Standstill

http://bcheights.com/2017/11/19/activist-byron-hurt-tackles-toxic-masculinity-misogyny/


The conversation never seems to change.

The fact that the things Byron Hurt talks about today are subjects that have been just as relevant when he was discussing them back in the '90s and '00s shows how little things have progressed over the years; despite the conversations happening, these issues remain just as relevant as ever. Despite all the work being done in feminist, womanist, and other anti-patriarchy (and toxic masculinity) circles and actions, the patriarchy is still prevailing in so many ways. As some people are unlearning their internalized misogyny, others are being indoctrinated. As people begin to move away from one wave of masculinism, society shifts to adapt and foster newer (and sometimes stronger) ways of tearing this social justice down. Some do it through force, others do it through propaganda, subliminal messaging, a combination of the three, and so forth. Minds are easily moldable, and when a society is as assertively persuasive as ours is, it is easy to see why toxic masculinity is so easily able to thrive (though it certainly helps that it has also been a rather large building block in the very foundation this society was built on).

In this class, we have explored multiple works from Hurt throughout the semester, none of which were from within the last few years (some of which were more than a decade ago). The conversation described in this article from two days ago was so strongly reminiscent of others Mr. Hurt has participated in that I actually went back and triple-checked that I had read the date on it correctly throughout when I was reading it. Had someone slapped a different date on there and told me it occurred in the early 2000s, I would have believed them. We have made very little progress, and that worries me. I worry that, especially in the current state of this country, this movement is in danger worse than it has been in a long time. We do not seem to be learning as a society; in scholastic spaces, sure, and even some in the media, but to focus on gender-based social justice issues as "trending topics" rather than as serious societal issues upholding a dangerous power structure is not exactly what I would call progress.

I wonder how things will progress from here, and if anyone has any ideas as to how to proceed from here. (Please feel free to share them with me if you do.)