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HEALING THE PATRIARCHAL HANGOVER — PART III
When He Softened, So Did I
When men learn how to surrender, it flips the whole script from struggle to thriving
TLDR When men choose to lead themselves away from the dominator mindset of the patriarchy, women can finally relax, embrace their own feminine, and be a generative and constructive part of healing relationships.
Men often don’t recognize the ways in which patriarchy has harmed them until they hit a crisis. They suffer burnout, divorce, emotional breakdown, or the creeping realization that they are deeply unfulfilled.
For generations, men have been conditioned to believe that dominance, control, and suppression of emotion are the hallmarks of masculinity. But what happens when they start to question this? What happens when they realize that their suffering is not because of women, but because of the rigid, toxic structures that have shaped their entire existence?
On some levels this realization was a slow and painful one in our home. My husband had withdrawn emotionally, numbing out with video games, unable to fully engage with the stress I was carrying as the woman in our family.
I had hit my breaking point and was standing with one foot out the door. I was…
