UK anti-extremism charity HOPE Not Hate, has reported that 50% of British Gen-Z boys aged 16-24 genuinely believe that feminism has made it harder for men to succeed. 

Can you imagine?

According to a report from the charity titled “Young People in the Time of COVID-19”, half of the young men in Britain today feel that feminism has “gone too far and makes it harder for men to succeed”. It also found that only 21% of participants do not believe that feminism has gone too far. One in five, however, have negative views on feminism.

We already know that people seemingly have a lot of trouble admitting that they sit at the closest proximity to privilege in the world - in this instance men. But this survey exposes  that damaging  beliefs  like this are still alive and well - and are always linked to the extremely high levels of violence, assault and harassment womxn experience daily.

"This explains the high levels of misogyny, abuse, casualised violence and objectification women experience every day,” Sam Smethers told VICE media on the report.“We need a step-change in men's attitudes if we are going to reverse it."

But what is it exactly that these young men believe is standing in the way of their success? 

Is it that without workplace bias, they might have to genuinely qualify for their jobs? Or could it be that when men are no longer trying to silence womxn, they might actually be held accountable for their actions?

The bar is set so low. When there is so much more to feminism than just wealthy white womxn having equal rights, it is alarming that even a bare-minimum, top-line understanding of the movement has sent young Gen-Z men into the spiralling thought process that it is all 'far too much' to cope with and that their view of success is suddenly out of reach is troubling.

When we still have so far to go as a society to ensure the safety of womxn, the report's warning that “men’s rights and anti-feminism are increasingly become a slip road to the far right, appealing to young men feeling emasculated in an age of changing social norms” is a disheartening sentiment. 

Have we learnt nothing in a post-#metoo world? Just this month, female Gen-Z Tik Tokkers are making casual content about how womxn's pain is constantly silenced; chain mail Instagram trends like #challengeaccepted are being spread and botched in order to find the true meaning behind the #womensupportingwomen hashtag which has turned out to be a movement to shed light on femicides in Turkey; Breonna Taylor's killers still have not been arrested along with countless other Black and brown womxn who are murdered and assaulted at disproportionately higher rates, and you're telling me that 50% of British boys still feel like their success is in jeopardy because feminism has "gone too far"? I hate it here.

I'll leave you with the sage words of Angela Davis, and this sentiment: we plan to go a lot further.

Image credit: @afterworkdrinkspodcast