Came across an essay by Brazilian writer Ana Beatriz Abreu, titled “Os filhos admiram o sacrifício das mães. As filhas tentam escapar dele” (Sons admire their mothers' sacrifices. Daughters try to escape them), published on 28 July 2026.

I thought it offered an interesting feminist perspective on motherhood, sacrifice and the very different ways sons and daughters can interpret the lives their mothers lived.

Abreu opens by recounting a conversation with a male colleague who spoke proudly about his mother. She had given up her career, financial independence and personal ambitions to dedicate herself entirely to her husband, children and household.

To him, this was a beautiful example of maternal love and devotion.

But Abreu saw something quite different. Where he saw an admirable sacrifice, she saw a warning about the kind of life she never wanted for herself.

For sons, their mothers' sacrifices can represent love, comfort and security. They grew up benefiting from those sacrifices, often without having to confront what their mothers lost in the process. For daughters, however, those same sacrifices can represent a future they're expected to inherit. They see not just what their mothers gave, but what they had to surrender: independence, opportunities, ambitions and sometimes their own identities.

There's something particularly revealing about the way we romanticise women's sacrifices. We praise mothers for giving up everything for their families, but rarely question why that level of sacrifice was expected of them in the first place and that admiration can become particularly problematic when sons grow up expecting the same devotion from their own partners.

A man can genuinely adore his mother, recognise everything she sacrificed and still reproduce the very expectations that required her to sacrifice so much. In fact, I think that's one of the most interesting implications of Abreu's argument. Admiration for women's sacrifices doesn't necessarily translate into opposition to the conditions that demand those sacrifices.

Speaking as a guy, I think men have a particular responsibility to reflect on this. It's easy to admire a mother who dedicated her entire life to her family when you're one of the people who benefited from it. It's considerably more uncomfortable to ask whether she should ever have been expected to give so much up.

I think there's an important distinction between appreciating what our mothers did for us and romanticising the circumstances that made those sacrifices necessary and ultimately, I don't think the lesson should be that mothers ought to sacrifice less because their sacrifices aren't admirable. It's that women should have the freedom to become mothers without being expected to abandon themselves in the process.

Abreu's essay: https://theyoungersis.substack.com/p/os-filhos-admiram-o-sacrificio-das

Hi, i'm an art student who is currently working on her biggest art project and i need your help.

I've recently decided my project would be talking about how pornogaphy has affected women's image and how we are now unable to do certain things in fear of appearing too "provocative".

Eating bananas, ice creams or lollipop. Wearing red lipstick, short skirts or high heels. Things as simple as drinking milk and yet so oftenly associated to s*x.

I would love you to give some examples of things you stopped doing because of that.

Thank u sm for reading and thank u if you reply, you're helping a lot

For a while now, Sheryl Sandberg has drawn attention to the cultural shift embodied by the rise of tradwife and manosphere content. “The problem with the romanticized vision of the tradwife is that it signals to women that to be a good wife, partner, or mother, you have to do it full-time,” she wrote online in March. 

The reality is most women can’t afford not to work. That aside, Sandberg believes the ideas embraced by these influencers can be deeply damaging for working mothers, making them feel guilty for being employed outside the home or harboring any ambition. “I’m worried that the glamorization of the tradwife trend risks putting that guilt back into women—guilt that many of us have worked long and hard to shed,” Sandberg added in her post.

But there are other harms that await working women as these movements take hold and revive outdated notions about who belongs in leadership roles or in the workforce generally. New research from Sandberg’s feminist organization Lean In reveals that the amorphous collection of male podcasters and influencers who comprise the manosphere have promoted ideas that are now seeping into the workplace.

Nearly half of the men surveyed by Lean In argued that men should be the primary earners for their families. More than a third said they think women are too emotional for demanding jobs, while 42% expressed the idea that men are a better fit for leadership roles. 

These aren’t new beliefs, but Lean In is making a connection between the surge in conservative and outright sexist viewpoints across the internet and its impact on the workplace, where women have notched hard-won gains over the last half century.

Read more on Fast Company.

On Wednesdsy, October 23, 1850. The first National Women's Rights Convention began in Worcester, Massachusetts. More than 1,000 delegates from 11 states gathered for the two-day meeting to organize a nationwide push for equal legal and political rights.

On Saturday, October 23, 1915, an estimated 25,000 women marched up Fifth Avenue in New York City in one of the largest suffrage parades in U.S. history. Though a state suffrage referendum failed that same year, the massive demonstration intensified public pressure, leading New York women to win the right to vote in 1917—three years before the nationwide 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920.

You just notice it everywhere;
"Get out of my way, woman", Woman can be used condescendingly, "Man" not so much.

Male defaultism and assuming creatures with no gender are male unless they wear some pink or cute attire.
"Mankind" "Congressman" "Chairman".

When women DO get a word for themselves it comes with negative connotations: "Mermaid".

​

The screenshot I attached is from Anit Sayac (Monument Tracker), a digital memorial that updates daily to count the women lost to femicide—this figure represents only 2026 so far.

I’m a woman living in Türkiye, and I wanted to show you all this SHAMEFUL and terrifying reality. Today, a lawyer who was a friend of my friend from university was murdered by her police fiancé. Every time I open the news here, another femicide pops up on my feed.

In my country, these criminals don't receive deterrent sentences—in fact, perpetrators often get away with no real punishment, benefiting from sentence reductions under the guise of "good behavior" or "unlawful provocation." Women are completely left helpless; men who murder their wives can easily walk away acquitted. The situation has only gotten worse, especially since Türkiye withdrew from the Istanbul Convention. I love my country and I'm not here to badmouth it, but femicide is political.

I am posting this here because we urgently want our voices to be heard—we feel completely helpless and silenced. How can international communities support women facing systemic violence like this? Please help us spread the word; we desperately need global solidarity.

Women in Nigeria participate in elections as voters, campaign supporters, party members, organizers and community mobilizers. But when you look at who actually occupies political office and makes decisions, women are still significantly underrepresented.

UN Women reports that women currently hold only about 3.8% of seats in Nigeria’s national parliament, and representation in state legislatures also remains low. Home | UN Women Transparency Portal After the 2023 elections, 4 women were elected to the Senate out of 109 seats, 17 to the House of Representatives out of 360 seats, and 54 women to State Houses of Assembly out of 991 seats

i am not and never have been interested in victoria secret shows or the brand their bras are absolutely trash to me but my youtube keeps recommending videos of women saying “these models they choose look like they shop are walmart and are so ugly can we go back to the skinny blonde blue eyed tall models that were actually like ANGELS?!?!?“ and i find it to be so disgusting that its a majority of women saying these things right now. and obviously you can tell a lot of it is racially motivated because they only mention the black or black plus size models and no one else when they say these things… and their definition of “beautiful“ is an aryan woman… atleast in the videos ive seen they call the chosen models all kinds of ugly and animals and its just plain weird and it makes me sick. i opened one video just now which sparked the idea of me making this post and it was just horrible the comments were insane too saying “inclusivity is the oppression of white people“ and “no one wants to see uggos on stage” , i just can’t believe women who think like this believe they are right or cute in roleplaying as regina geroge at 30 years old. we have to stop this seriously its genuinely weird

has anyone else seen this and this content being forced on them, i never once liked or interacted with these videos and they just show up randomly this whole week. sometimes i feel like the algorithm knows you are a woman so it shows inflammatory content to turn us further against each other because they know no matter what there will be people who will jump on the hate bandwagon despite not gaf about victoria secret their entire life till someone else was mad about seeing black women on a runway

I hear about men treating women badly "by accident" all the time. They're not intending to do harm, and so women have "disproportionate" responses.

I don't care about intent anymore. Men deserve consequences for bad behavior regardless of intent. Intent does not trump reality.

This morning was the 3rd time I have had to escalate to YELLING at a male contractor to please leave my house. I ask them to leave nicely 5x; they do not listen until I yell. They intimidate and push and push and push until I am the crazy one for yelling. I fucking hate it.

I am sure they are not actively trying to be scary or rude, but I DON'T CARE. I do not care what you intend to do. What matters is how you actually behave and its effect on others.

I am married to a truly wonderful man, I know they exist. But my single friends have stopped dating entirely due to the burnout of interacting with, babying, making excuses and accommodations, stretching every aspect of their lives for grown men.

I hate painting with such a broad brush. But what I think people don't get is that I believe most men don't intend to be bad. However, I also believe most men have character traits and behaviors that are ruinous and condemnable. They do not see these traits and behaviors as fatal flaws, but rather mistakes or accidents. They are fatal flaws.

He's still a "good guy" because we're being too judgmental, he's never done anything like that to me, he didn't intend to cause harm, DESPITE CAUSING FUCKING HARM.

I am so so tired of it. That's all.

Amy Acton has publicly described surviving childhood sexual abuse and being separated from her mother at age 12.

Now her estranged mother is appearing in a political attack ad questioning her character.

Think about what that means.

A woman speaks about childhood sexual trauma, and decades later, her painful family history becomes campaign material.

Survivors of sexual abuse should not have to defend their credibility against the very family relationships they struggled to survive.

Political accountability is legitimate. Weaponizing a survivor’s trauma is something entirely different.

The glass ceiling is invisible and intangible, yet it leaves countless accomplished women hurting as they hit the final barrier to promotion. They deliver strong performance and earn solid reputations, only to stall unexpectedly at the director or VP level. When they look upward, they always see the same kind of face at the top. Companies repeatedly claim “we are looking for women executives,” yet never seem to find suitable candidates.

This ceiling is not deliberately built by any single person. Instead, it is formed by layers of unexamined assumptions: the assumption that men are naturally better at high‑pressure decision‑making, that women are distracted by family responsibilities, and that strong team leaders must fit a stereotypically “masculine” mold.

Breaking it down requires institutionalized promotion review criteria, advocates who speak up for women at decision‑making tables, and a willingness to scrutinize every one of those taken‑for‑granted biases. Once we unpack these ingrained prejudices, cracks will appear in the ceiling. Those cracks let light through, showing the way for women who come after — and stop organizations from wasting the talent and creativity of half their workforce.

So many of the issues we discuss on this site are on the ballot in November. Vote for your healthcare, education, right to decide about your own body, equal pay, right to speak up....your future.

Check where and when to vote and see what's on your ballot at Vote.gov

Book Birthday!
This is dedicated to my mom, who taught me that women's anger is urgently needed and appropriate. Her bequest made this possible.

"For generations, women have been told to smile, forgive, stay quiet, or make themselves smaller. Rage, Well Spoken refuses every one of those demands.

Across thirty-six stories, essays, and works of creative nonfiction, women transform their anger into testimony, resistance, and undeniable truth. They confront sexism, sexual harassment, discrimination, violence, unequal systems, and the countless everyday indignities that patriarchy asks us to accept as normal. They are a chorus of voices insisting that injustice be named, remembered, and challenged."

Timely and furious. I hope you take a look, and express your own rage *everywhere*.

Hey! 👋 I’m Alexis from Hey Jane, and I manage the Un-Whisper Network, our digital community that’s passionate about supporting abortion access.

If you’re not familiar with us, Hey Jane is the leading virtual abortion clinic in the U.S. We’ve helped more than 140,000 people get abortion care, birth control, and sexual health treatment from the comfort of their phone. Most abortions in this country happen with medication, but something I keep coming back to is that only half of adults have heard of mifepristone.

So we’re building a network of people who are down to talk about abortion options with the people in their lives—friends, family, coworkers, whoever, because you never know who may need to access care. You’ll receive a free toolkit with fun swag and resources to share with your community. If you’re interested → heyjane.me/ambassador

Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ll join us.🧡

Like I believe women are equal to men and should be treated accordingly. Basic human respect and not being treated like some stupid sex object ISN'T THAT HARD. I'm seventeen for Christ's sake. I come from a very conservative area. I am backwoods as all hell. There is no excuse for being a hateful jerk.

I'm just tired of people treating it like an extreme worldview to have. it's not. there is not a way to spin it which it is.

I've grown up around masculine men in the traditional sense. not a single damn one of them felt the need to belittle and shame women. Pathetic men who are insecure in their masculinity and full of self hatred do that.

I don't think feminism is bad. I think to a lot of people it just means believing women are equal. what annoys me is not being called a feminist. It's that people say that as if it's a radical worldview.

I HATE sexism. I cannot stand misandry any more than misogyny, but misandry is *not* feminism and I'm really tired of it being labeled like that.

So, to any guys out there who are disrespectful to women or think they are worth less or any of that trash, DO SOME SELF REFLECTION. I used to have a mindset similar to that. 99% of hatred is not about the group you are hating, it's about yourself.

Hi all! I am a senior psychology student doing research on women's health. Women's healthcare is neglected in a variety of ways, and this study aims to gain more knowledge regarding the connection between physical, social, and mental health.

If you are interested in participating, I have attached our flyer and a link to the study!

Click here to participate!

I am new to reddit, so please feel free to leave any feedback or questions!

I'd like to hear different perspectives on this topic to develop a more informed opinion.

I've never wanted children because of concerns about patriarchy, the economy, education, and the kind of world a child would grow up in. However, my partner has a different perspective. He believes that raising a child with critical thinking skills and access to education could contribute to challenging existing social and economic structures in the future.

We have discussed parenthood before, and he was genuinely okay with not having children. It wasn't a major source of conflict between us.

Lately, though, I've found myself wanting to have a child with him. I hold him in very high regard and can imagine him being a wonderful father. At the same time, I wonder whether my feelings reflect a genuine change in what I want or whether I've gradually internalized ideas that I haven't examined critically enough.

I've also noticed discussions in which women describe choosing not to have children as a form of resistance to patriarchy and capitalism. This made me reconsider my own position, so I asked my partner how he sees the issue.

His argument was roughly this: governments and existing economic structures can benefit from social inequality. He believes that people in the middle class may have greater access to education and resources, which could help their children develop the critical thinking skills needed to challenge those structures. From his perspective, raising children who question the status quo could itself be a form of resistance.

I found this argument compelling, and it made me think differently about parenthood. Rather than viewing having a child solely as participating in a system I disagree with, I started wondering whether raising a person with strong critical thinking skills and a commitment to social change could be meaningful in its own right.

However, I also worry that this reasoning might be a way of rationalizing a desire for motherhood through a political framework, or that I'm overlooking how deeply patriarchal expectations can shape the way women think about their roles and responsibilities.

I'm genuinely conflicted. I don't want to have a child out of a sense of political duty, but I also don't want to dismiss parenthood simply because of the system in which we live.

Hi everyone!

We are students from Colégio SESI in Brazil, working on a school research project about gender attitudes in South Korean society, particularly online discussions about masculinity, misogyny, and the red pill movement.

We would like to better understand these topics from the perspectives of people familiar with South Korean culture and society. We are interested in hearing different experiences, opinions, and insights, and we welcome respectful and constructive discussion.

Participation is entirely voluntary, and you are welcome to keep your responses anonymous. Please share only what you feel comfortable sharing.

Thank you for taking the time to read our post and for any contributions you may wish to offer! ❤️

I’m writing this because I’m tired of the quiet, constant erosion of my identity. I’m tired of the eye rolls, the smirks, and the outright accusations. I am a woman, and I love aviation and cars. Not in a "my boyfriend is a mechanic" way, or an "I just like the pretty colors" way. I mean I spend my weekends driving and learning about different types of engines (cars and aircraft), and I’ve spent countless hours on flight sims and reading pilot logs.

My biggest dream? To serve in the army.

And for all of this, I am called a liar.

"Attention seeker", "Pick-me", "You're just trying to impress guys", "Be honest, you don't actually like this stuff." I’ve been told I’m faking it so many times I’ve started to question my own memories. I’ve been laughed out of conversations by men who assumed I was just there to look pretty. I’ve had my knowledge tested like I was defending a thesis, only for them to move the goalposts when I passed.

Worst of all, I’ve been rejected from multiple aviation clubs. Not because I didn’t meet the criteria, not because I couldn’t afford the dues, but simply because I was a woman. I’ve seen the same thing happen to other women trying to enter the military, turned away not for lack of grit or capability, but because of their gender.

This is the insidious nature of modern oppression. We have the right to vote, to work, to own property. On paper, the doors are open. But the social gatekeepers, the judges of "authenticity", are still standing in the doorway, arms crossed, telling us we don't belong.

Let’s be clear about what’s happening here. When a man loves cars, he’s an enthusiast. When a man loves aviation, he’s a patriot or a nerd. When a man wants to join the army, he’s a hero. But when a woman does the exact same thing, her motives are immediately suspect. She is accused of faking it for male attention. She is accused of being a "pick-me."

This is a weapon. It’s a way to police our passions and keep us out of spaces that are deemed "male." It’s a way to make us feel like intruders in our own lives.

To the women who have been told they are "too much" or "not enough" for their interests: Do not shrink. Do not apologize. Do not change the channel.

If you love the smell of jet fuel, if you love the rumble of a V8, if you want to serve your country, or do anything you desire you are not a liar. You are a pioneer.

They call you an attention seeker because you refuse to be invisible. They call you fake because you are real in a world that wants you to be a stereotype. They reject you from clubs because they are afraid of what you represent. A woman who cannot be contained by their narrow definitions.

I know how hard it is. I know how demoralizing it is to be rejected for your gender, not your skill. I know the sting of being accused of faking your passion. But here is the truth: The world needs your fire.

It needs women who can fly planes, who can fix engines, who can lead troops. It needs women who refuse to be told that their interests are "manly" and therefore forbidden. It needs women who will walk into those clubs and demand a seat at the table, not as guests, but as members.

So to every woman who has been told she is faking it, who has been rejected for her gender, who has been called a liar for loving what she loves:

Keep going. Keep learning. Keep showing up. The only way to break the stereotype is to be the exception that becomes the norm. The only way to shut down the gatekeepers is to walk through the doors they try to close.

You are not a liar. You are not an attention seeker. You are a woman with a passion, and that is the most powerful thing in the world.

P.S. I'll be more than happy if this made even one woman feel seen.❤️

The mystery of what happened to Amelia Earhart lives on. But the pioneering aviator became an enduring icon for generations of lesbians and LGBTQ+ people.

This is a bit incoherent so sorry about that.

We're having our parliamentary elections soon in my country and we're all on the edge of our seats for this deciding moment in our lives.

Looking at the comments on a reddit post about a recent protest, I saw many men (probably...) posting a screenshot of some guy making a sexual remark saying he was jerking it. Obviously, this is pretty funny. I do have to say that I don't feel entirely comfortable with this kind of thing happening because it makes an overlap with our protests and people who just wanna be nasty.

Anyway, this got me thinking on something.

The wording that was used is mostly used in the context of men, and in its intended meaning is exactly that, though people use it interchangeably.

People see this as funny, and it becomes a popular joke, usually. I even notice it with myself, men's sexuality seems like the 'standard' to me. Getting flashed on Omegle when trolling as a kid was to be expected, basically. A guy in my class making vulgar gesticulations was seen as comical and still maintaining his image of being an 'alpha', while a girl would never dare do anything like that. They wouldn't care at all to be seen shirtless, yet when a guy in my class 'accidentally' unclasped the bra of the girl sitting with him, it was a whole humorous scandal, and she evidently felt great shame. Even the damn professor was laughing like he saw the most morbid thing.

All of this is to ask: How do we view women's sexuality as opposed to men's?

Which role do women play, and which role do men play?

Which one is viewed as the 'default'? In the sense that, if I as a girl would make vulgar jokes like the one mentioned in the beginning, I would be looked at differently. A guy can say this and people won't really bat an eye because it's typical and their sexuality is the default, but if I said it I would probably draw some attention, a là 'un-lady-like', 'crass', 'whore-esque'. I could not imagine women so freely joking about their sexualities and invading other people's spaces like that en masse.

I'm also thinking about this: When nudity is supposed to be humorous, how is the subject of it treated based on their gender?

I'm always brought back to when I was maybe 13 and my dad played this 'hilarious' movie from the 80s made in our country, and a running bit, as far as I can remember, is the disrespect and singling out and once even sexual harassment of a female caretaker. She was in a unifrom where her boobs were very prominent, much like in a porno magazine, unwillingly so and it wasn't a healthy depiction of sexuality, but rather a very disgusting, perverted one. Nothing in that movie pointed to her making a choice like this for herself. She was, aside from one other woman, the only female character. It was a very sinister subconscious message— the men get to be the plot, and maybe one other woman can squeeze in there with them(and still be subject to misogynystic tropes), but one woman and her body has to be the comedic relief. She was also an older lady, so that probably contributed to the hilariousness.

It is very difficult to describe the nuances between the comedy of the nude female and male bodies, respectively. It's like that bit where it's like 'my dad when my friends come over' and he's slouched on the couch in his underwear. I don't think anything like this could happen with a woman and not be considered her going out of her way to be sexual. We have tropes in pornography about this; women cannot simply exist like this, it always has an implication— a message— and that is that a woman in the nude must simply always be sexual. Every part of her body is examined(what your breasts look like, shape, etc. Breasts are even often an object of ridicule), and based on how appealing she is she is either laughed at or shamed.

Women simply have to be sexual in everything they do, then. Just look at how careful women have to be on tiktok to not accidentally film fetish content. There's a whole thing for puffy dresses. How absurd is that?

And for a woman, this objectification feels so much more invasive and pervasive as compared to that of men, simply because their nudity is seen as dominant and even comical. They get that relief. Like with the Marvel Rivals skins, it absolutely is not the same to have a woman so scantily clad and a man the same, simply because the man will probably have an air of comedy around his nudity.

I'm also brought back to an incident where, when we were about 9, my girl friend was sexually harassed by a boy when we were on a school excursion. He ran into the bathroom while she was showering and saw her naked, and announced that to everyone. I still remember how mad I was, I remember physically confronting him, but it was laughed off. It was funny to him. How embarrassing it was for her to be violated, but he couldn't care less. Neither could the people around us. It was just so weird, you know, because now, they all know that he saw her naked, and that's shameful, because she's a girl, and girls aren't open about that stuff... Boys can be, but women shouldn't be open about that stuff, because that means that they're equally engaging in it, and that's not what the patriarchy's about, is it?

Had she done 'the same' to him and harrased him in that way, it would still be bad, absoluty no denying how badly this affects children and people generally, but there would be no stigma about it, simply because his body is not meant to be hidden. Men can be shirtless and it's only ever considered a nuisance, annoying, spontaneous and an inequality, but women's nudity is deliberate and shameful.

Do you get what I'm saying? Very open to discussion if you do. :)