Minimalism Is a Feminist Issue
Women are conditioned to be more stressed by excess stuff than men, and it’s doing them serious harm
Every time I listen to one of The Minimalists’ podcasts, I’m struck by how many of their callers are women.
I decided to dig around to find out if or how Minimalism affects women differently from men.
Spoiler alert: there is a difference. And it doesn’t bode well for women.
The modern minimalism movement may have been spearheaded by men (think The Minimalists, Joshua Becker, Cal Newport), but it’s women who benefit from it more.
Here’s why.
Do you have a magic coffee table in your home?
It’s well known that clutter increases cortisol, the stress hormone. Too much stuff in your home can be responsible for weight gain, procrastination, insomnia, and depression.
What blew my mind (at least for a second until I thought well, duh) is that cortisol levels display higher in women than in men. As this story says:
The more stuff, the more stress women feel. Men, on the other hand, don’t seem bothered by mess.
