Opinion

Proper awareness imperative even against extreme masculinity and feminism

September 14, 2022
Proper awareness imperative even against extreme masculinity and feminism

Hani Aldahri

Last month, TikTok App banned the account of Andrew Tate, the American content creator and star of the ‘Big Brother' reality show. Tate is one of the most famous names representing the extreme masculine ideology in social media.

The decision from the video-sharing social media application came after news reports that Tate deliberately published content that includes misogyny, in addition to blaming feminist rights groups for the misery experienced by men under the name of “the harsh reality of men.”

This incident sheds light in general on the conflict between masculine and feminist ideologies around the world at present, and for this, communication networks are being used as a field for tumultuous battles that are gaining ground.

But we may ask here: Do modern patriarchal ideas that are spreading rapidly around the world and representing a new approach to dealing with incidents came as a “reaction” to the movement of extremist feminist ideologies or does feminism with all its identities — moderate and extremist — usually come in response to the dominance of masculine mindset?

This question is similar to the question “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”

The mythology is replete with the eternal struggle for control between men and women ever since the beginning of creation, starting with the story of Lilith, a female figure in Mesopotamian, Sumerian, Greek and Judaic mythology, alternatively the first wife of Adam and supposedly the primordial she-demon.

For those who do not know the story of Lilith, it is in short a story indicating that Adam had a wife before Eve named Lilith who rebelled and escaped from heaven to earth and turned into a demon, because she wanted to be dominant in the relationship between them, and she did not succeed, so Eve came from Adam’s rib so that she could not rebel against him.

Of course, this completely contradicts Islamic beliefs and narratives. But we deal with it when researching as a myth that has psychological significance, as we do not care about the authenticity of the story as much as we care about the attitudes of its authors and the collective mind of the societies where they grew up.

This is because we deduce from it that the female/wife must be a client under the control of the male/husband in the family relationship, otherwise she will be considered as a demon unfit for this status in the family.

Throughout the ages, the concept of dominance has had diverse manifestations in terms of up and down and moderation. In ancient societies, men were subjected to the authority of women up to the extent of being worshipped by men. Women were sanctified or adopted as goddesses such as Ishtar, Venus, and Elite.

In some other societies, the man was considered sacred, and it reached the extent of worshiping some parts of his body. For this purpose, statues were erected in the temples of the Greeks, Romans, and others and these practices continue to exist up to the present time.

In principle, we must realize that the concept of a natural person does not exist in the dictionaries of extremist gender ideologies. It will inevitably be classified according to an opinion or position to masculine or feminist.

One position or a passing opinion in light of the intensity of polarization between feminism and masculinity will throw you into one of the two molds without realizing it. Molding is the easiest and fastest way to fight the conflict with the violator in this battle, no matter how objective or accurate the person is in his statements and opinions.

The funny thing is that some famous international celebrities, who were once feminist activists, have been accused of being instantaneously compromised by patriarchy after they got married and expressed their gratification in enjoying life with men who share their lives with them.

Rebecca Barrett, a social media celebrity, is the best example of this. She was known as a symbol of extremist feminism around the world.

Today, she is receiving attacks, one after another from feminist ideologists around the world as she articulated herself in a moment of serenity: “I was an angry feminist all the time, but now I’m married and become a housewife... I love nothing more than serving my husband!”

On the other hand, there are dozens of examples around the world of intellectuals and philosophers who were described as extremist masculinities.

However, if any specialist delves into their books and theses, he finds that they have opinions that agree with many feminist theses, which showed that they are victims of stereotyping in the field of an ancient and thorny struggle against history and nature.

What concerns us today is to realize the extent of the chaos and stupidity of extremism for any ideology, idea, or conflict, because true awareness is always inevitable against extremism.

Objectivity has always been the characteristic of the wise, and moderation has always been the umbrella of the mature, while extremism reflects marginal personalities or those having turbulent psychologies.

We should also be aware that such conflicts today are being nurtured globally by international organizations that benefit from them in all possible ways and means. And this is what we should do to educate our children of both sexes if we want to build a mature society free of distortions.


September 14, 2022
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