Are the blokes ok?

The Ten Thousand Things

This week we listened to a Mamamia podcast where Mia Freedman interviews Caitlin Moran on her latest book "What about men?" and discuss our thoughts.

We acknowledge we are all victims of the patriarchy, but what tools do men have to help dismantle it? Why don't they identify with feminism and why are the gravitating towards extreme figures?

Ali explains why feminism has been helpful in plight of women, however men are not identifying with these strategies. Why can't men post photos of themselves and not be ridiculed?

Joe felt the interview was a little condescending. He asks if young boys have no lived experience of seeing women so openly objectified as they historically were, why are they feeling like somehow they are still responsible for it? We discuss how we can help the young men in our lives navigating these challenges.

Sam explores how the discourse analysis has been one sided and produced reactionary politics to feminism and how the facts of how men are negatively effected by the patriarchy is getting lost in the conversation.

We also discuss what men today can do to portray positive masculine role models for young men.

We appreciate your feedback, if you want to reach out you can find us on instagram and threads @thetenthousandthingspodcast

Find the interview here https://pod.link/995159486/episode/6573549cf512e72c5f770439a827702a

Publisher's page for What about men? by Caitlin Moran https://www.penguin.com.au/books/what-about-men-9781529149159

A decent article on patriarchy, men and masculinities - https://counseling.vcu.edu/students/identity-based-resources/men-and-masculinities/

• (00:00) - Theme
• (00:08) - Introduction
• (02:19) - The difference between a girl posting a body shot and a boy doing the same
• (05:57) - Slight condescension
• (07:09) - 'What about my boy? How do I help and talk with my son?'
• (07:59) - Boys today don't have the context of the history of gender and why feminism needed to happen
• (08:50) - Boys and men still have their own stuff
• (09:50) - Both victim and beneficiary, oppressor and opressed
• (11:25) - Moran's analysis of gender is mainly about discourse
• (14:20) - Gender pay gap
• (16:04) - How is feminism going and how are girls really going?
• (16:47) - Moran kept hearing 'what about boys?'
• (17:12) - Moran is responding to the void, that Andrew Tate is profiting from
• (18:07) - Boys being attracted to what is forbidden/getting yelled at for reading Jordan Peterson years ago
• (23:32) - The context of the buzz around Peterson's first book, an upheavel in gender discourse
• (26:19) - It's important that 'what about boys' comes from a woman with a strong record advocating for girls and women
• (27:16) - Who are the good role models for boys?
• (28:21) - Bill Burr a good role model? A nuanced commentator on gender?
• (32:02) - 'Women are perfect/don't criticise women' is itself patriarchal
• (34:31) - What is patriarchy, again?
• (38:11) - Equal oppression? Would all genders benefit from a 3 or 4 day work week?
• (39:49) - Think about economics in our personal life
• (40:47) - Joe coming back around on class analysis
• (44:04) - How do we become role models for young men?
• (51:09) - 'Boys, your feelings don't matter, except when it's a problem for girls'
• (55:42) - So are the blokes okay?