Harvard Grad Explains The Psychology Behind “Not All Men” So Well, Men Are Thanking Her In The Comments For Opening Their Eyes
Most people should know by now that “not all men” is not a good argument for explaining away sexist and harmful behavior toward women. However, despite this, lots of men still use it, stating that far from every guy is like the men who end up on the news for disrespectful and even physically hurtful behavior. Scholar Evelyn, who runs the ‘Herspective’ social media project, believes this has to change.
In a viral TikTok video, Evelyn, who has two master’s degrees from Harvard studying oppression, explained the psychology behind the “not all men” argument. She shared that, in her opinion, there are 3 core sources that lead to this argument and she went into detail about each one. And everything is built on the foundation of needing to be needed and the fear of deferring to women. Check out Evelyn’s full video below and let us know what you think of her analysis. Do you agree with her? Are there other nuances that you think are important? Drop us a comment with your thoughts below.
Bored Panda reached out to award-winning activist and writer Elizabeth Arif-Fear, who is the founder and director of ‘Voice of Salam,’ to get her take on how we as a society can move past the “not all men” mentality. “To really move past victim-blaming, as a society we need to learn to empathize with victims and instead condemn the perpetrators,” she pointed out the essence of the argument. You’ll find Elizabeth’s other insights below.
More info: TikTok | Instagram | HerspectiveFeminist.com
Evelyn went into detail about the psychology behind why men use the “not all men” argument
Image credits: herspective
You can watch Evelyn’s full video right here
@herspective##genderequity ##takedownthepatriarchy ##feminism ##tiktokk ##genderequality ##feminist ##leftist♬ Inspirational Piano – AShamaluevMusic
According to activist Elizabeth, there are a number of things that we can stop doing when it comes to cases of sexual violence against women. “We need to stop thinking about where a woman was, what she was wearing, how she got there, what she was doing. We need to stop and instead first loudly and clearly condemn the perpetrator of violence,” she told Bored Panda about how society should proceed.
“We need to offer complete emotional and legal support to the victims and do the best we can as a society to ensure that they get justice. We need to stop questioning the victim and focus on the perpetrator. We need to look at preventing sexual violence, challenging dangerous attitudes, creating safe spaces for women, helping victims to come forward, and getting perpetrators sentenced. Victim blaming is toxic and must be challenged,” Elizabeth pointed out that some people aren’t aware of just how harmful victim-blaming is, whilst others may deliberately use is a detraction technique—drawing on misogynistic narratives and stereotypes. As a society, we need to stand in solidarity with survivors and do the right thing.
According to Harvard graduate Evelyn, the first source leading to the “not all men” argument is male “pick me” behavior. In short, it’s the desire to be seen as different. You know—one of the good guys. You’d never do anything like those other guys. You’re different. Right? Well, not so much. The researcher believes that this is just a delusion because they’ve already internalized patriarchal values that need unlearning.
Secondly, Evelyn sees the “not all men” argument as a way to silence women and control their voices. She pointed out the hypocrisy that these men are spending their time and energy policing what women say and think instead of denouncing those men who are harming women.
And finally, the scholar identified the presence of what she calls the male superiority complex. Evelyn explains that by saying “not all men,” guys are trying to signal that they’re trustworthy, dependable, and can protect women from the violence and danger that some men pose. However, Evelyn sees this as disempowering women because it implies that the solution to male violence is yet another man with the potential for violence.
Here’s how some people reacted to the educational video. Plenty of men thanked the video creator for making things so clear for them
Evelyn shared with BuzzFeed’s Victoria Vouloumanos that she received a lot of support and appreciation from men after she posted her video on TikTok. According to the Harvard graduate, at the foundation of everything lies men’s lack of deference to women. “Deference is fear and respect,” she said, adding that a lack of it leads to the belief that “anything male is superior to anything female.”
White knighting is another form of this lack of deference because instead of focusing on the woman and her experience, the man would simply do things to boost his own ego and grab other people’s attention. In Evelyn’s opinion, what the knight should instead do is listen to the woman, acknowledge her painful experience, and then do what he can to prevent this from happening again.
Furthermore, Evelyn elaborated about how another fundamental aspect of the “not all men” style of thinking is men’s desire to be needed by women and other men. In fact, she believes that most (if not all) undesirable or harmful behavior that men do stems from this desire to be accepted by everyone. And that, frankly, is the best and most in-depth explanation of how everything connects to the “not all men” mentality that we’ve ever heard. But what about you, dear Pandas? What do you think?
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Maybe if we all stopped making divisive statements - women do this, men do that, blacks do the other, asians do this etc. - and just tried to get along as human beings there would be less anger in the world. Less anger would lead to our children growing up in a happier environment and then they would grow up to be nice people. Right now, it just feels like everybody is shouting at anybody who isn't identical to them and it just fosters hostility. Just be nice. Please.
Part of the problem with that request is that it's too vague and too generalised. If you want a specific behaviour to stop, you have to call out that behaviour. "Don't be angry" negates times when anger is an appropriate and valid response. "Just be nice" doesn't address those people who don't know how to measure "nice" as they've never experienced it - it's almost like saying "Have you tried not being addicted to meth because you were trafficked as a small child?" "Men need to respect women" without explaining what that actually means to women is going to lead to frustration - because men and women ARE different, and respect between two men is different to respect between a man and a woman - take "banter" as a prime example; men who are comfortable and even feel validated by jokes between men would be utterly baffled when a woman is offended and hurt on the receiving end. Specifics are needed to ensure the message gets across to everyone, and the world will still not change overnight
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I'm tired of this 'not all men'. It's an excuse to dismiss the problem without even trying to understand. When I hear about an abusive mother, I don't begin by "not all mothers", that's total nonsense. Why do -some- guys need to precise they are behaving properly? Only the facts can tell.
My dad left me with scars tstill visible on X-ray 27 years after he died. No joke. And I dnot say "ALL MEN" or even "NOT ALL MEN". SOme *PEOPLE* are mean/cruel/etc., and gender is irrelevant.
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There is a common hashtag that usually pops up on south African Twitter trends. Men are Trash. I ignore it, but it becomes a problem when that phrase is thrown at you even in conversations that are not about gender. they are being used by some women in making sure men don't even have a voice in some things.
anyone who says someone is trash, is actually trash themselves. I have to be careful how to respond, as i dont want to be all "not all women" (and having the shoe on the other foot is educational, having to think about how I come across, just as the same request is being made to males in this very article!)
Load More Replies...
Maybe if we all stopped making divisive statements - women do this, men do that, blacks do the other, asians do this etc. - and just tried to get along as human beings there would be less anger in the world. Less anger would lead to our children growing up in a happier environment and then they would grow up to be nice people. Right now, it just feels like everybody is shouting at anybody who isn't identical to them and it just fosters hostility. Just be nice. Please.
Part of the problem with that request is that it's too vague and too generalised. If you want a specific behaviour to stop, you have to call out that behaviour. "Don't be angry" negates times when anger is an appropriate and valid response. "Just be nice" doesn't address those people who don't know how to measure "nice" as they've never experienced it - it's almost like saying "Have you tried not being addicted to meth because you were trafficked as a small child?" "Men need to respect women" without explaining what that actually means to women is going to lead to frustration - because men and women ARE different, and respect between two men is different to respect between a man and a woman - take "banter" as a prime example; men who are comfortable and even feel validated by jokes between men would be utterly baffled when a woman is offended and hurt on the receiving end. Specifics are needed to ensure the message gets across to everyone, and the world will still not change overnight
Load More Replies... I'm tired of this 'not all men'. It's an excuse to dismiss the problem without even trying to understand. When I hear about an abusive mother, I don't begin by "not all mothers", that's total nonsense. Why do -some- guys need to precise they are behaving properly? Only the facts can tell.
My dad left me with scars tstill visible on X-ray 27 years after he died. No joke. And I dnot say "ALL MEN" or even "NOT ALL MEN". SOme *PEOPLE* are mean/cruel/etc., and gender is irrelevant.
Load More Replies... There is a common hashtag that usually pops up on south African Twitter trends. Men are Trash. I ignore it, but it becomes a problem when that phrase is thrown at you even in conversations that are not about gender. they are being used by some women in making sure men don't even have a voice in some things.
anyone who says someone is trash, is actually trash themselves. I have to be careful how to respond, as i dont want to be all "not all women" (and having the shoe on the other foot is educational, having to think about how I come across, just as the same request is being made to males in this very article!)
Load More Replies...
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