Short thread on the female fragility panic: For decades now women have been conditioned via TV, film, and education, that they are just as strong & powerful as men. It is totally normal to see tiny framed women taking out a slew of male attackers as if they’re nothing.
And yes some tiny exceptional portion of women might be capable of these amazing feats. But the reality is this is a fiction. The average woman is and always will be weaker than the average man. But admitting this is verboten because it undermines the grander message.
The grander message is that in all circumstances women are capable of everything men are. The pressure to live up to this impossible expectation, however, stunts women from being able to verbalize openly that maybe they need the help of chivalrous hero men in some scenarios.
So then something like this happens and it opens the floodgates of repressed anxiety and fear experienced by women for so many years. And there is, unsurprisingly, an over reaction.
Meanwhile, being chivalrous and heroic in the traditional sense of protectionist masculinity is increasingly frowned upon because it reminds women of their weaker state. Overt Masculinity is deemed toxic. And yet...
...Chivalrous masculinity that looks out for women can be pretty darn useful for achieving balance in a world of asymmetric physical power distribution. It sends a message to those men who would use their power wrongfully that there is muscle there that will come for them.
The solution is thus not to emasculate men, repress men or wrap womankind in cotton wool, but to encourage men to embrace chivalry again. And to make it a virtue not a sin.
From a game theoretical perspective the more the wrong sort of men know that society values chivalrous masculinity, the more likely they are to fear making an attack. So it’s about leaning into the right sort of masculinity not repressing masculinity in and of itself.
So basically we need to consider the return of a sort of Chivalric Code. In doing so there is social currency for men in nurturing the right sort of powerful masculinity. en.m.wikipedia.org
Women got stressed by the chivalrous signals of chivalry practitioners like opening doors or kissing hands because we felt they belittled us. But perhaps we forgot that these signals were not intended for us as much as 4 other men. “You are in the company of a defender of women”
And yes sometimes signals can be misleading. But that’s also why the repercussions of breaking the chivalry code included excommunication. This was the cancellation of its time.
But maybe Pretty Woman didn’t became a blockbuster hit adored by women everywhere because of the underlying moral lesson that chivalry gets you more return in life as a man than predation. (And obviously I’m taking about the M&A) #chivalrousmasculinity youtu.be
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