A line attributed to the poster @mochamoon22, “men are so self centered they think feminism is about hating them,” points to how some men respond to women’s demands for equal pay, bodily autonomy, reproductive rights and safety from violence: they hear an accusation against themselves.
The discussion then shifts from those demands to men’s feelings about criticism.
The poster @deba2dxr quoted that line and replied, “i was gagged.”
The pairing of the line with a painting of Narcissus turns on the myth: Narcissus is the figure who falls in love with his own reflection, so the image reads the complaint as a kind of self-absorption, a man seeing a movement about everyone’s equality and assuming it is really about him.
Standard definitions of “feminism” emphasize equality of the sexes and ending sexism. Broad “all men” rhetoric and individual expressions of hatred toward men can reinforce the anti-male stereotype, and critics also argue that some contemporary strains minimize disadvantages men face.
Multi-country studies published around 2023 found that participants who identified as feminists didn’t hold more negative attitudes toward men than non-feminists.
Both groups generally expressed positive or neutral views of men, while the stereotype that feminism means hating men discouraged some women from identifying as feminists.