Young Men Are In Their SJW Era

We ought to treat them how we wanted them to treat us.

Jun 30, 2025

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Since Democrats lost the 2024 Election, it has come to the attention of many Democrats that young men— particularly many young straight Gen Z men— are struggling.

Indeed, there’s a growing body of evidence that many Gen Z men are lonely, disaffected, and aimless.1

While women seem to be thriving in 2025, young men seem to be struggling to live up to the social role many expect them to play.

While LGBT Americans have won landmark victories in the fight for equality in recent decades, men seem to find themselves slipping behind.

While some of us on the left may be hard-pressed to empathize with these young straight men who seem to have had it so good for so long, we must empathize anyway.

We must stop shaming them and start engaging with them if we haven’t already.

Many Gen Z Men Are Woke

Contrary to what some caricatures would have you believe, young men today are not all far-right incels plotting their next mass shooting.2

Instead, they are all just people, many of whom have awoken to the perils of our patriarchal society, and yet, problematically, have not been given a clear path to liberation from it.3

Put another way, young men recognize many of the issues with our current social system and very well could be on our side of the struggle if only we would let them be.4

Many Lefties Have Valid Concerns

Before I go any further, allow me to acknowledge and validate the gripes many people have with arguments centered around the needs of straight men.

Yes, it is true that throughout history, men have had the lion’s share of power and privilege in comparison to women and people who are gender and sexual minorities.

Yes, it is true that many of the same men who now want empathy have not shown a willingness to reciprocate it towards women and LGBT folks.

Yes, it is true that women and people in other marginalized groups face a myriad of threats to our rights in 2025 in MAGA America.

Yet! None of the above statements lie in contradiction with the idea that we can and ought to recognize and show compassion for the plight of young men today.

Many Men Have Valid Issues

As we all know, feminism is not about empowering women above men; it is about empowering everyone and championing equality for all people.5

We need not proclaim “all lives matter” any time anyone asserts that men have issues.6

Let us consider a few issues young straight men face today.

Many men are worried about their financial security and prospects for the future.

Many are, therefore, investing and often losing money in cryptocurrency scams.

Many young men are desperately lonely and long for friends and a romantic partner.

Many struggle socially and haven’t learned how to develop social skills.

Many of them suffer from addictions to porn and video games.

Many young men suffered tremendously during the Covid lockdowns.

Many young men suffer from body dysmorphia.

Many young men want to be masculine but don’t know how or what that means and what is allowed.7

We Can Solve Men’s Issues

Just like the rest of us, young straight men today did not choose to be born into the societal context they were born into; therefore, we ought not hold it against them.8

Interestingly and fortunately for us, the solution to their problems is very much aligned with liberalism and progressivism.

Since young Gen Z men seem to feel the weight of our societal gender roles, we can seize this opportunity to bring them into the fold and show them a better option than the one they’ve chosen in 2024.9

We need not shame them. We need not dismiss or belittle them. Such behavior serves none of us.

Instead, we can say to them, okay great, you see the problems we’re all facing. Glad you finally showed up to the fight.

We Can Win the Gender Wars

At the end of the day, young men are just human beings, like the rest of us.

They want what we all want: to belong; to have security and stability; to live a good life that they can be proud of and find fulfillment in.

Young men are just people.

If Democrats can’t figure that out, we deserve to lose.10

Obligatory Disclaimer: all views expressed here are my own personal views and do not represent the views of my employer nor those of the U.S. government.

Thank you for reading!

Footnotes

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See: Bibliography.

Incel is an internet term that stands for “involuntarily celibate” and refers to men who can’t get laid. The term, which is typically self-imposed, implies that the reason the person can’t find someone to have sex with them is because they are too ugly and undesirable. For those of us with fully-formed frontal lobes, we might consider that many incels likely suffer from body dysmorphia. Also, many of them are young, like teenagers, and thus, we ought to show more empathy towards them as they’re children.

Indeed, there were many Bernie Bros who seemed to be on the right track, until the Democratic Party snatched the nomination away from Bernie Sanders, who absolutely would have won in 2016.

I would like to take this opportunity to define SJW. SJW stands for “social justice warrior” and is a derogatory term that many right-wing people (often men) used in the 2010s to refer to many progressive people (often women). Like the word “Incel,” the term “SJW” comes from the internet and the political discourse therein.

Where the patriarchy hurts everyone, including men, feminism benefits everyone including men.

We can address men’s issues as we are also addressing women’s issues. There’s no issue there.

since many famous, powerful men who are traditionally seen as role models have proven lacking. We can scoff at this desire to be masculine, but that doesn’t negate the fact that many men have it.

Also, just because people are unkind to us (like some men are), doesn’t mean we need to stoop to their level. We can instead give them the chance to find a better path than the dreaded one traversed by Andrew Tate and Co.

I find it quite interesting how the things that so many right-leaning men say they want— positive representation, respect, acknowledgment of their humanity, basic equality— are the same things that these same men relentlessly mocked women and people in other marginalized groups for wanting only a decade ago. My, how times have changed. The real question is, though, will the left continue to respond to these men with the same vitriol they hurled at us, or can we take another, more constructive approach?

Fortunately, I think we are figuring that out.

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