According to a recent student op ed, a bro-dude calling a room in his house a “man cave” is not just obnoxious but truly harmful to women and a “disgusting patriarchal myth.”
“While I think it’s perfectly acceptable, and even healthy, to have separate spaces where one can enjoy time alone, the gendered language around ‘man cave’ is pretty gross,” Kalani Ruidas writes in a piece for Golden Gate Xpress, San Francisco State University’s official student newspaper.
Lest you think that what a dude decides to call a room in his own house isn’t hurting anyone, Ruidas wants you to know that the idea of a “man cave” amounts to a “passive dig at femininity” — yes, the very idea of femininity! — because it’s like saying that “women are such a burden that they’re restricted from that zone.”
(Of course, some people might think that some rooms are called “man caves” just because they’re filled with traditionally “man-like” things. However, intelligent people know that this could not be the case because gender roles obviously do not exist.)
#share#“They’re the makings of a shrine to big business that has man-cavers nostalgic for a time when they were happy . . . guys should get over the feudalistic idea of a man cave allowing them to be the ‘lord of their manor’ in a room they can call their own,” Ruidas explains in her piece, which is titled “Man Caves Perpetuate Patriarchy.”
#related#In addition to perpetuating patriarchy, Ruidas argues, “man caves” can also make racism worse . . . because “a man cave is a place where a man devolves into a grunting subhuman that leaves sexist and racist comments on message boards, then furiously masturbates to free porn.”
“The sewing room or craft room, to which a woman might retreat, is identified by the action that takes place there,” Ruidas explains.
So the phrase “man cave” is sexist, but saying that a woman’s dream spare room would look similar to a JoAnn Fabrics is not? Okay, got it. Thankfully, we have all of these college kids to teach us the lessons we’d never be smart enough to realize on our own.