This repelling force has devastating consequences for everyone involved. Young men feel threatened by the demonizing of manliness and are, as a result, more likely to become misogynistic. Recent analysis shows “young men are increasingly working against women’s rights,” and this recent shift “appears to contradict some previous studies which point to older men as the root of conservative, anti-equality efforts.” Furthermore, men are hurt when we artificially pit the sexes against each other. The New Yorker columnist Idrees Kahloon writes that “the rapid liberation of women and the labor-market shift toward brains and away from brawn have left men bereft of what the sociologist David Morgan calls ‘ontological security.'” He continues to cite research that demonstrates how men are “flailing” in all levels of education, being incarcerated with breathtaking discrepancy, ending their careers early and are more likely to overdose or “(drink) themselves to death.”

Although women are currently facing gender issues and have historically received the brunt of the gender gap, very few sources talk about men’s concerns outside of alpha male podcasts and misogynistic commentators. For example, if you were to walk around a campus today you would find posters, programs and panels that invite women to participate in male-dominated industries. On these campuses, banners read “Women in Law” and “Women in STEM.” However, you would rarely, if ever, see a poster that said “Men in the Humanities” or “Men in Education.” On the news, companies highlight their female employees and hide their male workers like a shameful scar. Professors inadvertently silence male voices on topical social issues. School teachers commend female students on their handwriting, brilliance and behavior then turn to their male pupils and ask with venom why they can’t “grow up.” Meanwhile, Youtube, Twitter and TikTok are filled with dangerously aggressive, misogynistic bloggers, some of whom are engaged in criminal activity. Young men are then placed in between these two worlds pitted against each other and forced to make an impossible choice: follow those who attack them because they are men or follow those who don’t support women. Who will be the role model of our teenage boys?

The strides that women have made over the last few decades are commendable and need to continue, but as women break down barriers and make progress, men and masculinity shouldn’t be vilified. The battle is not against “the other” but against our individual and collective sins. Everyone should feel confident expressing their personality and gender openly regardless of how masculine or feminine they are. Each time pop culture carelessly says “Kill All Men,” “Men are Trash,” “Male Privilege,” “Manspreading,” “Mansplaining,” “Toxic Masculinity” or “Patriarchy,” it paints men as perpetrators of crimes against morality and gives power to the ideology feminism is trying to combat.

The modern face of feminism should not just be women and feminine men but everyone. Contradictory to insular extremists on both sides, the languishing of men does not support women nor does the success of women threaten men. Such a dichotomous economic and social theory is damaging to society and inconsistent with reality. As the adage says, “Women’s rights are human rights.”

Jacob Leavitt is an undergraduate student at Brigham Young University from Plain City studying computer science with a minor in political science.