betterbemeta:

What gets me about “the black pill” or “the dark enlightenment” is that while both of them encompass horribly harmful and inaccurate conclusions drawn about the world, they still are reactions to pressures that dudes feel on them… many of which are in some ways similar to pressures women and girls have grappled with for decades if not centuries. But most of us get it out of our system in like, 7th grade that we will never be as attractive to men as Megan Fox. Minus the horrifying entitlement to womens’ sex and bodies, the ‘incels vs. chad’ dynamic eerily mirrors the kind of emotional landscape of ‘me vs. The Other Slutty Girls’ where an immature girl projects her feelings of inadequacy, lack of confidence in her appearance, or awareness that the game is rigged in favor of unattainable ideals onto peers who may be superficially more successful or socially popular than herself. We recognize this narrative as an angry cry for help in younger girls. But we don’t recognize it at all in boys, or even think that feelings of inadequacy will police boys and cause them to strive harder to be strong men.

Girls become aware from a strikingly young age that society does not consider them objectively valuable (to differing degrees, based on race and other factors), that only a select few of them will fit the parameters of gender-coded success. But teen boys and even grown men seem to think ‘taking the pill’ and realizing these truths is novel. For the rest of us, the maturation stage dealing with it happened in early adolescence.

But most striking to me is that when faced with objectification, dehumanization, a bleak, almost existential theft of confidence and identity, girls (and those society coercively identifies as girls) go through some embarrassing phases, write some weird stories or draw weird things, explore their gender and sexuality, and overall get over it. Not without scarring or without serious psychological consequences. But despite some troubling attempted suicide statistics? We’re expected to get over it, step up our game, and move on.

When faced with the realization of even a fraction of the same kind of realization, a destiny of mediocrity and low inherent value, of their labor being pissed away into the void? Cis men become self-destructive, endorse reactionary politics, embrace fascism, ideate disaster scenarios where every Chad dies, withdraw from their friendships and social connections. They form whole communities and support groups dedicated to lingering at, and lamenting, this stage of their lives. We can laugh and frown at them, but it seems that no one takes opportunities away from them but themselves.

Women have known ‘the black pill’ since forever, the knowledge that everyone we meet sees us in terms of the value we can offer them personally, and for most of us that value is not going to be a lot. And yeah, I know there are some outlier sad girls who resort to extreme behaviors or certain radfem ideologies out there. But for the most part? Women haven’t been driven to fascism and pure seething misanthropic self-perpetuating hatred yet. Neither have trans men to my knowledge, most of which have lived alongside girls and observed girlhoods and misogyny up close. And specifically? Trans women probably experience the hopelessness and worthlessness society outlines as destiny most of all.

“Black pillers”, incels, and ‘the dark enlightenment’ are hopelessly crushed by things the teenage girls they mock carry around in their backpack on a daily basis.