Satire/Rosie Sorenson

Bringing Back the Backlash (as if it ever went away)

The saying that “Everything Old is New Again” was never more true than it is today with the male backlash rising up against the #MeToo Movement. Egads—angry women wanting men to act like civilized beings?? Hell, no! The fact that we have to even have this conversation illuminates the brain’s unwillingness to give up a groove that works, at least for some. At least for men.

Where are the good old days when women were women and men were rapists? Waaaa, no fair, men holler. We liked having you afraid of us and willing to do our bidding. Now you’re just man-hating feminazis, slags, bitches and c**ts. Or, as was said of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, “You’re mistaken. You mis-remembered. You’re mixed up.” Or the even more colossally demeaning comment, “I believe that she believes she had a traumatic experience, but it wasn’t at the hands of Brett Kavanaugh.” Right. And there are no hurricanes battering the East Coast.

Trump, the Abuser-in-Chief, weighed in: “It is a very scary time for young men in America when you could be guilty of something you may not be guilty of,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn before boarding Marine One. “‘This is a very, very — this is a very difficult time.’” (Yahoo News, Oct. 2)

Now if that doesn’t set fire to your limbic system I don’t know what will. Clearly, Trump is talking about himself by casting all “young men” in his image. Young men should be insulted. As if they’re too stupid to figure out how to behave as kind, caring adults around women, around anyone, including other men, babies, pets and children.

But speaking of “Everything Old is New Again,” David Brooks, in his recent op ed, “Two Cheers for Feminism! What girls and women get right about empathy and connection,” (New York Times, Oct. 11) seems to think he’s uncovered something new, i.e., that women and girls value intimacy, empathy and connection, while men and boys are stunted in those qualities in favor of competition, toughness and independence. Uh …Touting this in a 2018 op ed seems as lame as an individual who, after attending a class about Albert Einstein, exclaims that, by golly, I guess men are pretty darn smart, after all.

While I don’t doubt David’s intent to inform and to shine a light on some interesting research on empathy, the ad hominem attack on feminism with which he begins his piece undoes most everything that follows. The columnist giveth, the columnist taketh away. Or in his case, the columnist taketh away, then giveth a little.

Brooks says in his opening paragraph, “I disagree with academic feminism a lot—with those vague oppressor stories about the patriarchy, with the strange unwillingness to admit inherited-gender differences and with the tone of faculty lounge militancy. But academic feminism is right about the big thing.”

The big thing, he goes on to say, is how our culture encourages women to hold back their true thoughts, feelings and desires, while it encourages men to lean into the expression of their aggressive impulses. As a consequence, both sexes lose. Can’t help but wonder where he was in the ’70’s, during the Second Wave. He talks about studies that show students are much less empathic now than in the 1980s, and how students’ levels of anxiety and depression are rising. He completes his piece by describing some new research on empathy and how both sexes can benefit, especially boys.

I guess we should be grateful for Brooks’ attempt to alert his readers about some serious social ills, and to describe research that is attempting to ameliorate our empathy deficit. However, he misses the bigger point. How is it that in 2018 these problems still exist when for many, many years, feminists and researchers have been shouting from the rooftops?

Next time, David, how about you give us at least Three Cheers?

Rosie Sorenson is a humor writer in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can contact her at: RosieSorenson29@yahoo.com

From The Progressive Populist, November 15, 2018

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