What gets me is that it feels like whenever you try to express, in person or online, there are a lot of people looming to say "Well I feel fine and I have friends I can talk to, so it's actually not that you're a man that is the problem here. You should work on yourself instead of blaming others."
We are so quick to tell someone how to be, instead of just fucking listening to them.
Because the idea that your success and well-being might in some part be down to luck is too big a pill to swallow for some people. Folks love to flaunt success despite the disadvantages they faced, but are so quick to reject that they had any advantages. In this case maybe not everyone wants to be just like you (not you you but them you lol). Maybe they don't want your friends and your lifestyle, or somehow don't have as much access to those, but they still want a halfway decent support system.
The phrase "work on yourself" needs to die. It's a dismissal pretending to be advice.
It also utterly lacks the required vector for it to actually be, you know, useful to the recipient.
There are billions of ways that you can “work on yourself”, with only a minuscule subset actually having any benefit whatsoever. And that beneficial cohort changes radically from person to person.
"Additionally, lacking social connection increases risk of premature death by more than 60%."
I might as well start saying my goodbyes. lol
Any attempt to build “male spaces” for male-only socialization have women screaming that these places are misogynistic because it excludes them, and then when they finally have access they push all the men out and make those places all about them and their problems.
Men's Liberation
This community is first and foremost a feminist community for men and masc people, but it is also a place to talk about men’s issues with a particular focus on intersectionality.
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Everybody is welcome, but this is primarily a space for men and masc people
Non-masculine perspectives are incredibly important in making sure that the lived experiences of others are present in discussions on masculinity, but please remember that this is a space to discuss issues pertaining to men and masc individuals. Be kind, open-minded, and take care that you aren't talking over men expressing their own lived experiences.
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Recommended Reading
- The Will To Change: Men, Masculinity, And Love by bell hooks
- Politics of Masculinities: Men in Movements by Michael Messner
Related Communities
!feminism@beehaw.org
!askmen@lemmy.world
!mensmentalhealth@lemmy.world