A short thought, but long enough to put here instead of just making it a Facebook post!

Sometimes, I think the Economist really doesn’t get it (and they still use some languaging that sounds very much like they don’t get it). They wrote a reactionary article a few years ago, on the idea that the Y chromosome was being evolved out of the gene code, because it is so small (in a kilo-basetide-pair sense), which came out shortly before scientists figured out why it was so small, and why that allowed it to have such a strong influence on the future of the genome.

“The Weaker Sex,” The Economist, 2015.

After giving me a moment to simmer down, I think this article, when you remove the inanity, really makes a simple point on which the Sisterhood has long agreed, but which feminist movement has not always effectively conveyed, and which feminist theorists have at times butchered:

Sexism itself, is BAD FOR MEN (and not just for women). Although, in some ways, men reap benefits from the patriarchy, in insidious but far more damning ways, they are hurt by it. This is why the good ones among the Sisterhood care so much about our menfolk. This is why I care so much about my own Teri​’s pursuit of authenticity as a man.

Because just as much as I live in a toxic bath of sexism that sends me negative messages about myself as a woman, and as much as I am held in chains, often trapped beneath the surface of that bath from the breath of good air, they, our menfolk, they are, too.