The Coming Precariat: Boys and Men
[Editors note: this article was written in German in Sept 2023, and translated to English below, with an update regarding the outcome of the 2024 US presidential election].
The position of boys and young men in our country is becoming more and more precarious. The strange thing about it is the fact that the public does not seem to notice this, and neither politicians nor the media are interested. So a something big is happening that seems to be invisible. What is going on?
Have you ever noticed that reports about boys and men mainly convey negative messages? The well-being and situation of boys and men is not an issue for the public, unless they attract attention through toxic actions and criminal acts. Men are needed by boys as identification figures for their development. However for years the media have been portrayed men as toxic, clumsy or dominant-patriarchal, or simply absent.
Just because it is true that some men (extremely few) are powerful or very powerful (oligarchs), it cannot be concluded that men have all the power. There is no homogeneous patriarchy in the sense of a fundamental and sole rule of men. In many societies, family oligarchies hold economic, media and political power. These are known to consist of men, women and generations of family who benefit. In addition, one must also look at the millions of men on the other side of society, the the subgroups that consist primarily of men; the lonely, the homeless, the undeducated, the ‘failures to launch’, the victims of murder, the imprisoned – all these groups prove that the postulate of patriarchy that oppresses women cannot be true. Rather, it is a few, very powerful families that dominate men and women, both economically and via the media.
“You can ignore the tiny mole on your face, but that will be a dangerous mistake if this is the first sign of skin cancer. Similarly, you can ignore the problems that men and boys experience or even blame them for it, but that won’t help you in the long term if men are being marginalised not only to the fringes of society, but to the cliff edges of society.”
Language can influence how we see things. You can ignore the tiny mole on your face, but that will be a dangerous mistake if this is the first sign of skin cancer. Similarly, you can ignore the problems that men and boys experience or even blame them for it, but that won’t help you in the long term if men are being marginalised not only to the fringes of society, but to the cliff edges of society. Their precariously unstable position is a sign this underclass of men and boys are becoming a ‘precariate’ – i.e. a precarious proletariate - who are undervalued by every class above them.
Men and masculinity: different in reality than in the media
Compare the image of men that dominates in the media, politics and society today with your own experiences and the reality of your life! Whether you are a man or a woman, you will know some good men in your everyday life, probably even many. However, men as protectors, breadwinners and good buddies hardly appear in media coverage anymore. How could this happen? It is the result of years of misandric (anti-male) reporting in the media, politics and in the education system. Men are viewed predominantly negatively pretty much everywhere. How can the majority of society - often men themselves - close their eyes to the obvious problems facing a large part of their fellow human beings, namely many boys and men?
Four areas for analysing the disadvantage of boys and men
First of all, to four symptomatic areas where the precarious situation of boys and men can be seen. Public opinion always overlooks the problematic situation of those affected. The areas are: (1) educational success and future opportunities, (2) health and lifespan, (3) social participation and (4) war victims and consequences.
Quite contrary to what is repeatedly claimed by interested parties, the vast majority of men are not economically or socially privileged, but have to earn their living through hard and sometimes dangerous work (building construction, road construction, crafts, military, etc.). Accordingly, 95% of all victims of fatal occupational accidents are men.
And in the case of family households, men usually contribute about two-thirds of the family income. Many men experience themselves as highly committed to their families, while it is precisely this commitment that is not noticed, let alone respected, by politics and the media. From there, equal care is demanded, without equal work for women becoming an issue at the same time.
Men finance feminist politics in the country for the most part
So far, men have contributed about 65% of income tax revenue in the country. Since income tax in Germany is at a particularly high level by international standards, men also contribute to a particular extent to financing the Misandric (anti-male) policies described below, which tend to be directed against them: equal opportunity officers who only stand up for women, registration offices that denounce men who oppose feminist doctrine, women's advancement programmes without simultaneous promotion of men in deficient areas (e.g. teaching in schools), feminist politics that exclude or denigrate men. The Federal Ministry, which should stand up for men, has already excluded young men by the name of the ministry: The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ), which has been pursuing explicitly feminist politics for many years and neglects the interests of boys and men.
The four symptom areas of the coming precariat
The four symptom areas of the precarious situation of boys and men include:
(1) Education, school and work: Nowadays, an average of 10% fewer boys than girls achieve the university entrance qualification (Abitur). This is called the gender education gap and is part of a boy crisis that has long been lamented by international psychology professors Philip Zimbardo and Warren Farrell .
Boys as educational failures
International research has identified the main reasons for this being that boys are treated and graded worse than girls in the predominantly female-dominated school system. School essays in which a male first name is recognizable are on average graded worse than the same essays under anonymized specifications. This phenomenon of downgrading happens by both female and male teachers. The discrepancy among high school graduates described above will also apply to university and college degrees in a few years. In the USA, 20% more women than men are already graduating from college or university. The boys who develop into educational failures during their school careers are particularly likely to engage in excessive media abuse (risk of online addiction), more pornography consumption (online), earlier and more frequent use of alcohol and drugs, eat worse and exercise too little. So there are also more symptoms of health inequality compared to girls of the same age. But other indications of psychological problems, especially depression, also emerge at higher frequencies than a few years ago.
Double disadvantage in the professional world of the future
In the professional world, there is more and more a double disadvantage for young men: on the one hand, there will be fewer and fewer men for highly qualified specialist and management positions, because there are correspondingly fewer successful educational careers, and on the other hand, the existing men in many places will lose out to women with "equal aptitude" due to the equality guidelines ("quota") anyway simply because of their gender. This will be particularly the case for activities in the public sector (public authorities, administrations, media institutions, government offices), because particularly strict quota regulations apply there. For areas in which women are overrepresented (especially school, kindergarten), however, there is no reverse legally anchored support for men. This phenomenon is also increasingly true of other educational, psychological and medical professions.
In the long term, the quota will thus overcompensate for the desired parity with women in terms of highly qualified positions in many human professions. In some ministries and broadcasting companies, female employees are already significantly more represented than men. Due to the rigid quota system of such positions, performance and competence in Germany are further degraded in favor of formal criteria that make rigid specifications beyond performance, which also degrades competent women.
(2) Health and lifespan: It has long been known that the lifespan of men is on average 5 to 6 years less than that of women. Only in urban areas with very good career opportunities and high incomes is the difference in life expectancy lower at around 3.5 years(see). The gender gap in longevity is not so much due to hormonal differences (testosterone), as previously assumed, but to differences in lifestyle and role attributions between men and women. Men show lower self-care, more tendencies towards self-wear and less health-conscious behavior. They are more ruthless and harsh on themselves. In doing so, they often fulfil the role they have been taught, usually without reflection, the expectations of the working society and also their role as breadwinner and protector in their families. The implicit role expectations thus often become role compulsion. Whether the social improvement and equality of women has had a positive effect on men as a whole, as some apologists of feminist politics claim, can be more than doubted. What is needed is a truly humanistic policy, also represented by an equally similar federal ministry that represents the interests of all people in the country for justice, health and equal educational opportunities.
One more health issue at the end: In the case of heat deaths, which are currently much discussed for political reasons, it is deliberately concealed that 3 to 4 times more people freeze to death in Germany every year. Most of the deaths from freezing to death are male homeless people. There is no political lobby for these men either!
“…men are made invisible in writing (by misuse of typographical symbols such as asterisks) and inaudible (due to pronouciation without the glottal beat), because masculinity is defined as evil and bad. In addition, in several gendered nouns, the men are no longer present at all [e.g. doctor, psychologist, expert].”
(3) Social participation: Men are increasingly being pushed out of the middle of society and are only visible as men in negative contexts. At its core, it is about the stigmatization of everything masculine, men are allowed if they behave in a conformist way. This is not perceived or denied by society as a whole. But let's look at evidence of this development! The effect that both women and men prefer to see female faces has been known for a long time. This is reflected in advertising, magazines, but also television. There are now more female than male news anchors, more female than male detectives in crime dramas. According to a recent count, ARD already has 55% female and 45% male staff in the foreign offices of correspondents and reporters. The effect of overcompensation through rigid quota regulations has therefore already occurred there. The overcompensation effect will hit men even more often and harder in the professional world in the coming years.
Making men invisible in the German language
A symptomatic area for the increasing marginalization of men can be identified in the change in language. In the so-called ‘gender language’, feminist activists are essentially not concerned with establishing justice, but with eradicating the masculine in the form of the hated "generic masculine" and making men invisible. Gender language is spreading through a special language that is in no way legitimized in the media and society, which has been propagated by a small group of feminist activists for decades and is being promoted with linguistically and psychologically flimsy arguments. In the public media (ÖRR) and at colleges and universities, this artificial language is ruthlessly enforced under the alibi argument of justice, although the majority of the population rejects it.
In reality, it is about a comprehensive cultural revolution that is supposed to change speech and thinking. Above all, language is part of the company's restructuring program. Because it has a decisive influence on the thinking, especially of the next generation of children and young people. Under the guise of gender equality, the public media (ÖRR) act as pioneers of gender language. They violate their educational mandate and the principle of balance on a daily basis.
A clear majority of the population of more than 70 percent - men and women - rejects elitist-sectarian gender language. In reality, this artificial special language leads to a continuous sexualization and femininization of public and private life, because the respective gender affiliation is constantly accentuated and the masculine in the pronunciation of the gendered words becomes inaudible and thus disappears. Words such as professors, pilots or policemen are heard and understood in language practice as pure feminine. In most cases, it is simply irrelevant whether the baker, postman and pilot is male or female.
Language tricks are used to eradicate the masculine
Nouns are gendered by central typographical characters (asterisk, underline, horizontal stroke, etc.), because the aim is to fight the generic masculine and largely eradicate it. Not only do gendered nouns such as drivers or ministers, without the spoken glottal beat, sound purely feminine (i.e. deny existing men and make them inaudible) but drivers and ministers become female drivers and ministers. This way of speaking can be heard daily in the ÖRR. The fact is, however, that ‘female driver’ is clearly a gender feminine, i.e. they are women not men, while "the drivers" is used generically, i.e. men and women. In the end – according to the implicit political goal – men are made invisible in writing (by misuse of typographical symbols such as asterisks) and inaudible (due to pronouciation without the glottal beat), because masculinity is defined as evil and bad.
In addition, in several gendered nouns, the men are no longer present at all. Nouns such as doctors and French (with umlaut shift), psychologist, pedagogue or expert (the masculine ending +e is made to disappear), as well as customers and users (the gender-neutral English word is inadmissibly femininized) show that the practicing gender linguists are completely indifferent to the masculine or that they are deliberately driving its disappearance from the public space.
Above all, the principle of gender language consists in the elimination of the masculine in plural word forms. Words such as shepherds, educators or psychologists no longer contain anything masculine, as these word forms only exist as feminine. However, it is also possible that nouns are only spoken in the feminine form, although both genders are supposedly meant, as in the case of patient or editor. This, too, is a profound strategy of denying the masculine.
All genderist neologisms that have been propagated in recent years have in common the negation and contempt for the masculine. It is not primarily about the visibility of women in language, but about making the masculine invisible. The "masculine" is to be eradicated because in the corresponding feminist and left-wing political circles there is a fundamentally anti-male mood, focused on the negative prototype of the white, old man. As in the belief of a religion, the masculine is the seat of evil par excellence and must therefore be eradicated. This unconscious habit is particularly widespread among young journalists, politicians and social scientists of both sexes and is experiencing an ever-increasing boom.
“From a linguistic point of view, the generic masculine is the most inclusive conceivable word form in German, which does not exclude anyone or make them invisible.”
Gender language is essentially an anti-male project
At its core, the gender language propagated by feminist linguists for decades is about a misandric (anti-male) program. The generic masculine is fought on all levels because it supposedly stands for everything masculine and thus for the evil and negative in this world. This is the depth-psychological reality of the ideas of so-called feminist linguistics that have been sown since the 1970s. From a linguistic point of view, the generic masculine is the most inclusive conceivable word form in German, which does not exclude anyone or make them invisible.
The gender language propagated today with special characters, word changes and elimination of masculine word forms is not a noble attitude of equality, but a project of group-related misanthropy. The social problem, however, is that misandry does not cause outrage among people - not even among the majority of men - but is accepted indifferently. This must change in the sense of a humanitarian society for all people. Menophobia must not be spread any more than misogyny (misogyny). Only then will there be gender peace and thus social peace.
“The results show that in Western societies, misanthropic prejudices are on their way to becoming a stronger prejudice than racist ones.”
Social psychology professor Paul Connor (University of Pennsylvania) recently published a study on implicit bias in the prestigious Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Based on more than 5,200 test subjects with their implicit judgments about target persons, he came to the conclusion that of all prejudices, women tend to be judged more positively and men more negatively. The negative reactions for men were even stronger than for questions about racism. The results show that in Western societies, misanthropic prejudices are on their way to becoming a stronger prejudice than racist ones.
(4) War victims and consequences of war: There is war again in Europe. Once again, men pay the highest price with their lives. And if they don't die, then with their physical and mental health. According to independent estimates, most recently also in the New York Times up to 500,000 - mostly young - men died or were severely mutilated. Compassion for these victims is strangely weak. It can be assumed that societies implicitly mourn male victims less than female– the "gender empathy gap" .
Men as available victims and deaths for wars
Especially in times of war, it becomes clear again and again that men have always had to serve as cannon fodder for powerful, narcissistic oligarchs. They must be ready, without being asked and without a way out, to sacrifice their integrity and their lives for the purposes of warmongers and imperialists. This is the opposite of the right to self-determination to life and health, as modern democratic states should guarantee their citizens. This is the case again now in the Ukraine war for men – especially young ones – on both sides.
Without knowing too much about the reasons and goals of the war, most of them are burned up as a random mass, just as it was in the wars of the 20th century. As a man, people in most countries have had no alternative to fighting and dying. Millions of men died and were maimed in the 1st and 2nd World Wars. Even today, men who are unwilling to go to war are mercilessly persecuted in Russia and Ukraine just because they are against the ongoing senseless slaughter and want to preserve their lives. They feel that they are not allowed to exercise self-determination over their lives.
“…the suffering of wars affects everyone, including women and children. And suffering should not be offset against suffering. Nevertheless, it is important to draw attention to the special situation of men who are still forced to fight, die and kill.”
Of course, the suffering of wars affects everyone, including women and children. And suffering should not be offset against suffering. Nevertheless, it is important to draw attention to the special situation of men who are still forced to fight, die and kill. Thousands of men in Russia and Ukraine have tried to escape the coercion. An unknown number have been arrested, beaten or tortured while trying to get to safety. Some even had to pay for their will for safety and integrity with their lives. The safety and integrity of men is still not given. It has yet to be fought for as a real human right.
No outcry because only men die?!
How can it be that the hundreds of thousands of deaths do not lead to an outcry and the most intensive international efforts for a ceasefire and peace? The answer given below, which may surprise some people, is: Almost only men die! .
Where men - as ever - achieve great things or even just suffer - they remain more and more invisible. There are no longer any male heroes in public opinion, but only perpetrators and villains. The heroes for peace are also not mentioned, such as the revolutionaries of 1848 in the German Empire. Due to the large gaps in historical knowledge that regularly appear in schools today, adolescents and young people are often no longer able to place today's events in a historical context. Historical knowledge is increasingly perceived as useless knowledge. Thus, most of the heroes of the past disappear into the fog of oblivion. Nevertheless, if you don't know the past, you can't shape the future.
"Feminist Foreign Policy": a program for the invisibility of male victims
Most of the victims in the Ukraine war are men, especially at the front lines. The "feminist foreign policy" propagated by German Foreign Minister Baerbock always rushes to mourn female victims. The tremendous suffering of many men in this war remains in the dark. The ÖRR media are also conspicuously reluctant to address the painful role of men in the war. Men must not be visible either as heroes (as in the past) or as victims. This is the spirit of the times in a politically feminist-dominated country like ours. Only a few people are aware of the psychological principle of the gender empathy gap, which is important in this context that is largely responsible for the indifference towards male victims and the disadvantages of men in general. The focus on the suffering of women and girls reinforces the trend towards making male victims invisible.
Gender empathy gap
While the media focus on the "gender pay gap" every year, the "gender empathy gap" related to the sacrifice and wear and tear of boys and men is virtually unknown. Gender differences only play a role in the media when women are disadvantaged or the victims. Other gaps and discrimination are rarely or never discussed, especially when they are to the detriment of men. These are generally considered privileged, but this is a misperception. There are a number of disadvantages for men in today's society: fewer boys who achieve the Abitur, shorter lifespans for men, more heart attacks, suicides, addicts and homeless people are just a few examples of differences to the detriment of men. Even the "feminist foreign policy", which has now been elevated to a political doctrine, is blind on one side. The fate and plight of boys and men are faded out or completely ignored, as is currently the case with the Ukraine war. The fate of women raped or killed in bombing raids is lamented – rightly – but not a word comes from the lips of the politicians that reminds us of the situation of the forcibly recruited men, who have now been wounded, mutilated and killed in large numbers. The gender empathy gap, which is a part of a wider phenomenon called ‘gamma bias’, is – like all cognitive distortions – usually invisible and difficult to throw off.
“…men and boys have been in an inferior, precarious position for many years: men are almost only suitable in society as scapegoats, paymasters and negative stereotypes for violence and toxicity. Now the precarious developments described above are being added more and more.”
Consequences and solutions: A better world for men and women!
The anti-male contemporary culture will not change by itself. Most people in the country lack awareness of the widespread presence of the misandric mood in today's society. There are too many actors in the media and politics who have an interest in the misandric portrayal of masculinity. Misandry has already become a business model in certain areas , for example in the opinion columns of newspapers, in the education sector and in some areas of higher education (social and educational sciences in particular). From the topics presented, it becomes clear that boys and men will be more and more in danger of belonging to the social precariat in the future: impoverished, mentally ill, addicted, lonely, homeless, criminal, suicidal – in short, desperate and without a chance. There will still be powerful and rich men. This is about the other end of society. The poor, the powerless, the unfree, the disenfranchised.
Another utopia: an end to the compulsion to fight and be a soldier
The peace policy after 1945 has largely failed to achieve its goals. There is one main reason for this: ignorance of the situation of men and the psychology of this gender (see also. Pacifism has either stood out far from reality or behaved implausibly with gratuitous courage. In order to prevent wars in the long term, a male-empathetic approach is required, which also includes a human right to conscientious objection. Of course, this would essentially be a man's right, as military service would have to be banned globally. Only volunteers would do military service. In families, schools and the media, the value of life and peace was to be made accessible to the young and young people and the dangers of nationalism and imperialism were to be explained. Men should also not be forced by poverty to hire themselves out as soldiers in order to feed themselves and their families. Certainly, this proposal is a utopia today. But it should become clear that there is no world peace without taking into account the rights of boys and men. Interestingly, "feminist foreign policy" and aid organizations such as "Plan International" completely conceal the topic of child soldiers, because in reality it affects almost or exclusively boys. Raising awareness of the situation of boys and men is essential for a stable peace order.
Self-reflection and self-compassion
Men should realistically recognize their situation in contemporary society. To do this, it is necessary to awaken from political-romantic blossoming dreams. Without their own action in the form of active commitment to their future and their specific concerns, e.g. in divorce and access rights, men will never find a better, fairer position in gender relations and in society. Society is still blind and deaf to the misandric contemporary culture. The disadvantages and problems of boys and men are systematically ignored. This is mainly a result of decades of influencing public opinion through purely feminist narratives with no attempt at dialogue with other narratives. The almost complete ignorance of the problems of boys and men by the public, politicians and the media is the primary reason why the gender empathy gap will widen and the precariat of young people will continue to intensify. In fact, with a few exceptions, men and boys have been in an inferior, precarious position for many years: they are almost only suitable in society as scapegoats, paymasters and negative stereotypes for violence and toxicity. Now the precarious developments described above are being added more and more. It takes a high degree of commitment, clarity and empathy for men and allied people in society (mothers, partners, sisters, etc.) to recognize and change the situation of boys. This will be a feat of self-reflection, self-compassion and social analysis.
Gender equality is not a one-way street
In most areas in Germany, there is no longer a need for equal rights for women, as this has fortunately been achieved. Equal opportunities are an important prerequisite for equality. Equality, on the other hand, means ensuring egalitarianism with rigidity, coercion and quotas. Where there are still disadvantages, they should be eliminated as soon as possible.
Gender equality should not be a one-way street, but in recent decades, it has been promoted completely one-sidedly. But the optics must now finally also be directed at the disadvantages suffered by boys and men: less successful educational careers in the female-dominated school system, more fatal occupational accidents, more suicides, more addicts, more homeless people are just some of the areas where it is important to provide help and equality (see). However, the creation of gender equality is above all a task for society as a whole. After decades of promoting equal rights for women with great success, it is necessary for men to take responsibility for their own needs. This can refer to more educational justice, recognition of achievement and character, the right to contact and educate one's own children after divorce, improvement of health inequalities and elimination of the compulsion to self-sacrifice in war and the world of work. To do this, men should not fall into a victim attitude that does not fit the male nature, but should tackle the gender inequalities that exist at their expense in today's society with an active, alert and critical attitude. Masculinity must be freed from the negative social dirty corner, so that it is clearly recognizable for everyone – and especially the boys who follow it – what distinguishes positive and negative masculinity, and the fact that there is a lot of positive masculinity in society.
Could it be that the vote by young men in the US, which swung from Biden in 2020 to Trump in 2024, was a desperate grasping for something to save them, having recognised that Biden had not place for them and Harris did not have any offers for them? Perhaps the message for politicians of all parties is that they need to recognise young men again, not to abandon them, and that young men’s voices can make a difference.
How the masculine becomes positive again
In the future, it will be necessary to see masculinity more positively again. Above all, the men themselves must contribute to this. Escaping into diffuse sexual identities with which they deny their masculinity is definitely not a solution. Of course, it is important to name and combat negative forms of masculinity wherever they occur. If there is talk of toxic masculinity this must be balanced by talk of toxic femininity. But much more than that, men need to know how to become a self-confident, self-reflective man. This should be strong and empathetic, protective and emotionally open, self-confident and social, as well as friendly and capable of healthy aggression. This development can hardly come from families, schools and the media at the moment, as too many fathers are missing from the families or are deliberately excluded, there are hardly any male teachers and the media openly or covertly spread purely feminist attitudes. So we need a grassroots movement of male-friendly people in society: reflective men, mothers, fathers, grandparents and other multipliers who are "open-minded" in order to at least mitigate the coming precariat of boys and men.
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Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, legal advice, or other professional opinion. Never disregard such advice because of this article or anything else you have read from the Centre for Male Psychology. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of, or are endorsed by, The Centre for Male Psychology, and we cannot be held responsible for these views. Read our full disclaimer here.
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