The Great Feminization, No Place is Safe
If you thought that a men’s group would be immune to the application of feminist dynamics, think again.
Both masculine and feminist perspectives on behavior play important roles in human societies. These differing psychologies also influence each other and can help mitigate the excesses of the other or magnify the worst (toxic) impulses. I am not here to say that feminine psychology is bad— far from it— and it doesn’t work everywhere (neither does).
A men’s group should be rooted in masculine psychology. That’s seems obvious. But it’s not for many in our culture where the dominant cultural narrative is framed by feminists, many of whom hold grievances (victim-hooding) against men.
The Mankind Project (MKP) has grown increasingly distant from being a male space as if there is a shame attached to such spaces. The Board has become rooted in feminine psychology, which would be ok for a women’s group but is problematic for a men’s organization.
There is a broad cultural narrative that men’s spaces are inherently toxic (whereas women’s or any other identity-based space is morally grounded). Hence, the Board has added women to the Board and has actively filtered the leadership team with men who align with their perspective (be prepared to display feelings / performative emotion if you want to advance in the MKP hierarchy).
Young men are living the reality where they are pathologized in various ways for simply being men.
There is a reason why young men have shifted right as a kind of defensive measure while many women, especially educated women, have shifted left.
There is a reason why men are checking out of many structures and organizations because group dynamics are getting redefined in ways where language, how conflicts are resolved, the value of merit/data/work vs preferred emotional outcomes, are creating environments that for many men are toxic (but unlike toxic aspects of male behavior, there is little cultural tolerance (feminine preference) to address it; that’s widely understood, so the logical choice is to step away.
For many young men, especially those who are straight, but including some gay men as well, any hint that MKP is just another feminized space will see them head for the hills (either before or after the NWTA weekend).
I hear MKP-speak frequently that the idea of returning to the older protocols is boomers/older men unable to let go of their attachments.
The new generation needs something different! What “different” means is of course open to interpretation. For those immersed in feminist mind-speak, it means connection to feelings, emotional performance, politicizing everything (to the point where if a woman unloads the dishwasher she is somehow making a political statement vs doing something helpful / eg in the new Snow White movie she ordered the dwarves to clean up their home that she had occupied instead of helping out as a thank you). Home life used to be a refuge from public politics but there is no space free of it which is why men spaces are more important than ever.
The deeper problem is that MKP is not evolving into a different perspective of masculinity but is superimposing feminist principles on to the project. In a nutshell, that is WOKE.
Some progressives like to define WOKE as a kind of enlightenment (a favorite tactic is to self-describe the truth of something as being something that sounds uplifting/virtuous/ethically or morally correct). Ask AI, and it summarizes it as an awareness of various social injustices—a WOKE person “stays awake” to prejudice. WOKE is better described as the application of feminine patterns of behavior on to organizations/institutions built by masculine principles (it’s trying to put a square peg into a round hole). Power, conflict resolution, what is acceptable behavior, what is valued in a workplace/institution, has been feminized. Male dynamics prefer accountability, data (what are the rules and what are the facts), merit based success, a degree of tolerance for open conflict, competitiveness, individualism, and freedom. Female dynamics focus on caring (data takes a backseat), empathy (the kind of empathy that gives the appearance of kindness), less tolerance for free speech (speech is not permitted if deemed “harmful”), conflict resolution through cancelling and character assassination vs direct confrontation (women have a preference for word-violence whereas men are much more likely to engage in physical violence and this carries into to the tendency for direct confrontation even when entirely verbal as there is often an implied threat of physical violence in that situation), group identities (women have traditionally had greater reliance upon tribal groups to survive and the focus on identities as one’s tribe is a feminist impulse to leverage inclusion and therefore the projection of power whereas national type identities, eg American, or religious identities with exceptions are not favored because there is no inherent benefit to being a woman vs a man); this impulse is so strong that leftwing feminist groups will support Islamic causes (an exception in western countries because of perceived marginalizations of Muslims even though Islamic culture is restrictive of women’s rights/agency—a disregard for the data). Women seek consensus within the parameters of outcomes where everyone feels good/satisfied (especially groups viewed as disempowered (nurturing impulse) vs men who want data, the operating rules and what’s just (rational outcomes) within that framework. Social justice is a familiar term in WOKE-speak but “justice” isn’t the goal it’s equity (using language to refrain something to something that it isn’t is common in WOKE world).
GBTQ+ men are having a separate container at the upcoming NWTA—this is WOKE. Would it be ok for straight men to have their own? No, because GBTQ+ are viewed as marginalized and you have to be marginalized to be a valid identity-based group. This belief is based in a dehumanizing worldview because it disregards the varied lived experiences of people and assumes that identities have an overreaching impact of life and outcomes. In effect, no one is an individual— one is subsumed into a group and so the life of a white coal miner is viewed through the same lens as a wealthy white venture capitalist. Feminism has used group-identity based politics to leverage their accumulation of status, power and wealth. Straight (and white men in particular) are a problem to be overcome as they held most of the status, power and wealth that feminist groups sought for themselves. Separation has been a key strategy and especially among men—breaking men into sub-groups is a divide and conquer strategy. If I saw a separate container at a NWTA or anywhere similar that was not based on function (a rookie container for example or the leadership staff) but one based on identity I would automatically see the men in those containers as brothers once-removed. There would be a barrier (I’m not welcome there), a separation, and that’s intentional to further entrench the WOKE world.
In WOKE world, one of these worst offenses is to offend someone. Giving offense is grounds for cancelling, firing, reputation-smearing, and so on and this is part because for women it’s the kind of violence they engage in whereas for men “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me”.
Cancelling Bill (the MKP Board removed Bill from critical comments) was a WOKE response. Further, in the WOKE paradigm, the data doesn’t really matter (feelings over facts) which means meaningful dialogue is difficult if not impossible (data/facts do not hold value). Bill hurt the Board’s feelings. Everything he said could be true (indeed, that was a problem because the Board was challenged to have a dialogue based on data), but that doesn’t matter in WOKE world. Defensive measures include beyond cancelling and reputation smearing over the top “nuclear” emotional responses to drown out the data and to inhibit future transgressions. The Board is thoroughly WOKE which I view as a problem for a men’s group (applying feminine patterns of behavior on to men is like trying to mix oil with water).
In many ways, as the influence of religion has declined in western countries, and with it the norms of behavior once imposed through primarily Christian-influenced understandings, it has been replaced by a feminist model of what is acceptable behavior—a model that is that is driving men from public life. Interestingly, many young men are gravitating back to liturgical religion where feminine and masculine dynamics are in many ways honored and checked (for example, monogamy, a requirement of many religions, is a feminine preference.)
Western civilization is falling. Dramatic, yes, but I think many people see the data and can feel it in their bones and see it with their eyes.
Can it be reversed? Anything is possible. There is a worry among many INFJs. We are feeling the wrongness of many paths taken. People do not feel like themselves— another way to say it is “lost.” The weight of it has been getting heavier. If all the INFJs rose and spoke to this, we would be mostly ignored or misunderstood. So for the most we stay silent. And then there is me, writing a blog that few people will ever read.
