Are Men Trained To Hate Women?

I read an interesting article titled, 5 Ways Modern Men Are Trained to Hate Women. Is it true? Is the root reason behind why some men cheat, abuse, use violence, salivate over strippers, and dehumanize the opposite sex, because of the way the way they are trained and socialized?  David Wong thinks so. Here is a summary of three of his main points:

We Were Told That Society Owed Us a Hot Girl

Every movie, TV show, comic book – heck, every piece of media consumed have the same storyline: “If the hero accomplishes his goals, he is awarded his favorite female.”

“From birth we’re taught that we’re owed a beautiful girl. We all think of ourselves as the hero of our own story, and we all (whether we admit it or not) think we’re heroes for just getting through our day.” Wong suggests that because of this ingrained perspective, when men don’t get what they are “owed”, it can get frustrating to the point of violence. It’s as if a contract has been broken.

He also points out that there are two ways to dehumanize a person: by dismissing them, and by idolizing them.

We’re Trained from Birth to See You as Decoration

Wong states that there is a major difference between the perception of males and females. With men, there are some scenarios where looks don’t really matter. However, with women, it always matters. He uses the example of the public bashing of attractiveness level of Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan. That even when judging a female for a position on the highest court, she is still judged as her suitability as a sex partner.

“The female always has a dual role: to function as a person, and to act as decor.”

We Feel Powerless

“All those wars we fight? Sure, at the upper levels, in the halls of political power, they have some complicated reasons for wanting some piece of land or access to some resource. But on the ground? Well, let me ask you this — historically, when an army takes over a city, what happens to the women there?It’s all about you. All of it. All of civilization.

So where you see a world in which males dominate the boards of the Fortune 500, and own Congress, and sit at the head of all but a handful of the world’s nations, men see themselves as utterly helpless.

Because all of those powerful people only became powerful because they heard that women like power. This is really the heart of it, right here. This is why no amount of male domination will ever be enough, why no level of control or privilege or female submission will ever satisfy us. We can put you under a burqa, we can force you out of the workplace — it won’t matter. You’rtoe still all we think about, and that gives you power over us. And we resent you for it.”

The article provides interesting insight from a male’s point of view on why men, deep down inside, are trained and socialized by role models, the media and perceptions to resent and hate women. To find out more about how women are falsely portrayed in the media and what we can do about it, read my article here.

Photo credit: Thomas Hawk