This string of images being pushed around social media purporting to announce what “real men” do and don’t do is perpetuated by people who mean well, i’m sure, but everything about it is lame for the simple reason that gender has nothing to do with moral being advocated in the image.
What is a “real man”? Dumb hippies who were taught to be stupid at graduate school or are easily influenced by others who were, say there isn’t such a thing because the only thing that separates the genders is their physical plumbing. People who aren’t dumb, use critical thinking and basic observation skills (not to mention Science), however, know that there are biochemical differences between the genders, giving each different natural proclivities. One of those proclivities is indeed to nurture and take care of females under a recognition of each of your natural gender roles and therefore physically abusing one would go against their nature and qualify for the social stigma of not being a “real man”.
But while the image depicts a cowering woman with hands protecting and halting further attack – it doesn’t say abuse – it says hit. And that confuses an otherwise legitimate point in a significant way because it goes too far into the other direction than the Hippie gender-neutral fantasy and instead creates a premise where gender is SO important that certain actions are never acceptable. Of course, that’s the safer extreme to operate under and of course the image also doesn’t say “never”, it says “don’t” which means ongoing and that’s a legitimate point – however, who actually reads it that way, do you think? No one. And while you might think i’m over-analyzing – these things affect developing brains and its important to be clear on such records.
“Real men don’t hit women”? The truth is that “Real Men” dont hit anyone for no reason. but if someone is attacking you with a weapon for instance – i’ll be God damned if i’m gonna not beat the f#ck out of them because they happen to be female and I want to be a “real man”. in the end, messages like this can just be boiled down to “don’t be an asshole”. not to women. not to men. not to children. not to animals. not to anyone. just be cool.
It’s not that difficult.
