From Me Too to the neo-machista backlash

BarcelonaFeminism emerged in 2018 from social movements at the forefront of the media and social agenda —that year saw the first global feminist strike in history— thanks to the Me Too movement denouncing sexual harassment, which originated in Hollywood and spread like wildfire. In Spain, the trigger was the street protests against the La Manada case. Feminism advances in waves, and we are now in the fourth wave, which has the denunciation of sexual violence as a key element. Me Too connected us as women and shattered the illusion of equality: "It was an awakening. Despite many decades of equality policies and equality in formal terms, attitudes of sexual violence continue to be reproduced underneath," argues Maria Freixenet, a researcher at the Institute of Political and Social Sciences ( The neo-machista backlash after the fourth wave of feminism, signed by several academics.

The Me Too movement represented a demand for change in men's sexual behavior. "It started with Me Too, it's happened to me too, and the 'I believe you' movement, following the La Manada verdict, and we moved on to «"The rapist was you." They called on Argentina and Chile, asking about your responsibility as a man, leading up to the Pélicot case: "The shame must change sides." The shame and stigma are no longer ours. There is a profound change in how society understands sexual violence," Freixenet observes. Until now, cases of sexual harassment had tended to be seen as isolated incidents, but it is a plague that affects all women and is related to how male-female relationships are conceived. Voices were being raised against attitudes that until now had been silenced.

Reactionary Counterwave

But every feminist wave is accompanied by its reactionary counter-wave And that's the one we're riding now. "There's a reaction because it creates discomfort in some men who don't know how to position themselves in the face of this demand for change in their most intimate behavior," Freixenet adds. These are men who They feel attacked by feminismThe Me Too movement also brought about a rejuvenation of the movement, as many young women joined feminism, but, conversely, feminism is declining among younger men, as all surveys confirm. "Boys feel that it's not their time, that it's the girls' time, and they feel that they aren't being heard," explains Freixenet. There's a sense of grievance: while women are thriving because feminism is supporting them, men foresee a future of precariousness. Neo-machista discourses find their place in this context. "They buy into the discourse of the manosphere which basically means that feminism is over and that now men are the victims and the ones discriminated against because the laws benefit women and men are the ones who lose out." The far right has been able to capitalize on that discontent. And neo-Maclism has gained strength through social media, where it has captured younger generations with discourses we thought were outdated, such as false accusations, parental alienation syndrome, and the questioning of victims of gender violence. "It has given them an identity in a time of crisis: it is in this bewilderment that the far right preys on them," argues this political scientist.

The legacy of Me Too

Seven years later, this is the legacy of Me Too: that women's desire and consent matter. "That we are free and equal, not only in formal matters but also in our intimate lives." Intimacy was the missing piece. "Because society continued to justify and excuse certain behaviors: 'She was drunk,' 'She was alone...'" Freixenet admits. There has been a paradigm shift in the realm of sexuality. There has been a change in how consent, desire, and intimacy are understood. A change that, according to Freixenet, "is here to stay and will withstand the unease of neomachismo." Freixenet, however, is optimistic. Although neomachismo has a political agenda to repeal equality laws, and the risk is real, she believes we still have time to combat it with education. "Our perception is that coeducation generates more resilience than we think. In the fourth wave, it was cool to be a feminist, and now it's cool to be a neo-machista. Young people consume neo-machismo on social media and YouTube and might tell a female classmate to do the dishes, but then, at home, they're the ones who mistreat them because They are more egalitarian generations"There is, therefore, room to work with young people because the neo-machista argument is still very much discursive, it operates in the realm of ideas. "If we allow this to penetrate and generate an identity, a vote, and become entrenched in values, then we have a problem," he concludes.