…but not surprised.
So, Britain’s growing toxic masculinity problem
seems to have come as a surprise even though our main political institution is
run by a Toxic Male and our most prominent tourist institution (royal family)
is currently protecting a Toxic Male at great expense from facing up to child trafficking
charges; both being given the soft glove treatment by a limp UK media.
Britain began the century with a privileged public schoolboy
illegally invading Iraq (destabilising the middle East, setting off a wave of
migration that further undermined fragile international balance, sending
wealthy western nations into a panic – which fed into the 2008 crash [the
result of other posh brats’ unfettered greed and lack of regulation]) Now we
totter into the third decade, dragging the carcass of Brexit after a massive
lurch to the right and increasing macho nonsense. Mix in 11 years of Tory
austerity culminating in a populist fool whose middle name – if it weren’t
‘de-Kermit’ might be Careless Toxic
Masculinity.
Boris Johnson is a toxic male and it’s partly that trait –
covered, as it often is, by the bravura and always accompanied by his own
poisonous brand of carelessness – disguised as charm – that got him elected.
And the defences wheeled out by all his excusers are of a colour applied to all abusive, powerful, recklessly careless inconsiderate men ‘oh – it’s
just Boris’. What does that even mean? Maybe Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe or the
Muslim “pillar box” women or the various discarded wives and families could
explain. Or even the currently mesmerised one – she of the gold wallpaper -who
did once cause the police to be called on her then married partner over ‘a
domestic’…
Toxic Masculinity goes hand in hand with failing Right-wing
administrations.
The police force and The Met in particular is
suffering a crisis of confidence both internally and from the public that has
for years been suspicious of its attitude to race. Now, its attitude to women is in the spotlight with falling rape convictions and aggressive attitudes to
women in the headlines. The police approach
to the vigil, held for the murdered young London woman, drew unfavourable comparisons
set against their attitude to football fans in Glasgow who congregated – also
in breach of then covid restrictions - but who were treated with a very different hands-off approach.
These are simply the most visible and news worthy
incidents of a society that has become more right wing, populist, fearful and oppressively macho this century.
As the post-war social gains have been steadily eaten away
before the very eyes of my generation, lucky enough to have benefitted from at
least free higher education – it seems that hard-won steps towards equality are
also being eroded.
Racism – which seemed to my naive eyes to be at
least moving to the back foot – at least unacceptable in public even if not in
people’s heads at the turn of the century, has seen a resurgence under the unfortunate
growth of the rabid right and the anonymity of social media.
Women, still having not achieved equal pay for equal
work have lost their 5 years of earlier retirement than men - ironically on the
basis of a gender equality which takes no account of the effects of maternity
breaks or their lower pay, fewer opportunities or the sexism they face in the work place daily.
Suddenly our society, so loaded towards men, found it needed equality in one of
the few areas that would harm women.
On a much less important level there are parallels with the case of driving insurance (stay with me). It used to be the case that young women could get cheaper car insurance because stats showed they were less likely to have serious accidents than young men. No, no - said the predominantly male judiciary system. On this one we want equality – never mind the figures. So, the ‘facts’ and ‘stats’, that all insurance is based on – were overridden in favour of more faux equality.
It’s amazing, when the
patriarchy suddenly finds itself in favour of equality for women it is never
when it is actually going to benefit women.
Right wing societies are often synonymous with
overtly patriarchal, sexist systems and have historically denigrated and
oppressed woman.
I am only sad that the ‘reclaim the night’ marches
of my student days in the 1980s, now morphed into Reclaim these streets -
have never seemed more relevant.
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