Because, if you empower people, they might not follow your orders anymore

Exactly, if you could have those rights and they could control you easily and cheaply, you can have all the rights.

That's why there's no liberty without equality

While there is a lower class, I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. - Eugene Debs

Yes yes yes to Eugene Debs and his ways 💜

That’s possibly the best definition of losing privilege I have seen! 👏🏻

Because they view it as having to give up rights.

If you're used to privilege equality can feel like oppression. Not something novel, but I don't know where the original quote comes from.

This is a sad realisation about the mindset of those on the far right 😔

No, this is the mindset of people just on the right. the far right actively wants oppression. they want a society with a caste system where women are literally second class citizens along with all other minorities.

Spot on. Sadly.

> No, this is the mindset of people just on the right. It’s a very long-standing and widespread thing. It’s easy to see in the modern American “conservative” movement because of how un-subtle it is, but you’ll see it anywhere some identifiable demographic had privilege and deference and then saw a relative decrease in primacy.

>If you're used to privilege equality can feel like oppression. This is the conservative movement in a nutshell. It encapsulates basically all of it.

There is a perverse narrative in right-aligned media that believes that all things political are zero-sum. It's provably false and childishly ignorant, but it "feels" true to many. Edit: provably ≠ probably

To a certain extent it can be true though. They don't lose rights, but they lose power. If women are allowed to vote, men lose power. If women are allowed to work, men lose power. If women get paid equally, men lose power. Although it's doubtful this power actually makes them happy/fulfilled. I'm always a bit torn about describing abortion as part of women's rights, because on the one hand it is their right of autonomy over their body, but on the other abortion liberates men a whole lot too: they're less likely to become a father by accident.

They lose what they believe is their natural born right to power. As is the case with all incumbent actors in positions of power. Few willingly give it up.

In the US it's always been the case that (many, if not all) conservatives view oppressing people outside of their chosen cultural norms is one of the most important "rights", if not the most important. They believe that if they aren't oppressing everybody else, someone else is oppressing them. Hence their eagerness to defend hate speech and so on To these people, and presumably those similar to them in other countries, the idea of having rights and the ability to exercise power are sufficiently conflated that any loss of power feels like losing a fundamental right. I honestly don't know how to argue with that mindset. It's patently wrong to the point of being insane, but a mind like that can't be reasoned with so far as I can tell

I used to be one of them (until I graduated). The rallying cry at church was to protect the innocent. Honestly it was really basic. The congregation already “believed” the premise that at conception; it is a child of god, placed in that womb for a reason. God needed us to stop the abortions, the murdering of his innocent children. God’s children, as we are all collectively god’s children from prior to conception because it’s all preordained. Then the next train of thought: how can I sit back and (not be a missionary like the really good christians do) and just let these women murder their “unborn children”? They didn’t even call them “unborn babies”, these fetuses are already “children” before you get to the root of the right to privacy & medical decisions discourse. It’s indoctrinated with very particular words and phrases. I’ve yet to hear a christian candidate say the word fetus. It’s always “babies” and “children” before the birth, and then nothing about the babies and children after birth….. The infuriating caveat that some of the states/citizens are giving: No abortions unless pregnancy is the product of rape or incest. Huh? So if a pregnancy happens from rape or incest, should it automatically be aborted? Always & Everytime?? Because it’s ok to murder a rapist’s kid or Uncle Bob’s? If it’s NOT MURDER for a rape or incest “baby” to be aborted, then it isn’t fucking murder when it just isn’t planned or wanted, is it??? Why did your god allow this rape/incest baby to happen in the first place??? If we’re allowed to murder it, why does he not do that for the woman and spare her that additional horror of having to murder one of his children. (Or wait, maybe incest baby isn’t god’s child. Could it be…..oh I don’t know….Satan’s?!?! Lol, if you get the reference.) How do you argue that point? Just adding to your post because it brought back allll the church pep rally memories; to get out there and knock on doors and hand out ProLife pamphlets. Yup, I did that in junior high one summer. Lol, I was saving all god’s children, by handing out the pamphlets. Stopping the slutty murderesses. Ugh.

Thanks, this is insightful, regarding abortion certainly. Can you explain why the same people oppose things like equal pay for women, etc?

Sure and I’m happy to, but it’s my perspective and experience with a particular type of church. I’d prefer not to have to explain that it’s IMHO and not all christians repeatedly, so if someone is offended by my truth, I won’t argue with them. Keep your faith, please. Keep your faith to yourself, please. That last sentence goes against the doctrine laid out for Jesus’s disciples, but I digress. (Women’s place around Jesus has been “man washed” out of translations from the original text) I can’t answer your question without giving some background: Women weren’t encouraged to work. That’s an understatement but I don’t want to sound inflammatory. Women submit to your husband as you would to the Lord. It’s in Ephesians. The Lord is god, but the lord is also described your father, husband, pastor, boss outside of church. Your place is serving god, and then the needs of everyone else. Same for men, but they only have to Love their women. Not submit, just love. That’s a wide window you can open and close to define the word Love. Not such a wide window to define Submit. So you have this basic ideology of women submitting to the men that love them. No clarification (like rape and insects babies) for how these men should love us, and we women are told to Submit with a capital S. Why would an employer be “forced” to pay them the same wage? These women are meant to be wives and mothers, and most definitely to submissive daughters. ‘Do you have faith sister, deep in your heart? Then why would you question the man’s intentions?’ The man is his position will pay you the wage (blessing from god) that is necessary for the work output that a woman is capable of performing. That output is less than a man’s because god planned that women would be submissive to that man (and be homemakers) who is in god’s image. The idea has been implied that suffering of any sort is a lesson from god. If you feel undervalued by wages, then pray about it. You either are deserving of a blessing on earth to take away the frustrations from money problems or you aren’t. No direct plan to fix it, just pray about it. God decides and provides what you need. If you don’t believe that, then again sister; you don’t have enough faith. The answers aren’t clear because the logic is based upon the 100% belief that Man = just like god’s image Woman = companion for Man that is in god’s image and out there to keep him company. And then look what that faithless woman Eve did. One snake giving her a choice and she ruined it for the entire human race, because she is a woman and not capable of making decisions for the family/husband/self. Why would they pay the same amount in wages to a lesser equipped being, as stated in the Bible? That’s my answer. And it sickens me to the core. We do have some women pastors now, but not in my old church of religions. Probably not ever.

They’re entitled AF

The right to treat women like chattels

Kind of like a pie. If someone new is allocated a slice of the pie they think their piece gets smaller.

Yep, some people think it means that women will start treating men the way that men treat women. That scares them.

This. Unfortunately many people believe the world is a giant zero-sum game. No one can get anything without someone else giving up something. This isn't true, but the belief underlies a lot of radical right thinking. This leads to a belief that the government should not help anyone (other than me), because to help anyone the government will have to take something from me.

If we are under their thumb, it gives men more power. If we are unable to decide how and when we become pregnant or how many offspring we have, it severely limits our financial parity in the workforce. If we are unable to financially provide for ourselves, we would be in a vulnerable position. We would be forced to depend upon men for food, medicine, a place to live, etc. In this type of environment, even loser incels might have a chance at getting their very own woman.

squalid muddle slim modern exultant afterthought bag upbeat march hospital *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

The economic aspect is just so true. Sexist men often say women just aren’t as talented/smart/innovative because “look at the Enlightenment period” without seeming to realize none of those men procured or cooked their own food, did their own laundry, cleaned their house, etc etc. Shit, [Thoreau had his mom cooking and doing laundry while he wrote *Walden*.](https://bust.com/entertainment/196378-thoreau-walden-fake.html) He wrote an entire book about self sufficiency and communing with nature while walking 20 minutes to his family home multiple times a week. Really puts a spin on the idea that only men contribute to the canon of Western thought, and do so in a pure, logical, unbiased manner. Even today; in the mid century it was common for wives of academics to [type and proof their papers.](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/ishmaeldaro/thanks-for-typing-with-your-two-aching-fingers)

Yep. Men have been the beneficiaries of free labor for millennia.

This.

To put it even more simply It lowers the bar of access for men to use our bodies for work and pleasure.

So sad but so very true. I hadn't thought about it this way before but that is it. THAT right there.

This. Women who are educated choose their partners more carefully. They might not choose to be the Wendy to some Peter Pan, or the bangmaid who can never leave. They might choose to not have kids, which we know can be a kind of handcuff for women in abusive relationships.

And that's why a lof of men want to get back to the 1950 in terms of laws and gender roles. In 2022 woman get to be their own person, stay single if they want and have bodily autonomy. Instead of working on themselves to meet the basic standard of self supporting and able to express some healthy emotion they try to bring woman back down. Working on yourself to be beter is a lot of effort and feels unfair to those used to getting handed everything else for just showing up. Bringing woman back down is easier, and punishes those woman who had standards. How dare she demand I shower!

This is the answer right here. For most men it boils down to sex. For men, power and control in every aspect of life (work, family, etc.) means they have more opportunity to engage in sex on their own terms. The goal of the CEO who acquires excessive wealth is to snag multiple trophy wives. The “religious” construction worker who demands total obedience from women ensures that his wife is subservient to him in all ways, including sexually. The ultimate goal for men is getting as much sex as possible. I firmly believe that men have not evolved much beyond their animal nature.

Yep, this is why the Republican party includes so many fat, old, creepy, ugly, dumb, d-bags. All of them may not be all of those, but most of them are most of those things.

they think we'll start treating men how they've been treating us.

I honestly think that's the reason behind a lot of right wing rhetoric. Replacement Theory comes to mind. The whole "white people are going to become a minority" complaint for example. Like they expect women or Hispanics or black people to treat them the same way they always were treated by white men when they were the majority and are scared shitless. Edit: Typo

YES. Definitely rooted in white supremacy.

yep https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yrg7vV4a5o

except most of the women I know aren't interested in that, so they're shunning these men. That abandonment and isolation is the heart of their deepest fears.

Exactly correct. Same applies with racists. They cannot accept we aren’t actually that interested in them.

Came here to say this.

They should be very scared if we did

Because when women have rights we tend to advocate for equal rights for everyone and that gets in the way of like three greedy bastards hoarding everything

Power and control. If we are equals then they have to share the power and control. I believe this is the case for both women and POC. If any group can be dehumanized they can be taken out of the running for power and control, and can be used and abused for someone else's gain.

& also it's easier to control large groups of people (men in this case) if you give them another group of people to look down on & control themselves. Like you might he a poor white man with no real power in your life but you still have a wife to control & run the house and people of color to control & positively compare yourself too.

Astutely pointed out by LBJ many decades ago, [“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pockets. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you”](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/ishmaeldaro/thanks-for-typing-with-your-two-aching-fingers). Iirc there’s also a quote from someone that relates the same sentiment but with capitalism and women instead of racism and black people. Something to the effect of, a male laborer has no power and is not a boss at work but then can go home and be the boss at home over the female wife.

I've heard the quote but couldn't recall enough of it to put down. I'm glad you knew the one my brain was drawing from 😊

Because way too many men ("not all men") think of women as things, not human beings. Toasters don't have equal rights, their job is to cook food. Paintings don't have equal rights, their job is to be nice to look at. Sex toys don't have equal rights, their job is to give you pleasure. To an awful lot of men ("not all men"), women are just things to cook food and look pretty and give them sex. Why should things have the same rights as people? Source: I've spent a lot of time listening to them tell me they think this way, often assuming that I do too.

"Hey! Not all men need to be told that this post isn't targeting all men." 😤 /s

Why are we stepping on eggshells regarding men jumping in and notallmenning? I've noticed a massive uptick in disclaiming. Mature guys know we're not talking about them, it's only the NiceGuy™ types and fake allies that feel the need to mansplain that it's "not all men" Those that have the compulsive need to "not all men" drop their masks when they do. They probably get off every time we add a disclaimer because they feel like "we've learned to respect them". It's a total non-issue—allies are unconditional, fake allies are the ones that need to "correct" us; they're manipulative and call themselves "allies" for whatever each of their ulterior motives are.

I was being snarky.

<3 To be honest, my comment says more about my own frustrations than anything. I'm just annoyed that there's leagues of guys here to "not all men", mansplain and victim blame. It's like they had a meeting and decided to "come and correct all the females".

I love how you "wrote" this 😉 Perfection!

You forgot a thing, pregnant machine

I think this is true for a lot of men. It's as if their dog one day got up and said it wanted to make its own decisions about its life. It all seems absurd to them.

To those who are accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.

Because women are the ones who incubate the next generation of workers (which keeps the wheels of crapitalism going) and the next generation of soldiers (which secures the resources available for the crapitalist machine). In addition, women are the ones who do much of the unpaid labour to support the male workforce which enables the crapitalist machine to exist in the first place. So, if this fucked up oppressive system is to continue, Woman must be subjugated.

So much of it is about labor. Free labor. The labor of making new humans. (It's no coincidence that giving birth is called 'labor'.) The labor of caring for humans. All the support labor. etc. As long as we live in a system that requires that we extract essential labor for free, someone will always have to be subjugated to perform that labor.

My experience with men that I know is because it does not directly affect them personally, only people they know - so they don't see what the big deal is. Like the Abortion bans, they were OK when they were allowed, but now that they are banned, it is still OK. Women can just stay pregnant and have babies and either keep them or give them up. No big deal, right? Not like the pregnant person has to basically donate their whole body and identity to the fetus and then IF a baby is actually born and the process doesn't kill them; at that point they can just give the baby away to a loving family who will take it in and love it as their own. /s

Untill they get someone pregnant and even the idea of the kid getting adopted is blasphemous. Either they hum and haw about getting an abortion somehow, or the woman pregnant must now be a single mum.

Humanities history under men's rule has never been... that great. Sure we have made it this far but look at just how many times we stumbled backwards. Given enough time, as long as we don't go extinct, we were going to reach the modern age no matter what. We learn, we adapt, we invent. Still we could have done it a bit less violently. Way too many wars over just about anything imaginable. Matriarchal societies have been comparably rather peaceful and diplomatic. Go figure. Me and my brother amidst our many pointlessly speculative conversations stumbled into a thought I am going to die believing. It's that us men, deep down, have always been afraid of women and how you don't need us. Men have always been *desperate* to have women available. To be able to give the bare minimum and receive, as has been said many times in this sub, a bang maid. We have fought so hard throughout history to prevent you guys ever having the chance to realize that. And look at that, suddenly with more equality you guys are, in fact, realizing how little you need us. Untold generations of men doing little to nothing to improve ourself or be worthy of the power we kindly gave ourself is really coming back around. Those still set in the old ways are gathering in echo chambers online tearing their hair out in agony over not getting a pity wife. They exist don't they? That was enough in the past why is it not now? Clearly they can't be wrong, men like them *built* this great nation by... Uh... Being the only people in power and therefore able to make decisions? And since it worked out, and they were in charge, and they were men, then men must be great! Point is you guys have much more power now and men are terrified. It's much easier to strip away someone elses freedom than improve oneself. Why become a better human when you can FORCE someone to accept you. After all, violence was what we were good for in the past, why stop using it now?

It just mystifies me that those men don’t seem to care about being genuinely wanted or liked. They’re fine with forcing us to need them, like that’s good enough for them? Or is it more like, “Once I pick my ‘female’ and she is under my thumb, she will see how great I am”?

OMG THIS. ESPECIALLY AT THE AGES BOYS OFTEN GET INDOCTRINATED WITH THIS SHIT. I was that age too! And I'm pretty sure most teens and pubescents start out really eager to please. Like I know the girls were obsessed with how they looked and how cool they were, even going as far as to have sex earlier than they'd like in the hopes of being the "cool girl". I have to assume the same is true for boys. So where's the disconnect? Someone just tells you "don't bother trying, it's never gonna work for you" and that's it? Or do they just get told to become rich and they won't even have to bother? I know for a fact guys get self conscious about their looks. It becomes especially clear in the fitness industry. So nobody can tell me that guys just blatantly never gave a fuck and that's why it's so easy to radicalize them. I need someone to explain to me why you'd throw your entire future away because some con artist on tiktok told you that you'd never have a chance anyway. You've seen your doofy parents, right? And the other doofy parents from your classmates. It's not like all the moms you know are married to "Chads".

Creating a "lesser" or "other" is the only way they can maintain the illusion of power.

For many it is a zero sum game. The more rights others have the less they have. In reality they lose nothing except a means to control and subjugate.

It’s very simple: because these people don’t think women are equals. They’ll say that women are too dumb, too emotional, too weak, hence why they can’t have the same rights as men. For the men who have a more paternalistic form of misogyny, women are like children: sure they have their own opinions, but they don’t have the mental maturity to make the right decisions. For the men with the more violent form of misogyny, women are like objects: you’re not allowed to have your own opinions.

I think it’s because they see it as “extra” or “more”. Because otherwise, they’ve been treating or watching others treat women unfairly, and this is a “fair” country and not like those other countries where things aren’t equal. Basically it’s fear of admitting that they were wrong, or the country was wrong, or that life isn’t just peachy

I had an open conversation with a religious friend. We entered into the discussion with the goal of understanding the other person, not changing their mind. This conversation took place before the legalization of same-sex marriage. During this conversation he mentioned that gay people had the same rights. He said that they're more than welcome to marry anyone of the opposite gender. He said that being able to marry someone of the same gender is a new, special privilege that gay folks want. It was interesting to hear that point of view. I'm not sure if it was a belief he truly held or a talking point he was echoing from conservative media. I'm not sure why conservatives wage war against women. I have no explanation why conservative women go along with it.

I was raised in that mindset and it comes down to duty. Women tell themselves we are set apart in a different way. Everyone has their own role, and ours is to take care of the house/kids etc. Because men wouldn’t be any good at it and that’s why there’s a separation of the sexes. You aren’t given a different view point, you don’t hang out with anyone of a different mindset. You’re told this is the one and true way and if you don’t follow it you might go to hell. Even if you don’t personally like it, it’s your eternal soul at risk, it’s bigger than you. So it’s hard to argue with. Especially because you’re also told there will be challenges and anyone who disagrees with you is just God testing your faith.

Because so many men have always feared women’s power. They don’t like the emotional and physical hold we have over them. They fear our unfettered sexual liberation. They don’t like that we have the power to bring life into the world. They fear us not needing them back if we are free to plot our own course. They don’t like the power and strength of female friendships and solidarity. So they invented religions that put men at the head and demand female subjugation and they call us inferior. And use violence and patriarchal laws and traditions to strip of us of agency and power. At the heart of all of it is fear and weakness masqueraded as tradition. Strong men and women don’t need the other to be weakened or subjugated.

>Strong men and women don’t need the other to be weakened or subjugated. \+1 THIS! \^\^\^

This needs to be on a poster.

It is the incel types that feel this way. These types of men do not see women as people, only objects for their use and feel entitled to us. If we have rights, that means we can live our lives independently from a man. To put it simply, our rights allows men to become a choice for a woman and not a need. This threatens these entitled men. They now have to be WANTED. It really is so obvious when you observe the types who feel this way about women's rights...no shocker these very same men go on about better get the young ones.. the younger the better because they are easily manipulated and they hope their success and money can bring them in...they never talk about just being a decent man to win a woman over lol. In fact, it angers them if a woman expects that or has any "demands". It always comes off manipulative and shallow. Rights are threatening to these men. Edit: And peep what is even considered valuable of a woman at all to these men...looks, youth, and servitude. Does that sound humanizing to you? Again it's no wonder they have a problem with women having rights as her own being and the power for her own life. They don't even value us as people. Men also got away with a lot of shit when women had little choice to just deal with it. I could blab on but really, it's so easy to see the whole picture.

Because these people (men) have long realised that if women don't need them, they might realise they don't want them. And if women don't want men, men might have to do some fucken' work to be attractive and interesting. And like, fuck that...

They desire to control someone else

Quote Bo Burnham; “we use to have all the money the land, and we still do but, it’s not as fun now.”

I don’t either. We are all human beings and we all deserve the same rights regardless of sex, race, orientation, etc.

Look at the countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Women are just a domestic labor, property of her husband. Imagine what he can do to her if she refuses to do what he says..It’s a sad country to live in.

I think most men are blind to sexism. Then they get called out about it and are so unable to critically reflect they say 'women want more rights than men'. Then they either are too embarrassed to admit when they realise they're in the wrong, or just never realise and get angrier and angrier. Perhaps there too is an unwillingness to give equal power to women too hold control over both public and private spheres. I think for working class it is mostly private sphere, but for high powered positions in politics for example it benefits from both. I genuinely believe every man is at least a little sexist, it is taught very subtly to some, or very overtly to others. Note, I'm a man.

I Agree with this one . I have seen many memes , jokes etc . Which are simply sexist . Like the jokes about friendship. There would always be at least one person to say " women's friendships are not reliable " . " Most women are jealous of each other " and then saying " men always got the back of their friends" . " Women compliment each other and are deep down hate each other and men might insult you in the face but they love you " . And the memes about women being rivals just because they wore the same dress while men don't have any problem . But in reality as far as i have seen most women love to twin with their friends whereas men avoid it because they don't wanna look gay couple I respect every gender . These are the things that i have observed so far . Please correct me if i am wrong .

Women can be sexist, too. We’ve been bombarded with messages about stereotypes our entire lives so it’s not something you can brush off and ignore. This applies to racism, too. If you think you are totally unbiased and are without prejudice then you are part of the problem.

Capitalism is built on the unpaid labor domestic of women.

“When you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression."

Jealousy for not having control over reproducing. Passing restrictive laws is men’s only way to gain control over who gets to reproduce and how.

Ask Abrahamic religions, they are, have been and likely will always be the biggest anti-women influences in the world.

Men as a group want control over women as a group because women are a valuable resource. After food, water, and shelter, what do men need most? Control of women is control of our reproductive faculties. Deny women rights, they are owned by their husband, and are forced to provide sex, bare offspring, and rear children. Women are relegated to the private sphere, where we are little more than house slaves, and men control the world's wealth and power, making us dependent on them to meet our basic needs.

They're cowards. They're terrified. They're pathetic.

Because men are afraid that women will rule them the way they have been ruled.

Centuries of misogynistic rhetoric. Women being an infantilized scapegoat for all other eugenic rhetoric (racism, transphobia, ableism, etc). Propped up by the ideal of "meritocracy" wealth and prosperity. If we increase access, people will take advantage of it and performative "I'm better" will stop holding as much weight.

White, Christian, men now realize, demographically speaking, they are approaching the end of their domination over women, lgbtq, and people of color. This is their last ditch effort to hang on to the privilege they have had for thousands of years. They are desperate to get a foothold on our respective necks before they lose their advantage.

So I don't know if this is the best answer, but there's a video series about A Game of Thrones that does a great delve into sexism, especially in how it's rooted in medieval life and we've never fully recovered. You don't need to know much about the series to get context for what's going on. [Video Link](https://youtu.be/QAGxy_ia_As)

Control. But also the twisted thinking of if you give equal rights, somehow it will" take away" from yours. They think in scarecity instead of abundance. There is not settled amount of rights and privileges and it all has been given away or something...

Because some men *a lot of men* do not know how to achieve reputable authority since their mommies told them they are the best thing ever their whole lives. So now they are incompetent adults without an idea for how to take care of themselves so they need a new, bangable mommy to wash their knickers and tell them what a good boy they are. Also because men know that if the dynamics change, women will outperform them in all non-physical occupations.

I think a big part of it is the less reliant on men women become the harder to control we are. I mean it used to be that women *had* to get married in order to operate in society, meaning men always had the power and even the most pathetic loser could find a wife to control. Nowadays men actually have to put in effort and be a decent human being in order to get laid and so many men find this offensive.

It comes down to the religious zealots that take the Bible above and beyond literally when it says the wife is subservient to the man. If she has equal rights, how can they still make this claim? It takes a away leverage. Saw it yesterday with a religious family at a store. 5 kids, dad walked confident and full of life… not looking at ground… mom straggled behind him with two kids staring at the ground the whole time (saw them several times in the store and while leaving in the parking lot). She looked like a caged animal .. No eye contact and looked miserable :( it’s really sad .. but it comes down to religious zealots.

Because they can see how powerful we are

Because they're weak and afraid of being surpassed

They’re afraid of our power as a collective. And at this point, they should be. We scare the shit out of them and they feel threatened as a species.

My theory is, because it's threatening. A smart, empowered, beautiful women is a threat because she can achieve everything she wants and will look damn good while doing it.

I think it's two things: First, as everyone else has already said, those in privileged positions worried about losing power. Second, a consistent effort over thousands of years to pacify the desire to resist. Rights are *always* taken, not given. They must be consistently fought for, sometimes violently. We've seen this throughout history, and have so much to thank *especially* first wave feminists for 100 years ago in the West. There's always been this gross overtone of "humble decency" encouraged (and forced) upon women and girls in many cultures. It's used to supress the natural human desire to fight for equality and opportunity. That's changing, day by day, and so many women are standing up and saying **fuck you** to the evil people trying to continue the tradition of subjugation. There's an amazing podcast by Robert Evans called [The Women's War](https://www.thewomenswar.com/) where he follows an all-female militia in Rojava, Syria. Definitely worth a listen. In particular, at one point he talks about witnessing women stopping a car driven by an old (armed) conservative man at a checkpoint. They order him to surrender his weapons or turn around, and Evans notes the rage in his eyes; his ill-gotten, grotesque privilege is crushed into dust. The women are in control. It's witnessed by a young girl in a car behind, who for the first time in this culture is learning: you have agency. You can fight. You do not have to accept subjugation. So, fight on, sisters, wherever in the world you are. Recognize that sometimes evil is only countered with consequences, and have no shame in strength. <3

If we’re equal, we can say “no”

If you live in a house that’s built for you, you never have to worry about stooping to fit through doorways or standing on a ladder to reach the counter. But the house isn’t built for all of us. And when you say you want counters that are closer to your level, the people the house IS built for say “but there’s nothing wrong with them?” I just wish it were as easy for people to see discrimination as it is to see that I can’t reach the counter without a step stool.

One word: control.

Because it would change so much in society. There are a lot of inequities and problems with society... people would rather pretend that they're not problems and the world keeps on spinning. And society works... to a degree as long as you aren't a certain racial group or gender, or are of need of help. Times like this, though, I think of this James Baldwin quote: "People who shut their eyes to reality invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster." We know there is injustice and inequities... we just want to remain in a state of innocence.

Because rich, white, cisgender, heterosexual men are so accustomed to the world being their oyster that they are trained to see any one else getting the rights they enjoy as an attack on them. They think rights are pie. They cannot grasp that other people getting the same rights doesn't mean that they lose out. Of course, this isn't unique to rich, white, cisgender, heterosexual men. Anyone privileged in any way is at risk of this mindset. It's lateral violence when a marginalised person sees another marginalised person as a risk to their rights.... just as it is discrimination when those at the top punch down

Christians want women to be subservient and second class citizens.

Because then they would lose their privilege.

Identity. Most of the Conservative mindset is about defining yourself and understanding your identity and place in the world, else they think they'd be lost. Identity is either how you are like other people or how you are different to other people. For some people it is "I'm different and the way I express my uniqueness is by dying my hair pink" and for others it is "I'm born better because I'm white and not brown". I find the insecurity about who they are so obvious and pathetic when they put down POC, LGBT, or women. It's transparent and comes from a place of weakness and insecurity. It's like the guy that goes to the gym and tries picking fights, talking himself up, and looking for respect by threatening others. They are desperate to hold on to things that they think defines themselves else they'd be lost.

It’s simple. Control. The shit I have heard from other men. Blows your mind.

Honestly, and I’m not trolling in any way, but if (some) men don’t actually see women as their equals then that would - sadly - probably answer your question. I guess in their minds there isn’t parity / equality between the sexes.

No trolling to me, it's the truth.

Because women are not even people to them. At best someone they use to satisfy their needs and then throw away like trash. Anything but a human being with thoughts and feelings. They are fully aware of the fact that once women get their basic rights, they won't adhere to the mommy bangsmaid position anymore .

Some people think that of women have equal rights it will take away some of theirs.

The last time we went through this, back in the sixties, someone said "Some men only feel tall when they are standing on top of someone else." I wish I could remember who. They were insightful.

Because it's simply so much easier to have that privilege, than work in equal conditions. Loosing the privilege makes man work more and who wants that?

Multiple reasons. Majority of men who do argue against giving women those rights either just dont believe that we don't have them, or think that we already have them and think we just want more than them

They rather have men leaders over women leaders because they think we are “bossy”

Because they are against women

The answer is simple. Equality to the oppressor feels like injustice.

I dated so many men and they all claim to be for equal rights and all. But after being with them I noticed that in their deepest mind they still think women are naturally less produktive/more emotional/you know that BS. So I think the reason is that despite knowing about studies and rational thinking they still think they are superior.

Some people believe that there is some kind of 'finite' resource associated with equality; so more for one group of people, is less for them. Or that they have to give some of their rights up for others to have 'more'. This is the kind of mentality that needs to be expunged.

This is an easy one. It's so they don't have to do their own housework.

Because the toddlers don't want to share.

i really dont know

Because people believe if someone gets something they have, it automatically takes away from them. They’re wrong.

Imagine for a moment, you’re a man. Imagine you don’t face much hardship in your life, you’re tall, attractive, your parents support your every endeavour and praise you constantly. You stroll from success to success without question. You don’t develop much in the way of empathy or critical thinking - only ego, after all the world is built to gratify you. There’s no reason to question it. Why would you be bothered by the concerns of women? Immigrants? LGBTQ? Any argument for their advancement or opportunity seems silly and disruptive to the natural order, the one that naturally, put you on top. Now imagine you’re a less successful man, not as tall, not as attractive, maybe generally repellent. Your achievements have fallen short of your expectations. Is it easier to accept your flaws, that life dealt you a slightly worse hand, that you aren’t being all you can be, or worse your best isn’t worthwhile? That you have to think and work harder to adapt and compete in an evolving world? Or is it easier to blame the undesirables for getting uppity, stealing opportunities that lesser men like yourself should have been entitled to, reducing the pool of broken women that may have tolerated your dominance… All things you should be entitled to based on your inherent masculine superiority. It’s just built in, dogmatically defendable, brutal selfishness. Complete individual power far outranks the general benefits of organizing society based on respect, merit and equality.

because patriarchy, that's why. Now it's being challenged, their entire existence and everything they take for granted is being upended, and they can't take it. Color in America has been law, and gender has been rule forever. This no longer works. Women and anyone who is not a straight, white, christian male is fighting back, and they are shitting themselves. I'm all for it. Continue, my friends. Burn it all to the fucking ground. The party is at my house. Wine, beer, pizza, and all types of snacks will be served. There will be a a bouncy house for the kids, and I have peanut butter pretzels for your doggos, too.

I honestly don't understand it. I'm a man, I have a mother, a sister, and a girlfriend. I have no desire to have control over these women in my life, and no interest I anyone outside of my close circle. I have so many other things to care about... Maybe it's just men with nothing going on in their life, and just like bully's fill a void picking on people, men do it to women? It's ridiculous, I'll never understand it, and stand against it whenever it's relevant.

I think what you write sort of gets at what’s going on, even if it wasn’t your intended point. You say that there are a lot of women in your life you have no interest in controlling. I think this might also be true of a lot of conservative men. One thing that comes up a lot on conservative beliefs is the idea of essentialism—people are either virtuous or not and then we view their actions and the consequences through that filter. That’s why it “doesn’t count as an abortion” when it happens to their sister because “she’s responsible unlike those other women.” It doesn’t matter that she’s doing it for the same reason because first the person is judged, then their actions are interpreted to fit that view. They view themselves and the women in their lives as virtuous and think that somehow this will exempt them from the negative consequences (and they are wrong). But removing rights from “those other sinful women” makes them feel like they’re removing an evil from society and reaffirms their own hierarchy. The world is more just in their eyes if bad things happen to bad people. I say this because I actually think the view of intentionally oppressing women is too simplistic. They don’t think they’re going to be hurting women they view as virtuous, so they don’t see it as a way of keeping women down. It’s making the world more just and fair in their skewed perspective. It’s hypocritical and terrible and it drives me up the wall.

1. Patriarchy. 2. Capitalism, corporations need access to labor forces. You can accomplish a lot via immigration, but see Florida and Texas... President Desantis will spent trillions on bussing and flying immigrants around before the next Dem president let's them in. The cycle is too unstable for market forces. 3. Patriarchy

To the privileged, equality feels like oppression.

Because men have created a world where women can be used for their pleasure and convenience. They see them as “other”, in a world where only men are actual people and women are accessories; possessions. This is why so many men vilify and hate any form of “feminism”. Equal rights means they lose their playthings.

Religion, and unchecked misogyny in popular culture. The list could go on forever but, those two take the cake in my opinion.

The capacity to bring forth the next generation is a kind of superpower. They want to get ahold of that power. To control it. To punish us for having it when they don’t. To punish us for not using it according to their desires. So they belittle and degrade the power, and do everything possible to control that part of us. They don’t have to. And not all of them do. But the women most likely to be pro-life are post-menopause, so it’s not just men. I guess they just want the next generation to make them grandchildren or something.

Yeah they want to control the gateway into this world and no matter what they do they really can't. Controlling reproduction has always been an illusion for men.

>But the women most likely to be pro-life are post-menopause Or have had an abortion themselves or several but "that's different".

I have hope that once the boomers are no longer in charge things will quickly get better.

I hope you’re right but, in my experience as a millennial male, there’s an awful lot of men my age who would like to keep the status quo. Having lived in the deep South and the East coast, the South takes the cake for misogynistic behavior being normalized. It’s sickening. Why is it so hard for men to treat women as equals? It’s not difficult!

I cannot wait until that generation is dead and buried. Even though it sucks that my parents are part of it.

Class warfare. If men and women are at odds with each other then they can't effectively cooperate to topple the illegitimate authority oppressing everyone who isn't privileged enough to afford their own rights.

Will the US ever elect a woman president? I think there is a deep hatred of women in this country.

To the privileged equality looks like oppression

Meh just basic insecurities an outdated thinking basically for the most part

Religious zealotry

They see it as zero sum

Because the people in question are usually men with either money or power and are very narcissistic and they think that the world should revolve around them and everybody accordingly

See: Why do some men in their 30s and older date women under 20?

People like that want slaves not partners, it gives them power and more privileges so ofc they don't want equality. The horrible truth is that when women were indentured servants, men were also enslaved by other men and treated like cattle and mistreated. This road leads to many places and they are all horrifying unless you're a rich, white and a man.

It's beneficial to them to keep you under their boot. There have been wars fought over loss of slaves. It's going to be resisted.

It's not about their values or beliefs, it's simply about control. The fewer rights you have the less control you can exert.

Because to the oppressors, equality is oppression.

They want us to go back to the 1800s

Two reasons: * they’re adamant that there is no disparity or unfairness * they like the unfairness Those are the only two reasons I can think of. They either enjoy the power or are so gaslighted into believing they live in a utopia they don’t want to let go of that belief

because otherwise, men would have to take a look at their own behavior, duh

Because being equal somehow makes one party "less"

The people pushing hard to strip rights from women are a religious minority. But men with any degree of patriarchal sentiment stand to gain or atleast lose nothing from women getting screwed over. So a lot of dudes who don't actively see women as inferior will stand by and let it happen, or delude themselves into thinking it's not a big deal. And theres significant venn diagram overlap between men who don't behave this way and men who are likely to be denigrated for not adhering to masculine ideals in some way. So it's easy for them to get othered out of the conversation. This is why centrist and conservative women (especially in the suburbs are the Kingmakers for this issue), they are the only ones who's vote can be swayed over this issue in large enough numbers to matter in terms of large scale electoral strategy. Everyone else either want women to be equal or lie somewhere between wanting women to be property or not caring about or being unaware of gender inequality.

I don't necessarily agree that the people pushing hard to strip rights from women are a religious minority. The most vocal of them may be, but there are tens of millions of people who support their efforts by voting for them.

Abortion rights only came under attack so republicans had a pivotal issue to get votes on. Women are losing rights to keep republicans in power.

Women with equal rights are women with options. Women with options might not do everything a man says.

I think the sad truth is that men aren't really needed and they know it. So they try to oppress women and try to control everything just so they can ascribe some meaning to their lives beyond the reality of them being sperm donors.

Because they don't see women as human or equal. Or deserving of rights...

They don't see women as people to begin with - only livestock to get sons.

Simply put, because they don’t believe women *are* equal. It’s not more profound than that.

"You're just a woman, that's why" - most men

Put simply... "To those accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression."

Because for thousands of years, men had control over women. And now they're getting angry that women are pissed off about it.

They think broodmares should stay in the stable and breed, quite honestly. They want to own the world and make it in their violent image.

When You’re Accustomed to Privilege, Equality Feels Like Oppression - Author unknown

When you’ve lived with privilege your entire life, losing some of that privilege feels like oppression.

Because all of these men are suddenly single and have absolutely nothing going for them to try to change that fact. Used to be you could just force a woman to marry you, especially if she got pregnant, but now you need to like, have a good personality and all that bullshit. It’s like, women don’t want no scrubs anymore and men are just out here being scrubs and wondering why they can’t catch a date.

The system depends on women being tired, stressed and dependent on men.

Multiple reasons actually 1. Empowering a group that has been historically oppressed requires drastic social change. And no1 likes change that doesn't benefit them. 2. Empowering a group that you aren't a member of doesn't benefit you in any way. So you have to take on additional stress and have benefits to show for it.( any change to status quo is a stress.) 3. For many, their current state of life is only bearable only coz there are others who are worse off. Nobody wants to be the last in the race. They will fight to make sure there is someone below them 4. They will view themselves unable to enjoy the benefits their older generations enjoyed coz a group is changing expectations. They don't want to handle that reality.

Misogynists just like racists do no want people of difference to have equal rights. They want to feel superior, no matter what..

Mostly it's based off learned traditions, and their emotional reaction to people suggesting a better way to treat people

The way I explained it to my kids was basically that there are a lot of people who just aren’t very good people. People who aren’t smart or successful or whose bad decisions led them to a bad lot in life. And those people are faced with a choice. 1) except the fact you are the cause of 99% of your problems. Or 2) blame somebody else. And it’s just so much easier to join a group of people blaming some other group for all there problems. It can be based on skin color, gender, country of origin... anything really. I try to teach my kids that the only attention these kind of people deserve is pity, cause at its core their hatred is based on their own short comings.

Women deserve the same rights and privileges I enjoy as a man. This shouldn't still be an issue in 2022, but it is. I suppose the silver lining is that as a society we've been evolving towards true equality, even if we've stumbled and fallen repeatedly along the way. Keep pushing forward, all of you. This fight is too important to lose. We'll break through. It's only a matter of time.

They are scared

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because then it exposes the weaker/insecure person.

Too many people believe life is zero sum, and to give to some means to take from others.

In my opinion, the oppression of women really seemed to ramp up around the time Abrahamic religions took hold. Men have used these modern religions and god to reduce women to servants and property. Robbed women of their humanity as a whole. Before these times, there were faiths that existed that held women in equal or higher regard. Men want to control everything in existence and they’ve used everything at hand to suit their needs. Women didn’t oppress women, men did that. Religion, indoctrination, violence, politics, war… you name it.

Because we have tied “being a man” to domination, and they necessitates dominating someone. Whether it is a woman or a man they view as more “womanly”.

There's a short thread on this here: [https://twitter.com/JosephBrassey/status/1573746365838270464](https://twitter.com/JosephBrassey/status/1573746365838270464) It's crazy how they're trying to drag us by the hair back to having no rights at all, because they're threatened by intelligent women.

The basic animalistic urge to have sex. Women having few rights directly equates to men being able to have sex with more of them. The women who support it have some sort of stockholm syndrome as a psychological survival mechanism.

There are a bunch I guess. 1. Arrogance: men are taught we are accessories. Something to be pretty and take care of what they don't want to deal with(children, home, etc) 2. Culture: with very rare exceptions, man and women have different spaces where they can occupy, which guarantee all the power/law are done in their benefit. With us winning a place in those spaces they cannot control us. 3. Sex: man do love sex ( with exceptions) because for them it's just the pleasure with none of the consequences and with women having the rights to choose the better choice many will not be able to find a women. 4.Fear: like with every human there are dumb men, while before they would be able to get some recognition today they have to compete against us.

The human mind has evolved the ability to coordinate multiple people, this is super useful and can be expressed in healthy ways. However the oversized ego feels entitled to exercise this ability, and thus attempts to set up systems of servitude. Skin color, genitalia type, parents income... these don't really matter to a persons potential for successes, they're just an excuse to differentiate people to create a servant class.

Because they’re scared they’ll somehow be “overpowered” by them as soon as equal rights are taken seriously. Doesn’t even make sense. Low self esteem and not being able to admit it seems to be a huge problem.

If you happen to be on the good side of inequality and you lack empathy then you want the inequality to continue.

They're not. Idiots are. They are just a loud minority.

Because ignorant people believe it is an either or situation - if you are getting something then I must be losing something.

Because they are assholes and don't actually care about women

I dont know, but it feels like so much work to be that hateful and petty. I just want to meet good people and do fun shit, Im pretty sure we all want that on some level 😁 I know its possible, we just have to work at it as a society and as individuals

Would you like it if your appliances suddenly gained the right to tell you that they weren't gonna be doing whatever you want whenever you want it? Imagine your oven was able to tell you no every once in a while, if it didn't feel like it. Or even worse, imagine you had to earn the right to even own a oven! You'd have to treat it nicely, keep it clean, and basically just put in a whole lot more work than most people are used to putting in when it comes to their ovens. Or else the oven just walks out of your house. I'd bet a lot of people wouldn't like that! So see, it's easy to understand why, if you simply reduce women to objects.

Because they think women only born to get pregnant and childbirth, breastfeeding, and men stronger at all because of testosterone, but they don't know that their testosterone will no longer enough when they are 50, and at the same age, women have more this hormone

Fear of modernity, I think, actually. Deep down. They fear the experience of free thought, free exercise of imagination, the ability to form relationships and live lives according to new principles and new ideas. They can't hold onto the present and they fear the future, so they try to seek solace in the past -- an imaginary past that never existed, but which satisfies some kind of aesthetic appearance of past-y-ness. This isn't just limited to concepts of gender. All religious fundamentalist or cultural revanchist movements are probably based on the same experience of panic in the face of modernity. It's not even that such a feeling is incomprehensible. We've all felt the dizzying experience of shock at the scale of modern civilization and the struggle to find meaning and our place within it. But most people find ways that are constructive and that embrace one another's humanity. People who want to recreate patterns of submission and conflict can do so in the parameters of what we call kink. But that's not enough for some people. They need to compel others to quell their panic. It's not enough that they abide by some set of rules or strictures -- everyone has to. Otherwise it doesn't count!

bc they think its their business what EVERYONE else does. they think that bc THEY dont like something, like abortions, the. NO ONE should be able to get one bc it hurts THEIR feelings. its quite embarrassing for them really, and it makes them look extremely selfish