They have become more conservative and they continue in the fight for equality. But, at the same time, the number of young women who declare themselves feminists is falling. The movement that fights for equal rights between men and women seems to be experiencing moments of uncertainty if we look to the future. Surveys and studies indicate that there is a significant percentage of men between 16 and 24 years old in Catalonia who consider that feminism “has gone too far” and one of the latest FAD reports on the subject (which has the suggestive title Guilty until proven otherwise) points out that they feel like “victims of feminism.” But what do young people think? Is there this polarization that endangers the advances of the feminist movement? They are the most pessimistic on this issue, although harassment and insecurity worry both sexes. Experts consider that there is more consensus than it seems, although they believe that many still need to be convinced that the feminist struggle also benefits them. And they point to the harmful role of social networks in this polarization.
“There are more and more feminist women and many men accompany us in this fight, but it is also true that an opposite reaction has emerged,” acknowledges María García, a 22-year-old Law and Business Administration student currently on Erasmus in Tampere (Finland). This young woman explains that she has read articles that compare the current situation with Newton’s third law: “the increase in feminism has generated resistance that is being fueled by hoaxes and misinformation campaigns,” she warns.
Marc Carot (21 years old), a computer engineering student from Tortosa, sees feminism as a “positive” demand but believes that taken to the “extreme”, it can be “harmful”. And he gives the example of nightlife “they have touched my ass and nothing happens, but the other way around the treatment would be different,” he says. Having made this point, Carot clarifies that “it is clear” that many other things are not suffered by men, such as being “sexualized.”
Although the latest barometers show this tendency towards polarization between boys and girls, the researcher at the Fad Juventud Foundation, Stribor Kuric, believes that there are elements of “great consensus” between them. And he cites as examples the importance of equality or that gender violence “is a very serious problem.” María recognizes that there have been cases of boys who claim that gender violence does not exist and that it is “violence in general.”
Men benefit from being aligned with feminism, explains Bruna Álvarez, professor and researcher in the AFIN group of the UAB anthropology department. But the expert also regrets that, removing the cases of radicals with which Álvarez draws red lines, many men are willing to reflect, but sometimes they find the response “you are in the zone of privilege and now you are annoyed,” she explains. . “If this is the answer that a man finds, the result of the polarization given by the surveys increases,” she laments.
Taking a walk around the Barcelona Industrial School’s break time is a good way to immerse yourself in a world far from surveys – although influenced by networks – that seems less polarized. Although there is divergence and debate, they are united by a common concern: the harassment and insecurity that they suffer at night. The return allows you to see and talk to groups of all kinds, from girls who claim that they are not feminists because “no extreme is good” to others who are very involved, through mixed groups in which the conversation begins half-jokingly and ends with feminist allegations. by some of them.
Carlota López (24 years old), a student of a higher degree in Administration and Finance, assures that she does not experience the polarization that the surveys indicate and regrets that feminism “is too exaggerated.” That’s why she positions herself “in the middle.” Along with her, Noa Navas (18), dares to talk about insecurity at night and admits that she does not see it as “viable” to go alone on the street, especially after an episode in which a boy passed by her on a bike and He touched the ass. When she reproached him for her attitude, she claims that the young man responded that “it could have been worse.” In this Judith Romeu sees a contradiction “it is the boys who do these things and they are also the ones who offer to accompany you home.” This young woman sees “machismo” and a setback in the comments that boys sometimes make along the lines of “don’t wear those clothes.”
A little further away, in a mixed group, is a boy, Héctor Sánchez (21), who studies marketing and advertising, the first who dares to speak to deny with a touch of irony that there is polarization: “we are in the cause, “Feminism is a way of claiming.” Elliot Bondia (19), a business student, laments that there have been times when being a man seemed like a “crime” and that a part of feminism has become “radicalized.” But his classmate, Masantu Isla (19), disagrees and assures that she does not consider that feminism “has gotten out of hand” and that, on the contrary, “there is still a lot to do because almost nothing has been achieved.” . And she gives examples; the wage gap or being able to go out peacefully at night.
“There are men who are against feminism because there are fewer and fewer of them and they see that they are no longer above,” María Sánchez (18) explains to a group of girls students from the Higher Cycle of Chemistry. For Abril Lozano there is “a tendency to criticize current feminism,” something that she sees as “misinforming,” especially on social media, the place where she sees the most “machismo.” Young people like Idoia Castro (19) regret that feminist education is not given importance. This group agrees that a war is being “created” between men and women and this is “fatal” because “the feminist movement is in danger.” “There is still a lot to improve and the important thing is education from a young age,” concludes Abril Lozano.
One of the aspects in which there is more consensus is the insecurity that women feel and suffer, especially at night. María García has noticed the change between Spain and Finland “here you are not afraid of someone telling you something.” On the other hand, in Zaragoza she recognizes that it is common to return home with the keys in hand. In this sense, she says that when a friend suffers an episode, the boys “get involved and help you,” however when she tries to give her opinion, she has a hard time. “They are aware of the situation but when something forces them to take a position, they don’t want to.”
“We girls know that there are some patterns that we should not even tolerate” and with hate speech it seems that we are going one step backwards and this generates a “weariness” that causes us to “not want to be anyone’s educators,” explains this university student displaced to Finland. She also believes that there are men who are not used to female empowerment and who may be “scared” by the “fear of losing privileges.”
Indeed, Stribor Kuric believes that the very advance of the feminist movement that “makes women more visible” can cause there to be men who “believe” that they are losing “privileges” that they believed were “rights.” In this sense, for the sociologist, when these inequalities are perceived “any progress will be perceived as going against them.” The researcher also warns that there are certain media or institutional discourses in which principles in which there was previously consensus are questioned. An example of this is the discourse that assures that gender violence does not exist.
The researcher also points out that currently there are digital spheres, among which are social networks, that reach many people and generate misinformation. The so-called manosphere, in which these discourses are fed and which has misogyny as its common thread. Kuric warns that these speeches “are permeating young people” and from there ideas come out such as false complaints or that “you have to sign a contract to have relationships.” He regrets that all this ends up “installing” itself in the discourse of young people.
“Antifeminism is a trend on the networks, it seems to be cool,” laments María Sánchez, who also explains that young people at the institute are more impressionable and are more on social networks and their opinion is forged from that. Marc Carot also recognizes that during high school it is more common to witness sexist attitudes in them, but he does not know if it can be attributed to “hormones” or to the influence of networks.
Young people have another problem, points out anthropologist Bruna Álvarez: that the issue of equality and feminism has become “institutionalized.” On the other hand, there is little social movement and this “is causing the space for political action to be extreme right.”
In 2023 the FAD Foundation presented the investigation Guilty until proven otherwise. This seems to be the sentiment that many young people show when addressing issues such as sexual harassment where many believe the presumption of innocence does not apply. Kuric explains that when working in schools on gender stereotypes, there is a portion of boys who feel in a “disadvantaged position,” something that has spread widely in their imagination. For the researcher, generating spaces for dialogue and talking about close cases and not statistics helps to dismantle these positions.
The sociologist believes that male discomfort is to a certain extent “understandable”, but considers that it is important to make them see that “there are elements of the gender mandate that generate many burdens” such as, for example, that men must always occupy public space. For Kuric, “a rupture of patriarchal mandates will allow men to live with more freedom.”
“We live in a very polarized country and misinformation contributes to this,” laments María García. For this student, the solution is in information campaigns and promoting critical digital education to detect fake news.” Could this polarization cause a feminist retreat? Neither she nor the majority of young people consulted are clear about it, what this student does consider is that “we have to continue making a lot of noise to fight for rights for equality and we depend a lot on the new generations and how things are told ”.