By Alliance Intern Eleanor Hulan
Like many women, I’m used to spaces with some element of passive misogyny. A 2026 study on gender equity would call this benevolent sexism, and it is commonplace for women to ignore it.
In the past, I would sometimes push back on throwaway sexist remarks or biases but sometimes let it go, often because I felt powerless, but also because I believed a better future was being built on a broader scale than eliminating a few careless comments.
Recently, I heard a man in a progressive space in a progressive city use the phrase “dumb b****es” as a joke, and he received zero push-back. This event wouldn’t crack the top 100 of misogynistic deeds I’ve experienced or witnessed and I would have given it little thought when I still felt safe.
But even if it’s just a trend or in-joke, is it really the time? As I see women’s rights being rolled back, references to gender equity being removed from government documents, and violent men in the highest positions of power, I find it difficult to laugh. I’m much closer to crying.
In addition to the culture wars, party wars and uncivil wars – not to mention the very real war Donald Trump has begun – the US, as well as countries from South Korea to Turkey, are renewing the gender wars.
Symptoms of the Problem: Young Men and Boys Facing Struggles Are Pushed Toward Toxic Groups
I can see the appeal of male spaces where men are expressly encouraged to share their struggles without judgement, in the same way I see the necessity of women’s groups that do the same.
But bad actors and grifters have infiltrated these groups – the so-called “manosphere” – and are extracting every cent they can while spreading damaging rhetoric. With 60% of young men in the US engaging with “masculinity influencers,” and a large majority believing in “traditional gender roles,” it’s no wonder we’re seeing an increasing divide between genders.
These spaces are pushed to young people who haven’t yet developed emotional regulation, or critical thinking. TikTok and Meta algorithms recommend content based on what will keep the user engaged and interacting with the platform for the longest. Controversy and shock do particularly well.
At his peak, Andrew Tate had almost 10 million followers on Twitter. After Trump assisted with his return to the US, he violently beat and assaulted his girlfriend.
Anti-Woman Trends in the US Are Accelerating
It’s not just influencers, provocateurs and trolls.
People like Trump, Hegseth and Kavanaugh, who show the absolute worst of what mankind has to offer, hold the highest positions of power, are enacting policy, have their rapes excused and their comments against women either dismissed as a joke or celebrated. I have no studies to cite here because the effect of these men on the new generations has only just begun. I hope to be proven wrong.
One of the most glaring examples of this generation’s turn is the gender differential in the 2024 election. There was a 31 point gap between men and women, the former going for Trump and the latter for Harris.
The gender gap between Gen Z men and women who self-identify as feminists is larger than any previous generation. A higher percentage of millennial men identify as feminists than their Gen Z counterparts.
The man credited with popularizing the “Red Pill” movement in the early 2010s – which refers to “the process of awakening to the feminist conspiracy that runs society and oppresses men” – was a US state senator.
Robert Fisher defended marital rape in his tenure while making vile statements online, such as: “Feminists are obsessed with rape because we live in a rape fantasy culture, where feminists wish they were hot enough to be rape-able.”
After the overturn of Roe, increasingly reactionary ideas have become commonplace within the Trump sphere, along with the 63% of young white men who voted for him.
Just one example is the introduction of a bill in South Carolina by state senator Richard Cash, which has passed the initial bar of the Senate health committee. It includes propositions like jailing a woman for abortion “from conception” (i.e. using an abortion pill) and punishing health providers or even friends for sending links with healthcare information or making phone calls.
When pressed by a reporter about how far he would like the bill to go, Cash said he would like to see abortions from conception legally treated as homicides. He did not eliminate the possibility of the death penalty when she asked him directly. There are currently 16 bills across 13 states aimed at applying the 14th Amendment to a fetus, backed by over 100 lawmakers.
It is easy to dismiss these examples as extreme. I know I would have prior to the 2022 Dobbs decision. Mainstream media outlets told me women’s autonomy would prevail, that the majority of people still supported a woman’s right to choose. I didn’t know just how deep anti-choice sentiments ran – enough to prioritize birth at all costs over women’s health.
A 2026 study found a 9.2% increase in pregnancy-associated deaths in states with abortion bans. Doctors are being prosecuted. And women with non viable pregnancies in the most restrictive states have immense difficulties receiving care. Most opt to travel to other states, and not everybody has the resources.
International Ramifications of Anti-Woman Sentiments — From the US to South Korea
Outside of abortion, the international rise of right-wing leaders in the last few years has led to a multitude of anti-woman policies.
But with the previous generation more accepting of gender equity than the last, it makes sense that we enjoyed a brief period of worldwide pushes for equality. After a years-long fight by feminist activists, numerous countries began to pass laws against marital rape: The UK and US in the 1990s and many South American and Asian countries in the 2000s, though not without pushback.
Another effort to protect women is the Istanbul Convention, otherwise known as “The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence,” which began gathering signatures in 2011. The first to sign was Turkey, and it was ratified a year later. 37 other countries, including the EU as a whole, joined in the years following.
The document references such conventions as the “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” the “United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women,” and “United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” and builds upon their aims.
It lays out a number of ways violence against women is carried out, such as rape, psychological tactics, and forced marriages, and aims to both prevent these acts from occurring and prosecute them when they are. It was an important progression in the advancements of women’s rights, especially in countries that historically ignored them.
Turkey withdrew from this agreement on its 10th anniversary. Conservative leaders no longer believed intersectional protections for women of color, women with disabilities, and minority groups were necessary. Here we see the pattern, again, of backsliding.
An important part of misogynistic and racist world leaders disseminating their worldview is censorship. One of the best examples of this is Trump’s 2025 banning of 290 words from government websites, including “feminism,” “inequality,” “women,” and “inclusivity.”
South Korea did the same in 2024. The government cut the words “gender” and “women” from policy documents. In 2018, Hungary ended Gender Studies programs in universities.
Academics in Eastern Europe refer to this movement as “anti-gender.” The aim of conservatives and reactionaries in these countries is to prevent the examination of gender ideology, traditional gender roles, and gendered violence. If there are no terms to describe the problem, it doesn’t exist.
One Turkish professor of Gender Studies wrote: “Antigenderism at least partly reflects the growing frustration of men with no economic prospects who turn to patriarchal values rather than address the economic sources of their misfortunes.”
This is a nuanced perspective that reflects men’s anxieties and problems. But, because it comes from a supposed “woke” “DEI” “man hating” gender studies perspective, it will be ignored by right wing administrations.
Gender Equity Benefits Us All, and We Cannot Stop Fighting for our Rights
A recent study found that misogyny is a hindrance to a state’s economic well-being. The authors compiled data on societal sexism from across 62 countries and compared it to indices like GDP, the Democracy Index and the Global Peace Index.
Key findings include the fact that states with higher rates of both hostile sexism and benevolent sexism have lower economic productivity, greater antidemocratic tendencies, and even shorter lifespans, for both men and women.
The Istanbul Convention’s page states: “Because it is not only women and girls who suffer domestic violence, parties to the convention are encouraged to apply the protective framework it creates to men who are exposed to violence within the family or domestic unit.”
The gender wars are yet another area where isolationist ideals and group entrenchment cause harm, yet another reason to view ourselves as a collective, as humankind.
It is not all-male spaces that are the problem, it is what they can become. It is not some intrinsic maleness that is the issue, but in-groups that use these intrinsic characteristics to foster an “us vs them” mindset.
I may have been assured of course-correction in the past, but now I can only hope to see a reversal of these misogynistic trends in my lifetime. But education is power, which is why higher institutions are being targeted. I’m going to continue documenting what is happening as best I can, and engage in dialogue with people who are misguided or misinformed. I hope readers will do the same.