It's an interesting world that we live in and one that as each day goes by things become a little more, chaotic. For almost the past decade women's rights movements have really come to the forefront. Some truly needed but many of the issues not caused by the people around them. Much of the trouble firmly sits with policy makers and heads of shit companies. For the same reason we are brought here to Hive and the decentralised world.
Eventually you give up and try another route to success and I get it. Some people don't play well with others and don't like to share. Some things you just can't change or for many of us we don't have the energy. I really do appreciate the work some people do and the commitment and passion they show to their causes.
But more recently I have been drawn into following some big discussions and no doubt much of it brought on by the Johnny Depp Vs Amber Heard case. I think many men resonated with it because for a few years now a lot of use have been drawn into the global debates.
By providing a view from the male perspective I get it, there are plenty of ads targeted on men's violence towards women and at the start you don't pay attention to them because they're not me. But I think these ads have done far greater harm more broadly and have impacted the way men are treated.
Stay with me on this and I can only speak to my own personal experience not others so it maybe clouded. But as a young lad growing up before social media things were different and I understand that no one should touch anyone without consent and everyone has different limits. But I remember girls being quite hands on at school. I also remember my teenage years there wasn't much difference sexually between boys and girls.
My 20s I was in a relationship and still am, I've been groped, felt up, hit on and all kinds of things. I've also been sexually assaulted twice in the workplace to which I reported one and was heckled by the boys and the manager for not taking it further and then picked on about it.
I've also witnessed other men lose their jobs for asking colleagues out because it was inappropriate in the workplace.
I can look past most the confusing aspects and a lot of it boils down to workplace or social politics but one thing I am increasingly concerned about is the current narrative that has changed social interaction and increased the communities perception of fear of men.
To put this into perspective there have been a lot of media campaigns focusing on male violence to women and it isn't without its reason we do have a significant amount of it occurring. But as I watch a lot of the investigations into the acts a lot of it surrounds a broken system that doesn't support victims.
I want to ask you a question
Have you (men) tried to talk to a stranger recently of the opposite sex, if so how did it go? we're they scared of you?
I ask this because I have worked in the community services sector for over a decade and never had an issue approaching people, engaging and even as a person in general I am quite sociable and can speak to anyone. But things are changing.
I'm finding that when I do randomly start talking to people in most incidences there is fear from women which normally doesn't bother me because it's not me it's their fear. But it is a growing trend. Most recently and what has got me to start this post is I recently had my dog escape so I went out driving with my daughter and I would pull up if I saw someone to ask if they had seen my dog.
I approached three women and it wasn't in an aggressive or intimidating manner and all three ran instantly. It wasn't limited to the car either as we were on foot and people would also quickly start trying to out pace us if we were running towards them saying "excuse me.
I didn't really care and thought they were idiots but it did hit hard with my daughter who asked why people kept running away from us and I didn't know how to respond without making it sound like the world was a dangerous place, which it can be. But our community is quite fine there isn't high crime rates, everyone is friendly and it's generally a good place.
But I have been noticing the increase in fear.
But that's not the only thing that appears to be going on in relation to societal changes, I recently over heard a conversation while I sat and had my coffee. A group of girls were discussing other guys that liked them and were talking about that they needed to have X amount of followers on Tik Tok or Instagram to even think about dating.
Not only that but their social media accounts needed to be active and they needed to be in short, influencers. This is a massive leap from back in my day where having a stable job was the go to.
I think it is time we seriously started to address the inequality that men face because for the past few years it has felt pretty heavy seeing all these ads, campaigns and a narrative that has framed men into an aggressive portrayal and I think it has had massive consequences that will cause havoc for young men in the coming years.
I for one would not know how to be a young man in this day and age and some things confuse me which I understand I have had a different lived experience and perhaps the people I had around me were very different.
But something is broken, very broken.
What are your thoughts? can you see it too?
