Its such a cliche at this point; “principled leftist man” gets caught doing something wrong. Julian Assange comes to mind about one that immediately became a scandal (although he’s a libertarian, many code him as leftist). It happens so often and the thing that frightens me most about misogyny and abuse of women in activist spaces is the subtly and calculated manipulation required to successfully go undetected.
Unlike ultra right wing spaces, in most leftist circles, there’s at least some opposition (no matter how basic or shallow) to the barbarity of gendered violence and generally, an unspoken rule exists not to overtly perpetuate that if the end goal is abolishing oppressive norms.
So when men enter these communities, they serve lip service to challenge patriarchy and compulsively echo quotes from feminist literature. They even start referring to themselves as feminists. They gradually gain the trust of their female “comrades”. Many of them also then abuse these women in their lives, whether emotionally, financially, sexually or physically. They use their popularity to groom women (especially those younger and sincerely take aback by their supposed morality) and slowly coerce and exploit them, in numerous ways. And it happens so discreetly and over the course of time that often, its not realized by the abuse immediately. These are things I’ve seen, been told about and experienced myself. Over and over and over again.
Misogynistic leftist men are a plague to the world and at the bottom of the barrel in regards to fuckshit, honestly. The amount of malicious forethought it takes to deliberately contradict (more like stomp and spit on) values one presents themselves to hold is far more reprehensible than transparency. And worse, many men specifically use their identities as leftists to attract women. Activists, especially women already deal with so much. But to be under the assumption of having a safe space, one area of respite and that’s where the most intimate forms of patriarchal terrorism occur truly takes the cake.
(Source: maarnayeri-blog)
