That’s an interesting perspective, but I think it oversimplifies something much deeper. Not all women who have a critical view of men do so out of “hate” or a misunderstanding of masculinity. Sometimes it comes from personal or collective experiences of pain, disappointment, or even violence.
Moreover, the qualities we admire in our fathers or grandfathers such as strength, protection, or wisdom aren’t exclusively masculine; they can also be found in women. In my opinion, true healing doesn’t come from separating the “masculine” and the “feminine,” but from recognizing that both can coexist and complement each other within anyone.
If we truly want to change perceptions, the path isn’t to “reprogram” someone, but to listen, empathize, and build trust. That transforms much more than trying to prove who’s right.
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Those “personal and collective experiences of pain, disappointment, and violence” are experiences of men falling short of the masculine ideal
Strength, protection, and wisdom are masculine traits. Gentleness, nurturing, and intuition are their feminine corollaries. Women can act masculine and typically do so in response to men acting feminine. But sexes acting against their ideals leads to less sex and fewer offspring for the species (even if done so out of necessity for survival). Yes the traits can co-exist in anyone, but when men are men and women are women, we truly thrive (again, as measured in sexual satisfaction and total offspring)
I never said “reprogram”, I only said “deprogram”. I’m referring to lifting the veil of the indoctrination and ideologies that call up down and down up, which deal with things falling short of the ideal by denying the ideal in the first place.
I agree that trust is the path forward - but I think trust is built through striving for the ideal, leading by example, and not so much saying more words as doing the things you said you would. But men and women are different - talk builds trust between women, action builds trust between men.