The Same Change, Opposite Feelings
Gender ideological clash is not inevitable, but it is occurring because the same social change is experienced as different psychological threats by men and women. Politics for many young women is emerging as a language of safety, autonomy and incomplete equality for their bodies. The same changes for many young men can manifest as no longer feeling recognized, unstable status and financial insecurity. This is not to say that women's fears and men’s grievances are morally on a par. It’s a psychological reason: ideology can arise out of what people emotionally mean by the term “social change.” Equality that is enjoyed by one group and not yet by the other feels like protection to the first group and less security to the latter, and leads not only to disagreement. It is a conflict over what reality feels like. Education, age, and media exposure are important, but they cannot fully account for why the same event may be interpreted as liberation by one group and humiliation by another. A psychological explanation must address what is threatened, protected or confirmed in the sense of self of individuals in regard to the social change.
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