According to a recent Australian study :
New data shows Gen Z men are more likely to hold traditional gender beliefs than older men - and far more so than their female peers. The results show a clear trend: on average, beliefs in traditional gender roles have been declining across generations. But Gen Z men are emerging as an exception.
This statistical revelation confirms what many of us have sensed anecdotally for years yet still manages to be disheartening. I'm left with a profound question: Have we truly made progress in the realm of gender relations, or are we witnessing yet another swing of a perpetual pendulum?
Generation Z: A Surprising Regression?
What strikes me most profoundly is what appears to be a counter-intuitive development among the youngest adult men. This generation, born between the late 1990s and early 2010s, came of age during #MeToo and fourth-wave feminism. Despite being raised in an era ostensibly more enlightened about gender equality than any previous generation, a significant segment of Gen Z men have embraced what could be described as the most chauvinistic mindset we've seen in half a century. They heard the calls to believe women, to dismantle rape culture, to build equity - but often reacted with scepticism or scorn. The statistics on young men consuming increasingly misogynistic content online, the rise of "alpha male" influencers, and the normalization of regressive gender ideologies suggest we're witnessing not evolution but revolution - in the original sense of the word: a complete rotation back to where we started.
Misogyny now wears digital camouflage: dressed up in irony, meme-speak, or pseudo-intellectualism. Platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter(X) have become echo chambers for a kind of grievance masculinity, where feminism is blamed for everything from personal loneliness to economic decline.
These young men aren't necessarily evil. They're confused, angry, and often afraid. But they're dangerous nonetheless, because the systems that shaped them reward cruelty and contempt far more reliably than compassion.
The Illusion of Irreversible Progress
We mistakenly assume that each generation is more progressive than the last, but this is not borne out in reality. Perhaps most disheartening is the realization that what we consider "progress" in women's issues proves remarkably fragile. Rights once considered secure can be eroded. Norms once thought permanently shifted can easily revert. We like to think of progress as inevitable. But it's not. It's situational. Conditional. Reversible. The Overton window slides both ways.
We've witnessed this pattern repeatedly throughout history. The women who worked in factories during World War II were sent home when the men returned. The sexual liberation of the 1960s gave way to different forms of objectification. Today, women's rights, bodily autonomy, even basic safety in public - these can all be snatched back when the culture shifts. This suggests a sobering truth: progress in gender relations isn't a steady march forward but rather a series of advances and retreats, shaped by cultural, economic, and political forces beyond any individual's control.
The Eternal Battle of the Sexes
History reveals an uncomfortable truth: the "battle of the sexes" appears to be less a temporary conflict awaiting resolution and more an enduring feature of human society. From Aristophanes' "Lysistrata" to modern debates about workplace equality, this tension persists with remarkable consistency across cultures.
Each generation believes they will be the one to finally resolve these tensions, yet each discovers anew that progress is neither linear nor guaranteed. The fundamental question remains: Are we engaged in a conflict that can ever truly be "won," or are we participating in a dance of power dynamics as old as humanity itself?
Even our oldest texts seem to acknowledge this reality. In Genesis, after the fall from Eden, God tells Eve: "Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." (Gen 3:16) This isn't presented as a prescription but rather as a description of the power struggle that seems woven into the fabric of human relationships as a result of sin and evil. Patriarchy is not the divine design; it's the fallout of broken spirituality.
Where Do We Go from Here?
If this struggle is indeed permanent, what then? Do we resign ourselves to endless conflict? I hope not. Perhaps understanding the cyclical nature of these tensions is itself a form of progress.
The Gen Z regression is perhaps a reminder that each generation must fight these battles anew. The struggle continues not because we've failed, but maybe because it is an intrinsic part of the human experience that we must engage with consciously rather than hope to transcend entirely.
I don't have a neat conclusion. This isn't a call to arms or an offering of a solution. It's a lament.
Discuss on Bluesky
A reflection on the troubling gender trends among Gen Z men, the fragility of progress, and why no one wins the "battle of the sexes".
— Hannah Shelley, MLIS (Metadata, Lattes & Impostor Syndrome) (@hannahshelley.bsky.social) April 23, 2025 at 6:56 PM
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