Recent Setbacks for Women/Women’s Rights

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The following is something that’s been weighing on my mind and that I thought might be worthy of a discussion. Responses from men are welcome. However, given that it’s in Women’s Discussion and contains sensitive subject matter, I’d appreciate it if we could avoid dismissive or otherwise unsupportive commentary. Thanks!

Potentially triggering content.

The past couple of years have contained some obvious backsliding in terms of the rights and status of women in a lot of places. The US saw the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the concerning presence of the far-right, and President Rapist is now in office. Other countries are seeing a rise in far-right movements which may jeopardize the rights of women in disparate ways. The situation for women in Afghanistan is horrifying.

Things have also been bleak for women in war torn areas, like Israel and Palestine. It’s not been good for men, either. (I don’t want to discount the atrocities, including acts of sexual violence, committed against men!) The media reports of attacks on women and girls, some fabricated and others certainly not, have been overwhelming. Sexual violence is almost always a feature of war. Many female soldiers in the US who have PTSD were sexually assaulted by fellow soldiers. 1 in 3 female veterans and 1 in 50 male veterans report having experienced military sexual trauma with, perhaps, 89% of perpetrators inflicting violence on women in the military being in the military themselves. Sad but not at all surprising to me.

The rise of incels/incel ideology has caused problems, especially in online spaces. Women can’t even talk about their experiences with sexual assault and rape on designated subreddits without being contacted by a bunch of entitled creeps who say they are aroused by extremely traumatic things we’ve experienced or even suggesting that we deserved it. Then there are those who dismiss the struggles women face altogether - the women have it easier crowd.

There’s a lot I’m finding concerning, unsettling, and triggering. My mental health has not been great in recent months. I’ve gone to some really dark places that I would prefer to avoid. I’m going to prioritize getting more help for my PTSD in the coming weeks and months, as I’ve been working on my health overall, and avoiding likely triggers wherever possible for the time being. I wonder how many other women out there are facing similar struggles and concerns, likely a lot given the statistics I’ve cited before from RAINN.

I’m feeling a bit wary about what the next few years will bring, especially if something doesn’t change with the current trends I’m seeing. The political situation in various countries, the violence, the religious extremism, young men’s shift to the right, and the vile scumbag who’s currently running my country are all deeply troubling to me.

Its gonna be a roughh ride...It is alittle Trauma inducing to know these nutters are starting to take control.
not just alittle scarey ..Already oticing zex- low level Maga men , has started refering to me as a Nuerotic woman.
These where people whom I thought had been friends .For over ten years,a independant businessman with several employees . This seems to be starting a trend with the what used to be slightly mysognistic men. Now emboldened to speak out. About being crass and now decieteful aswell. This was not the man I knew for ten years...Only change is the
change in regime in this country.

I’ve noticed the same thing and had some similar experiences which amount to bullying, especially factoring in context.

It’d be a fascinating topic for sociological research. I think it really started taking off in the US during Trump’s first run for office when misogynistic language seemed to be part of his campaign which spread to his fanbase and anti-woke influencers on YouTube. I don’t think I realized back then how influential Trump’s rhetoric would be, the full extent of his misogyny, or how something like this, as well as other forms of bigotry, can snowball. That could be somewhat related to my ignorance about social media and influencers until just the past couple of years.

When you try to take a stand against it and maybe even present evidence to support your concerns if it’s appropriate for the situation, you’re branded as the problem which can serve to silence women depending on the platform. Given its insidiousness, I’ve had trouble grasping it until fairly recently. There’s almost a gaslighty component to it sometimes which I’m just now starting to recognize.

I can’t imagine telling someone in a marginalized group that I don’t belong to that they’re being neurotic when they express concerns about discrimination. That harkens back to the days when people often used to claim it was hysteria when women were understandably upset about injustices.

I'm worried that Australia is going the same way.
The LNP leader has already stated his intention to steer the govt away from DEI in favour of "merit-based".
(Yeah, I got so many job offers and promotions for being an autistic woman )
There've been high profile sexual assault cases where the perp got away with it, the judicial system simply doesn't work for the victims.
And we've got Neonazis in balaclavas parading on the streets doing Elon salutes.
It's scary.

^ Wow, that’s really concerning stuff that I wasn’t aware of.

At this point, my greatest concern is for all of humanity. Algorithmic biases are manipulating the world with discrimination and disinformation. As John M. Jordan states in his book, The Rise of the Algorithms: How YouTube and TikTok Conquered the World…”our essential properties—-religious beliefs, sexual orientation, fears and insecurities, networks of blood and kinship—-are mined and exploited.

Machine processes know and shape our behavior at scale on a daily basis, or as often as we choose to participate online.

The entire population is being played.

Other books worth reading in my opinion are:

Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari

And

Free Speech and Turbulent Freedom (USA): The Dangerous Allure of Censorship in the Digital Era by Michael J. Glennon