this post was submitted on 04 May 2026
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Explain Like I'm Five

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[โ€“] unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

For one, the Maga movement isn't about women being subservient to men. There are some fairly large parts of it that are about that, but it's definitely not the whole movement.

Let's start with the women that are part of the movement, but not part of the "subservient to men" part. They are generally women with conservative views, often the "you should have to work for it" crowd. They have often worked hard themselves to achieve what they've achieved (especially in the lower classes), and there's a sense of "why should I have to work hard but others can leech off of me". Then there's the abortion issue. They see it as protecting unborn children. Yes, I know what anti-abortion laws have done - but they often don't. The way things are portrayed in conservative circles is often that abortion is being used as a form of birth control - and if that's the way you're looking at things, well, abortion can quickly sound like something spiraling out of control. The cases of medical necessity where a lack of an abortion can mean the prospective mother dies is not really on their radar. Add on top the "tough on crime" narrative, which can feel quite reassuring, especially when right wing outlets have overblown certain dangers.

Then there are the women who are part of the more misogynistic part of the movement. I mean, for one, a number of things they don't directly view as misogynistic. They don't necessarily see housework as something "lower" - in fact, they see quite a bit of value in it. And especially if they view it that way, they don't quite see why other women wouldn't want to work that way. Then, there is a certain toxicity in the Maga movement in general - and trust me when I say: toxicity can very quickly keep you in situations you don't want to be in. It often creates kind of a mental trap that prevents you from escaping, without going into too much detail. What you can see in individual abusive relationships, you can see large scale in movements like these (and that's not limited to women, either - men are affected by this as well, the Maga movement doesn't do them much good, either). Which often adds the next layer of complexity: that situation can often make people on the outside look down on them - an they notice it. And especially in situations like those, when people feel like they're being looked down on, they will often double down on their opinions, making things even more difficult.

[โ€“] username123@sh.itjust.works 4 points 23 hours ago

Bravo, good analysis, imho. Having lived in conservative shitholes, I agree with it.