they’re pulling us into the past.

Do not mess with the online knitting community

Two e-commerce bros (who had previously made a killing in producing colouring books for adults) bought the domain name knitting.com with big plans to get rich quick. How exactly? Well you can read all about it for yourself in this gripping yarn from Input Mag, but their strategy seemed to be 20% racism, 20% sexism, and 60% condescension. The knitting community has risen against the two men and they are now yelling about “bullying” and insisting they can’t be racist because they’re both married to Chinese women.

Russia’s feminists are in the streets protesting Putin’s attack on Ukraine

“Feminism is one of the few opposition movements in contemporary Russia that has not been destroyed by the waves of persecution launched by Vladimir Putin’s government,” write Russian feminists in Jacobin. (Why? Because Putin didn’t take them seriously as a dangerous political movement). “Feminism as a political force cannot be on the side of a war of aggression and military occupation,” they state. It’s a point that I don’t think can be stressed enough in a world where feminism is often cynically leveraged to justify war.

Kentucky lawmaker apologizes for bizarre references to Jewish women’s sex life amid abortion debate

Republican Danny Bentley said: “Did you know that a Jewish woman has less cancer of the cervix than any other race … And why is that? Because the Jewish women only have one sex partner … They don’t have multiple sex partners.” As well as providing his unhinged and unsolicited opinions on the sexual habits of Jewish women he also made a number of false and antisemitic comments about the origins of abortion pills.

Wyoming Senate votes to defund gender and women’s studies

Can’t have people using taxpayer money to spread dangerous ideas like “women and men are equal”, eh?

Use of ‘sexist’ and ‘racist’ in the New York Times increased over 400% since 2012

Why? It’s not entirely clear. But a new study demonstrates that there’s been a substantial shift in discourse in the US media. Writing in the Guardian, the study’s authors note their data suggests “that it is changes in media coverage that seem to predict shifts in public perceptions around race and gender discrimination – not the other way around”.

The week in property-archy

An LA mega-mansion boasting 21 bedrooms, 49 bathrooms, a cigar lounge, and a “philanthropy pavilion” has sold for a fraction of its original $500mn asking price. The hideous home, nicknamed “The One”, was originally promoted as the “biggest and most expensive modern home in America.” However its final sale price of $141m means it’s actually only the third-most expensive home ever sold in LA. Time, methinks, to tax the rich.

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