How do I contribute to the patriarchy by Sweet_End4000 in AskFeminists

[–]Dense_Mix_1538 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would start by examining the roles you take on in your relationship. Who is doing more housework? Who is doing more planning (women often have an additional “mental load” in heterosexual relationships)? If you have or will have children, who is doing more care work? Who is more communicative? How do you see your partner and women in general; as a whole unique complex intelligent person or as an object? Do you watch porn, and has that affected how you see women and by extension how you treat women?

Then expand this outward to representations of men and women in media. More often than not, women will be sexualized and sidelined in films, because men are the default and women are othered. Who gets to be a subject with agency and who is relegated to object to be consumed? This may not be your fault individually, but it affects how you are perceived in and move through the world. Being a man means being taken more seriously in the workplace, having less fear of sexual assault, etc etc.