Is Discrimination against Men Real? How Can We Stop It?
Shocked? Not at all surprising, the question deserves it. It is hard for women to even interpret it and think about it!
Discrimination against women, gender bias which is a male bias in companies, marital rape, sexual harassment, and more is all that we have heard. So to digest that something like discrimination against men exists is tough!
So now the question again arises. Do discrimination against men is real? Well, the reality is yes. But does it exist equally as discrimination against women? The answer to this is no. There’s no idea of comparing both. But when you go through reports that report discrimination against men and see the idea of them, it irks the way it all goes. They compare both men’s and women’s rights, at work, in marriage, after marriage, in voting, and whatnot. There’s no race going on between the two genders whose discrimination is superior.
Let’s get back to discrimination against men, in what form it exists, where it exists, who discriminates, and questions like that. Today all of us live more a virtual life than real. Our whole day is all about to check the latest messages on WhatsApp, check our feed on Facebook, stories’ updates on Instagram, and here what is most trending is the “meme culture”. We don’t realize the fact that the only update happens is in the memes nothing prolific.
And, in these memes only, we often forget the line of control. All that matters is that whether a particular meme made you smile or laugh, and if it did then you share. What actually all meme-makers and people forget is, is the meme not discriminating a particular gender or a particular section of society. Here is where the discrimination starts towards a particular section. Jokes and memes on males’ penis, beard, mustache, height, and bodycolor, etc. are discrimination. Momentarily we smile and share, but rarely realize how it will shape people’s opinion and their mind’s view regarding that slammed thing in the meme. Why body shamming make us laugh, rather than making our disgust? The shocking fact is that many meme pages like these on Facebook and Instagram are owned by men only. Page likes matter so much that to get one, one resorts to sexual and gender discriminating jokes and memes.
We need to stop this “sharing without thinking” habit of ours. We have to analyze what we see on the internet. And surely when we’ll do so we’ll feel offended against those memes and jokes and will not share it. It is hard to think like that and adopt it but nothing happens in one day, everything takes time.
It is probably hard to admit but either gender indeed favors their gender. If one reads, looks, or studies anything against their gender, naturally start sympathizing with it whereas in contrast support that regarding another gender. Rather than analyzing, we have developed a habit of teaming up for our gender as we feel if we don’t support it then nobody will care for our rights, which matters to us.
Men argue that why a child’s custody is not given to them after divorce, women argue why they should not ask alimony. Nobody looks into the fact that these are not laws, it is just that it only happens in most of the cases. There are cases where it is not so. This is not discrimination against men that a child’s custody is not given to them and they have to give alimony to their wives. Men have to change the perspective they look at it. If a woman is proved of having an extra-marital affair, then men can argue for not giving alimony. In many cases, there’s a mutual separation and many women don’t ask for alimony. Even in case of a child’s custody, now children get to live with both of their parents by taking turns. Men argue that these laws favoring women should be curbed, not looking at the fact that no favoring is involved, as told above.
Someone has said it rightly,” To take rejection positively is not as easy as it may sound.” It may feel pity but it is the harsh reality that men don’t healthily take rejection. In the west, they say women like men who have a perfect body, color, and sense of humor, average men don’t get women and argue endlessly on this claiming it to be discrimination against them. Now is it discrimination against men in the first place, secondly why is it so tough to accept rejection?
Ok, first of all, it is not discrimination. Every person has some preferences and choices when it comes to choosing their partners. It is healthy and natural. And when stereotypes get involved, then it is a sign of an end of a relationship. But we are humans, and our psychology and behavior don’t allow us to take it as easily as it is. We feel we have been rejected or left because we lacked the qualities our partner wanted. We have to start dealing with such insecurities otherwise they hamper our growth as an individual. Start giving time to your hobbies and interests, travel to places, share your thoughts with your family. Loneliness forces us into overthinking and eventually into depression.
There’s only one healthy way to end discrimination towards any gender or section of society that is by respecting each individual’s choice and preferences and taking offense in things that discriminate.
