Good guys, it’s time to man up and take responsibility for women’s issues
A misogynistic TikTok star’s revolting comments about women should be a wake up call to men everywhere — it’s time to man up and take responsibility for your actions.
Opinion
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I’m tired.
Tired of being the partner who prioritises contraception.
Tired of having to justify why I appreciate romantic overtures from some men, and not others.
Tired of watching on when my male friends realise, after having it explained, why abortion and contraception are measures that also protect them from futures they do not seek.
I’m prompted to say this because of Andrew Tate. He is a British-American TikTok creator who has gone viral on social media.
Tate, a former kickboxer and reality show contestant, has garnered international attention for, among other things, comparing women to property and announcing how he would assault a woman if she accused him of cheating.
What a charmer.
It goes without saying, Tate is revolting. But his hateful attitudes should be an overdue wake-up call for men everywhere.
Women are familiar with having their ideas repeated back to them, branded as new thoughts by a man who could have saved the double-up had he listened in the first place.
But shift the discourse to things we collectively put in the “women’s issues” basket, and the so-called “good blokes” — the ones who would never think themselves to be sexist, controlling or predatory — fall silent.
Tate’s victim-blaming misogyny has even led him to argue that women should take responsibility for the sexual assaults that are committed against them.
Many women are outraged. But I can barely name one man I know who was just as appalled.
When the US Supreme Court in June overturned Roe v Wade - the case that safeguarded women’s right to an abortion — social media feeds were flooded with calls to protect that right. Hundreds of my friends and connections expressed deep dismay at the rights of fellow women being stripped.
But it was mostly just the women making noise.
Guys, and most of you are “good guys”, it is your job to call out the mate who is unrelenting in his pursuit of a woman who is clearly uninterested in his attention.
It is your job to take equal responsibility for your mental and sexual health, for your own sake and for the sake of others.
It is your job to step up and become the embodiment of healthy masculinity for your sons, and your daughters.
It’s time that you “good blokes” realise that our rights are your responsibilities.
For this is your fight, too.
Olivia Jenkins is a Herald Sun reporter
Originally published as Good guys, it’s time to man up and take responsibility for women’s issues
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