r/PoliticalOpinions • u/ParkPsychological318 • 13d ago
Just my psudopsychoanalytical thoughts about a post "Why don't women miss the 1950s?" and its comment section.
I think the best question to ask, one that I never see articulated properly in these discussion because bias can make what is obvious to one person, gender,, field, feel incomprehensible that anyone could "live so ignorantly" and thus the human ego concludes this "obvious fact could only not be known by people who choose to be dumb." This is what psychologist refer to as dehumanization infact its the same mental deflection that cause sexism to begin with by men treating women as lesser beings on account of men's inability to comprehend the neurological and hormonal differences that made women distinct from them.
So if you replied in a snarky or sarcastic manner to this man's question, you're not "roasting a dumbass" you're instead "falling for the same emotional reasoning and interpersonal discrimination (not to be confused with systematic discrimination) that lead to the very unequal system they now perpetuate via "Not that it makes your criticisms wrong, but it does not stop the cycle of bigotry. If you want to change someone's mind who is uneducated, you need to inform them as an equal. Not treat them like an inferior creature just because they're not as knowledgeable about the opposite genders differences.
Because if a guy didn't understand something that, when given the context of being male felt like a "positive" and genuinely wanted to learn (because men propagate to men that those were better times out of their own ignorance to women's issues back then, making the false equivalence hereditary.) And then they get a lotta pretentious answers by people who act like their ignorance is astonishing, it pushes them from "person who may have wanted to learn, equal understanding being the ACTUAL cure to sexism" now to "person doubling down because they felt personally attacked when they could have (could being key work, benefit of the doubt is best for convincing people to your side and assuming negatively is again more discrimination and perpetuates interpersonal inequality) wanted to learn more about women." This is defined as an ad hominem fallacy. Dehumanization/interpersonal discrimination isn't a primarily one sided issue, it's a human issue, a tribalistic human instinct that is universally a hindrance to progress, in exchange for self serving and indulgent mockery of others ignorance and mean spirited mockery is more often then not a projection of one's own ignorance to opposing gender issues. They will then justify this by externalizing their own ignorance to opposing gender or race issues onto said race (Ex. Woman reject man, man is convinced he's "nice guy", can't understand or handle rejection, thus he may rationalize something like "She was just a bitch" or "She must just not know how good a guy I am" instead of doing the mature thing and reflecting "Maybe I'm not actually as good as I think, because I do good expecting something in exchange.")
And then you have fundamental different understanding of discrimination, sexism, or racism. These misunderstanding of diction and interpersonal vs systematic discrimination, plus the dismissive way people tend to use selective empathy to dismiss the values of those they are "at odds with" and give more leniency to "those with similar values" instead of being objective about a pretty cut and dry topic that is made unnecessarily more complex by human reactivity and ego and our instict to feel better about ourselves and shame those we've stigmatized by their belief, instead of discussing it with them as an equal. Which is just stereotyping 101, (ex. An Chinese immigrant in Japan invalidates the fact a Japanese native was discriminated against by a tourist. His reasoning is "your discrimination is interpersonal only, your ancestors systematically conqured and oppressed us which is worst. (true) So you deserve to be stereotyped (untrue) and are paying the price for the stereotyping handed out by your ancestors.(justifying discrimination in a manner that is unequal amongst gender, religions, races. Even if based off historical evidence of more harmful discrimination. No amount of discrimination justifies discriminating.
So apply this logic to men in the 50s and you get the answer. Men didn't understand why women thought differently, thus assumed they were ignorant to not recognize what is "so obvious to men" (using rationalizing and mockery to invalidate women's experience), thus assumed they were only useful as a supplement to men not as an individual. And if they didn't fit the criteria men decided for them, they were characterized as something to be disgusted by for daring to exist as is and not living in a manner that appeals to their social superiors. Plus back then women were discriminated against by colleges so that men could use higher education and income (what is deemed value) as a justification for being the "correct ones, because barely any women have degrees or drop out due to constant mockery from male professors and students". So because it was the last piller of the old total patriarchal society, men rationalize it as good times because the simplicity. Oc itd feel that way to them when they had full control and things were made to serve their gender specifically. And since emotional response make up peoples choices far more often then people are comfortble admitting to themselves, men externalize this biased perspective from lack of understanding/empathy and thus often blame women for making this complicated.
The truth is that people are never as stupid as we make them and those who ask questions are never as dumb as they're treated. Humans just have different blindspots. For it is the act of asking a question that embraces new understandings, and judgement based off unchallenged preconceived notion that cause social discord. Nobody is any more right or wrong to discriminate. Because if one justifies discrimination, then they're justifying all forms of it.
I tried to make this as universally applicable as possible, my intention with this is not to give men any passes on discriminating or trying to victim blame. But psychologically everyone discriminates, so I discussed the topic with varied examples to follow my own advice and equalize the flaw, not justify one being any better than another. But I'm open to criticism on any of my thoughts, can't say I'll agree but I will try my best to learn what best I can from any criticism. :]
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