10 Reasons Why Women Should Expect Men to Still Pay for Everything

There’s a meme doing the rounds at the moment that has brought an incredible amount of internalised misogyny to the forefront. In a bid for equality, it laments that “lazy women” should stop using men as “poverty eradication plans”.

Text reads: I find it very abusive to put pressure on men to provide us with a life we cannot provide for ourselves as women. as much as women are not rehabilitation centres for badly raised men, Men are not poverty eradication plans for lazy women.

We as women or those of us socialised feminine in particular are always discouraged from feeling like we’re taking something from someone, so we always take a step back. We’re told that even when we’re given something, to immediately and politely reject it. Femininity never asks for anything.

All of these versions of femininity and womanhood only continue to serve the benefit of men. So I keep asking myself now — who benefits from this moment? And if its not me, then its the status quo: its the same systems that keep me down, its the same attitudes and values that demean me, its the same narrative that makes me feel like I owe some awful man a blow job because he bought me a steak dinner.

This whole way of thinking is just another win win situation for men who continue to benefit from our patriarchal systems from a significant financial perspective. Below, I’ve outlined 10 reasons why…