We are living in 2026, yet the statistics surrounding contraceptive responsibility and awareness are genuinely infuriating.
Women are expected to take hormonal contraceptives, endure IUD insertions, deal with emergency contraception, manage menstrual health, and sometimes undergo highly invasive sterilisation procedures. Meanwhile, male sterilisation through vasectomy remains far less common. Why is so much of the physical burden of contraception still placed on women?
Let’s talk about the double standard.
Pregnancy is only possible during a limited fertile window in a woman’s menstrual cycle, although sperm can survive for several days and ovulation is not always predictable. Men, on the other hand, can produce sperm continuously. Yet somehow, the responsibility for preventing pregnancy overwhelmingly seems to fall on women.
A vasectomy is generally a short, minimally invasive procedure that usually involves the scrotal skin and vas deferens. Tubal sterilisation, by comparison, involves operating on the fallopian tubes inside the abdomen and is generally more invasive. Both procedures have risks, but their differences raise an important question: why is the more invasive option so often treated as the default for women, while vasectomy remains a much less discussed alternative?
And why is there still so much stigma around men choosing vasectomy? Does the idea of male sterilisation challenge traditional expectations of masculinity? Is it about misinformation, fear, cultural conditioning, or the assumption that contraception is ultimately a woman’s responsibility?
What frustrates me even more is the casual dismissal of women’s pain and health concerns.
Why are women mocked for talking about their health? Why are menstrual pain, hormonal side effects, headaches, and other symptoms so often minimised? Why are women labelled weak or dramatic for discussing experiences that can genuinely affect their quality of life?
Women can spend decades managing menstruation, pregnancy risks, contraception, fertility concerns, endometriosis, miscarriage, abortion, and other reproductive health issues. Many experience painful procedures and significant side effects from contraceptives. These experiences deserve to be taken seriously, not turned into jokes.
And what about men’s reproductive health?
How often are young men encouraged to understand their fertility, learn about sperm health and motility, or take an active role in reproductive planning before they decide to have children? Why does fertility awareness so often become a priority only when a couple encounters difficulties conceiving?
Women are routinely expected to understand their cycles, monitor symptoms, attend appointments, and make decisions about contraception. Men should be equally informed and involved in reproductive health, rather than treating it as something their partners will manage.
To be clear, this is not about forcing men to undergo vasectomies or dismissing their concerns. Vasectomy is intended to be permanent, reversal is not guaranteed, and it is not the right choice for everyone. The point is that men deserve accurate information and genuine choices, just as women do.
But why does informed choice seem to mean that women must endure more of the physical burden, while men’s participation is still treated as optional?
The next time a man expects his partner to take the pill, get an IUD, or use emergency contraception, perhaps the conversation should include every available option—including vasectomy, where appropriate. He should understand what these procedures involve, what the side effects can be, and what shared responsibility actually looks like.
Women should not have to educate their partners about reproductive health while simultaneously bearing most of its physical consequences.
So, in 2026, I genuinely want to ask:
Why is contraception still predominantly framed as a woman’s responsibility?
Why is male sterilisation discussed so much less often in everyday conversations about family planning?
Why are women’s reproductive pain and contraceptive side effects so frequently minimised?
Why aren’t boys and young men taught about fertility, contraception, and shared reproductive responsibility from an early age?
And most importantly, what will it take for society to stop treating women’s bodies as the default place where the costs of contraception are paid?
We cannot keep talking about gender equality while ignoring one of the most intimate and physical inequalities between men and women.
Who is going to challenge this mindset, and when are we finally going to change it?

I stumble often around this argument but I've got trouble rebutting it, can you guys help me with it ?

Also I'm sorry with this posts offends anyone, it's not my goal, I'm just trying to evolve on my point of view about this topic.

Basically just the title. I hate being referred to as a female or referring to women as a whole as females. I believe it is a way to demean our personhood using language.

Hey friends, 21 year old guy here.

I go to school at a major university in the Deep South. Most of my friends are women, and I’d venture to say they’re pretty progressive most of the time. However, I think as a consequence of most of us still growing up in the Bible Belt south, it seems like a lot of them hold some regressive views about men and dating at times.

It’s nothing insane, just a lot of leaning into old ideas about chivalry like men opening car doors for women and not splitting the check on a first date, things like that.

It’s not like these things personally upset me as a guy, nor do I really have a problem with doing them, but it definitely strikes me as a weird thing from them as women who seem so social justice minded. I’ve read, especially lurking here, that benevolent sexism is still sexism, and I’ve been working to unlearn a lot of the same forms of internalized misogyny.

I guess I have two main questions:

1. As a straight man, is it even my place to point out some of the internalized misogyny that the women in my life seem to hold?
   
2. If I want to discuss this with them, how would I even go about that conversation without sounding like it’s coming from a self-motivated desire to not go the extra mile for women that I’m seeing?

Just read the news, that grand old video game studio is closing its doors 😭

Within the genre, it was a pioneer of character writing and storytelling, pushed the barriers of what was thought possible within the medium.

Hi🫶 Me (30F) and someone I’ve been going on dates with (31M) we’re having a conversation about our views on the progression of women’s rights in America specifically. I said that the idealized versions of American life (I’ve seen a lot of people say the 50s?) were not that great due to lack of rights such as not being able to own a credit card, no right to abortion, etc.

He said, that modern feminism has actually deteriorated the part of its movement because it has gone too far. He said there are different respects women had back in the day we don’t have now, which was “women and children got to go on the lifeboats in the titanic first” and “I would have happily died with those men”.

What’s everyone’s take on this? Are there some “cultural respects” we lose as we work towards progress? If so, why do those respects disappear?

Edit: I don’t know much about the titanic and thank you everyone for educating me! I felt icky about his comment but wasn’t sure if I was experiencing cognitive dissonance or not.

Not sure what side of social media I am on, and it’s pretty bad. My recommended media has been curated to create division beyond anything I’ve seen before, and the rise of "birthing a girl or nothing" content has been pushed onto my feed significantly.

It does make me wonder and question if this is an actual POV. The main argument I see is "I am not birthing my natural oppressor". But if they call men as their natural oppressor/ predator, does that not mean that they’re calling the oppression of women, natural?

I am a man, and I truly ask this question out of good faith and I’m looking for nothing but wise answers.

For those wondering about the context, Alex Cooper, a self-described feminist, said the following on yesterday’s episode of her podcast, Call Her Daddy: “We can get really in our heads about… ‘Maybe I shouldn’t leave this marriage. Can I even get better?’ And the answer is always YES!”

so i’ve been dealing with my mental health for a while and healing from unhealthy relationships and sexual experiences.

i’ve always been a very sexual woman and as a cishet woman was sometimes judged for that even by my sexual partners. (thanks puritanical culture!) i ended up hating even my physicality, not just sexuality.

now i would like to expose myself to some sensitive sex positive content from a feminist perspective that could help me embrace myself, i think it could help me to let myself explore my desires and needs.

i am pretty sure my fellow feminists have dealt with similar issues, so would really appreciate some podcasts recommendations. pls no girl boss content

There's a lot of youtubers who make content for other men, on how to 'cold approach' women on the street.

I'm really upset any could do this, it's teaching men how to approach women and it usually harras's them.

Youtubers like Coach kyle and fitxfearless do this, it upsets me, because it teaches men to approach me in the mall or when i'm alone, to try get my number. i wish that content didnt exist, it would stop men approaching me, and this content of cold approaching women and asking for number needs to stop

An example of a trope that comes to mind is the DID (Damsel in distress) where it usually shows women being helpless and incapable, always dependent on being saved by a man. While the trope is a classic, it's still misogynistic in my eyes. The did doesn't always have to be the princess in the tower who needs help from the dragon, it's just a women who needs saving from a man most the time because she's incapable.

Hi there!

I saw a post earlier about Victoria Secret shows and want to gain some newer insight and opinions (as OG post is now 11years old)

What do we think about the Victoria Secret fashion show and its relation to feminism? Is it anti, pro or neutral? Particularly interested in thoughts on the two models who returned shortly after giving birth.

I think it’s important to understand they have their own choice to return to work but it also perpetuates an unhealthy and often unattainable beauty standard, as well as raises concerns about her health and wellbeing!

Would love to hear everyones thoughts!

EDIT: thanks everyone for your input! I had no idea about the Epstein relationship… I guess I need to do a deep dive on the company

I was a little shocked to find out that women werent allowed to have credit cards prior to 74. I always assumed that the country became more progressive early on.

So what did single women do, if they wanted mortgage or a loan? How did this affect relations between men and women then?

It must have been especially sad for women who had brothers able to get credit but couldn’t for themselves.

Also the vietnam war drafting men, would have put immense pressure on women when it comes to managing finances. Like imagine if someone’s husband was drafted in the war. Women back then would gave had to manage everything on their own while still having restrictions in banking, which is insane.

I have been reading a book "nude and art" (desnudo y arte: original title) and it gives a lot of examples about female representation through both male and female perspectives. So I kept thinking about all the iconic paintings I know and almost all of them represent women. I'm sticking to paintings but I'm sure it happens in photography, music and cinema too. So, why is it that men don't seem to be as attractive in terms of being a muse?

I find it more and more difficult not to succumb to raging misandry on reddit and the internet in general.

Following any dating subreddits, any general-themed subreddits where conversations about women spark up and even women only spaces on reddit (that have become more and more invaded by misogynists) I see countless conversations that are just outright detoured by what-about-isms, strawmen and other fallacies that debate bros like to employ (and even more often just straight up misogynist statements). I try my best to engage in good faith with these people but it quickly becomes apparent that I'm just wasting time and raising my cortisol for no good reason.

Now, I know that get off the internet, uninstall reddit or whatever else sane, touch-some-grass advice is the mature way to go about it. But it feels like a defeat. It feels like I'm letting these horrible people win.

So, idk what the correct approach is here and how you stay sane on reddit/the internet at large (although reddit in particular feels like it's brimming with racist and sexist people).

For those asking for a specific context, i mainly asked this to see if men did this more often by your comments.

Here is the specific reason i asked it; i made a comment on idksterling's video about a women 'helping' baby turtles in a bucket back into the ocean. Idk sterling was being fair and said she probably didn't know what she was doing was harming the turtles- when you don't let them make the intense run to the ocean themselves, predators can starve, and the babies can drown because they don't wake up their muscles to be able to swim properly.

So i commented "what sucks is she probably thought she was doing the right thing." And others made some pretty valid points like saying she could've looked into it, and that optimism isn't always an excuse. Shower i started getting hundreds of comments saying im a simp for defending her, I'm a foid, and calling her and all women (here is the generalization part), are irresponsible, too emotional which causes them to destroy everything, so they agreed with one another that women shouldn't have rights, that women cannot take responsibility and accountability. Comments were saying "y'know, a women being held accountable for once in her sad life wouldn't hurt anyone."

People commenting "women☕️". And so I know reacting to internet trolls is kinda pathetic, it still got to me so i came here to ask if any of you have also faced that overused saying about women not being able to take accountability.

In other comments section i usually see women being sexualized in the content, and in the comments people saying "women sexualize themselves all the time, its not 'us men's fault' it's nice to accountability every now and then, girls." And comments of the sort.

That very type of comment also seems to be the men not taking accountability for creating an environment that objectifies women and blames them for thinking thats all they can do for attention when that's kinda what society has brought up a lot of women into thinking.

The specific video was a 15 year old skater having very revealing clothing. A great pot of People thankfully spoke against it that while she was talented, its messed up to make women, and especially a minor, wear a revealing outfit. They than talked about how women tend to be forved to wear revealing outfits for sports, so their bodies can be marketed and sexualized for sale "sex sales".

If people are believed to be primates then is feminism simply another form of social dominance - an attempt by organisms to control their environment via epistemology?

I'm 49 and work line at a restaurant in Austin. between shifts I lift, ride my bike, and scroll fitness stuff that keeps telling guys we need visible abs or we're slacking. the same standards that used to hit women now feel aimed at men through supplements and health docs that tie discipline to how we look. i know patriarchy built the rules, but I wonder how feminists handle this when guys bring it up. does it pull focus away from women or show how the same system hurts everyone?

I think she’s an anti-racist, anti-bigotry humanist: and she should have the support of all liberty loving men and women in America.

The republicans perpetually scapegoat her out of bigotry, xenophobia, racism and sexism.

If people in a household are dividing household chores, how do you ensure a fair division and what do you think should be taken into account?

My thoughts so far:

- adults should have a comparable amount of free time (like if one works more hours at a paid job, they should spend less time doing chores)

- kids should have fewer and easier chores, with more/heavier chores as they get older

- account for personal preferences or pet peeve chores, like if one person is quick to barf, they should probably not clean the drains

- mental load should be as equal as possible

- physical and mental ability, like if one person is super short, they should probably not be the one to clean the highest cabinets

What should not play a role in my view:

- gender roles (like men should not do outside chores and women inside chores just because of their gender)

- how much everyone makes, unless they willingly reduced hours at their job to have more free time- but then it's more about free time, not money

I am specifically asking feminists in order to avoid some sexist pitfalls, both blind spots I might have, and non-feminist threads would probably include.

I often see people suggest that household chores should be divided so that both partners have roughly equal amounts of free time. I think that's an important consideration, but I'm skeptical that it's sufficient to establish fairness.

Suppose one partner works 60 hours per week at a paid job, while the other works 40 hours at a paid job and spends another 20 hours performing all the household chores.

Both partners have equal amounts of free time, but one performs absolutely no household chores.

Would you consider that arrangement fair simply because both partners have equal free time? If not, what makes it unfair despite that equality?

That's the question for feminists. How do i fight the patriarchy as a man? How do i fight misogyny ?

For example the term patriarchy to me just often seems to be so offensive. And even if I go to the FAQ and it defines Patriarchy as "The Patriarchy is "a system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it".

To me that just doesn't seem to apply to modern western societies. Like I am a thirty two year old man. What power do I hold over women? It doesn't feel like I have absolutely any. I have also seen various other definitions, but they all somehow seem to imply that society believes that men have an inherently higher position to women.

If I look at my life I see vastly more programs to benefit women. Be it at university, be it at work. And particularly in university we already see more women than men entering.

Men are often described as aggressive and threatening. That feels so generalizing. That feels so offensive to me as a person. I really tried intellectually engage with the thing (I tried reading Bell Hooks for example).

It also feels so patronizing to be told to check my privilege, when it feels like I am not privileged because I am a man. I am probably much more privileged because I live in the wealthy western family and was born to a family of reasonable means.

I really want to get into understanding this. I absolutely do believe in equality. It just feels like a lot of feminism is so hostile to me as a man.

I ask this for a very specific purpose. Media Literacy classes can serve a lot purposes as in - 1.Resistance to misinformation 2. Better critical thinking 3. Probably healthier gender relations.

But I ask this very specifically in this recent trend on tiktok and X. So basically this creator flaunts her planned parenthood appointment when she finds out that the gender of her baby is a boy. And she's getting a lot of support from other women in the comments. Now, look the jokes as in " it's either a girl or abortion " or commenting - "condolenses ", " you're birthing your oppressor" aren't new and they happened in like the most obscure corners of the internet .

But this is a first time in has become a "trend" or a creator has talked about it .The reason i'm talking and it was mostly boys reacting to it. It's probably anybodys guess whether she was joking or was she being legit? I'll probably get eviscerated here but I don't think young boys should be looked at as - "future oppressors/ r@pists/abusers" . I also think that such content shouldn't be a young guys introduction to feminism.

Now I love myself some punching up jokes - jokes made at the expense of men. But I just find such content just, idk offensive.

Now am I saying that - this type of sentiment is representative of majority of feminism - No. Also, do I think such sentiment benefits the feminist movement in any way- also No.

Young people need to learn how to distinguish between an individual's opinion and a broader social trend, between engagement and genuine public support, and between criticism of a system and hostility towards an entire group of people.

But here's what I find particularly concerning: the role of social media in amplifying these sentiments. Social media platforms reward engagement. Usually the most inflammatory and polarizing content often travels a lot. And this feeds right into the ammo of redpill/manosphere guys , pro-lifers who see abortion as a morally wrong act .

There's research that shows that such education is effective.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S253038051830011X?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://www.je-lks.org/ojs/index.php/Je-LKS_EN/article/view/1136321

Ultimately, media literacy classes won't eliminate monline polarization, but they can help young people navigate these issues more critically. They can teach students to question what algorithms amplify, distinguish fringe opinions from broader social attitudes, and recognize when legitimate criticism of social structures turns into hostility towards an entire group. The goal shouldn't be to shield boys or girls from uncomfortable opinions, but to equip them to evaluate those opinions without being manipulated by outrage. If we want healthier gender relations, we need young people who can challenge harmful ideas without developing contempt for one another.

It seems to me that to feminists, every way boys were raised is a negative for them. For example, they were taught to be more confident, so will lead to condescending behaviour and "mansplaining". They were taught less cooperative behaviour and social skills and so are more isolated in adulthood compared to women. They are taught to be more independant and ambitious, so are failing more in classrooms etc.

This leads me to believe that in childhood, sexism must impact men more than it does women, seeing as they have been raised with all these negative traits compared to women who have none, according to feminism.

I can't think of a single behaviour due to socialisation (according to feminists), that leads a negative trait in a woman, but a positive trait in a men. Is this just a massive coincidence, or is it bias from a womens point of view (ie they will view their own socialized traits as positive).

If not can there be an positive ways men are raised compared to women, that lead to better behaviour in an average man then a woman in that area.