this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2025
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There's not a male loneliness epidemic.
There's a loneliness epidemic.
https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf
"Joking" by trying to turn this into men vs women is pretty gross.
The solutions look a lot different for the real loneliness epidemic than a “male loneliness epidemic”. You fix the first by creating more walkable cities, more third places you can be without needing to spend money, and giving people the time and money they need to go out, do things, and socialize.
The proposed solutions for the “male loneliness epidemic” seem to be a lot more like shitty men saying “women need to lower their standards and be okay with being my therapist/mom/girlfriend, while I change nothing about myself”
To the average person not caught up in culture war issues, the OP looks like the exact mirror of “women need to lower their standards and be okay with being my therapist/mom/girlfriend, while I change nothing about myself”. That's a disgusting take, as is saying that men are lonely because they objectify women and have no empathy.
On their face they're both shitty misogynist/misandrist viewpoints.
It's bigotry and sharing bigoted memes is wrong, regardless of which 'side' is being targeted.
In addition, the underlying message in both of these viewpoints is an attempt to frame the real loneliness epidemic as something that is fabricated by 'the other side' and not a real issue with real victims.
There's a reason the guy in the meme is dressed like a clown.
I completely understand the meme.
I just think the underlying assumptions that the joke is built on are misandrist. In addition, the implication that the loneliness epidemic isn't real or is largely caused by men (or women in the reverse of this meme) is causing real damage.
You can't talk about loneliness online without toxic people ("incel"/"femcel") using these kind of "jokes" to be bigots and people who're not steeped in online culture read this as "men are lonely because they objectify women and are have no empathy"
It's not against the community rules, but it's a joke built on bigotry and I think it's toxic.