re: the masculinity construct thing, especially from an anthropological perspective—french anthropologist emile durkheim did a study about why middle-class, white, protestant men were more likely to commit suicide than any other social group & it yielded fascinating results about the way masculine socialization (amongst protestant cultures especially) lends itself to isolation and loneliness.

and yet MRAs and other people focusing on the woes of masculinity never seem to bring that up, as though they're ashamed to admit that they've been wrong this whole time, or that perhaps moreso that they're ashamed to acknowledge that everyone else was right.

that's really interesting! I found it very odd how the screenshots I posted were the extent to which anthropological findings were discussed in the episode because we're clearly missing out on a lot of interesting discussion about all the racial and cultural differences in the way men are socialized. can't tackle everything in a 2 hr long podcast episode obviously...but honestly, this is the deepest I've heard anyone interviewed on the topic on a mainstream media platform get to discussing the emotional and relational stunting of patriarchal socialization, so it was frustrating lol

another point that was brought up was that women seem to have a more "diverse portfolio" (their words) than men do in terms of their ability to flexibly self-define, which also touches on something I find fascinating about this whole thing - I think you're right that there's an aspect of shame that comes with realizing you're not emotionally or socially equipped to address the limitations of your socially-prescribed gender role, one thing the MRAs miss is that this is something that marginalized groups have to actively realize and contend with, and that this "diversification" of self-definition and meaning is something we have to choose to pursue, get creative with, etc....but this requires you to acknowledge the root of the problem and name it, which can be incredibly painful work, especially if you're angry and there's plenty of people out there ready to validate your impulse to live in that feeling 🤷🏻‍♀️