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A recent New Statesman poll does not prove that young women hate men
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Pollster Scarlet Maguire discussing her “surprising” poll findings
I had to scrap an earlier essay I’d written once I actually looked at the data.
News media have been abuzz with the alleged results of a survey of young people in the United Kingdom, ages 18-30, that found a growing gap between men and women, including in their perception of the opposite sex. While a super-majority of men said they had a positive view of women, only a minority of women said the same about men.
Pollster Scarlet Maguire, whose research company conducted the survey for the New Statesman, explained in interview that “72% of young men have a favorable view of young women. Only 50% of women under 30 have a favorable view. Under 25, it’s just 35% of young women who have a favorable view [of men].”
Indoctrinated young women really do, it seems, prefer the bear.
Or perhaps news- and opinion-makers want us to believe that to be so.
The Doomer Outlook
In a video with a classic question-begging title (“Why do young women hate men?”) Maguire discussed her findings with New Statesman reporter Anoosh Chakelian and author Emily Lawford, who had interviewed young women for a related article.
If not exactly ecstatic over the alleged findings, the three women certainly did not seem distressed. They called the findings “surprising” and “fascinating.” Langford laughed as she described how many of the young women she interviewed had been influenced by online content declaiming against “toxic masculinity” and jeering about “manufactured male victimhood.” She smiled in quoting young women’s conviction that “Men can be so horrible and you can’t trust them.”
None of the pundits expressed concern about the effects on young men—or society generally—of such mistrust or dislike. None of them called out the pervasiveness of feminist hatred in so many op/eds, news items, government reports, academic articles, books, movies, public advertisements, political slogans, influencer statements, online debates, and works of anti-male propaganda. None of them offered a prescription for the women’s negativity, resentment, intolerance, or self-pity.
The implication was that men and society at large would have to work harder to win these women back.
Within a few days, a flood of articles trumpeted the findings. “Only a third of young women hold positive view of men,” blared The Independent, alleging ungrammatically that “Findings show women under 30 are three times as likely to hold a negative view of men compared to the other way around.”
Others exaggerated the data for a more dramatic message: “New Poll Finds British Women Largely Unsatisfied with Men,” claimed Inside Success magazine, explaining that “Only 11% of women in the UK hold a positive view of men. What does this mean? And can the younger generation set a better tone?”
At least one article sought a silver lining, claiming that some young men were turning to older women for sexual companionship—or, at least, fun and non-condemnation. The Revolver argued that “Angry young women are driving Gen Z men straight into the arms of ‘cougars’…”. Noting that “a whole lot of young women have turned into miserable little grievance mongers,” the article alleged that “Young men are turning their attention toward women who are less hostile and more open to actual affection.”
Joseph Cotto at American Thinker (“Young, Angry Leftist Women are Destroying Britain and America”) was equally concerned with the political and social effects, noting women’s far-left opinions on issues such as censorship, slavery reparations, and income redistribution. He also highlighted the troubling implications for family formation:
“Just 18 percent of women under 30 feel very positive about men, compared with 38 percent of men who feel very positive about women. More than 40 percent of young women say men do not share their understanding of consent, while only 25 percent of men say the same about women.
Young women are twice as likely as young men to say they do not want children: 15 percent versus 8 percent. Among white women under 30 the number rises to 20 percent. One in four young women call differing political views a red flag in a partner. Sixty percent would struggle to date someone who disagrees on Israel-Palestine or on Donald Trump. Seventy-four percent say they could not stay with someone who rejects their views on social justice.”
He summed up a gloomy forecast: “Women feel profoundly unhappy, distrust men, loathe their country, and view motherhood as optional at best.”
All in all, the women so widely reported on from the survey seem to have become the perfect foot soldiers for intersectional feminism, consumed by grievance, incapable of male-positive empathy, stewing in self-pity and love for the oppressed ‘other,’ and outraged when their view of the world is not sufficiently affirmed.
What the Data Actually Show
But there was a problem with the barrage of commentary.
Though it did capture signs of political radicalization, the spreadsheet data supplied by the Merlin Strategy Polling Company simply did not support the bombshell claim that young women hate men.
For one thing, the survey didn’t ask whether women hate men. It asked whether their view of men was positive or negative.
I know a lot of men who have a somewhat negative view of women in general but who don’t hate them in the least. Being dissatisfied with the opposite sex, wanting them to be different, or feeling unappreciated by them: all these are quite common among young people and do not equate to hatred.
Moreover, women’s opinions, rather more than men’s, are profoundly shaped by media, peer group, and influencers. In our current anti-male environment, in which feminist leaders regularly disparage and excoriate men, presenting them as both threat and nuisance, it makes sense that at least some women would claim a negative view of men.
Given that context, the numbers from the poll are actually rather mild.
The percentage of women in the survey who claimed to have a “very negative” view of men was 3%. Another 18% claimed that their view of men was “quite [i.e., less than “very”] negative.” That is 21% of women reporting a negative view. Nearly 4 out of 5 women did NOT report a negative view.
Maguire said in the New Statesman interview that women under 25 had a much more negative view than the slightly older (25-30) cohort, but the spreadsheet data for this younger group is not available on the Merlin Strategy website (see “Polling For the New Statesman”).
Overall, exactly half of the women surveyed reported a “very positive” (18%) or “quite positive” (32%) view of the opposite sex. 26% said that their view was “neither positive nor negative.” 3% said they were not sure.
Given what young women continually read or hear about male prejudice and violence, this result (76% positive or neutral view) is hardly terrible. Imagine if we could turn off the spigot of hateful feminist misrepresentation. Imagine if “gender studies” was a genuine social science that saw men as human beings deserving of understanding. Imagine if the leaders of churches, schools, political organizations, newspapers, corporations, and media companies spent half as much effort portraying men positively as they do women.
But they don’t, and a remarkable asymmetry does exist between men’s declared view of women (72% “very positive” or “quite positive”) and women’s reported views, with men nearly 50% more likely to have a positive opinion.
That finding is open to a variety of interpretations. Women know that having a negative view of men is normal and even expected in our society. Men know that having a negative view of women can lead to a police visit. Perhaps the surveyed men decided not to risk a hate crime charge.
Or perhaps men interpreted the question based on an idealized concept of womanhood rather than actual personal interactions. Perhaps men are simply more generous and forgiving than women, more desirous and hopeful. The survey language is too simplistic to allow for more precise conclusions.
Suffice it to say that the survey does not support a claim of sweeping anti-male female hatred.
Other responses by women involving attitudes toward men were also not catastrophic.
A significant majority of women (59%) thought that “most” or a “reasonable amount” of men shared their values and political views.
A majority (51%) felt at least “somewhat” or “very safe” around men. A quarter more were neutral on the issue.
A majority (52%) “somewhat” or “strongly” agreed that they could trust men. Nearly a quarter more (24%) were neutral on trust.
A majority of women (51%) felt “understood” by men. Another 24% were neutral.
A large majority (66%) felt they could speak with men about politics. Another 24% were neutral.
A majority (53%) felt that men respected them. 24% were neutral.
On all of these subjects involving female attitudes and feelings, only about one in five women had a negative view of male peacefulness, companionability, respectfulness, trustworthiness, and understanding.
According to the survey, near-equal numbers of young women and men are interested in getting married (or being in a civil partnership), and high numbers want children. 82% of women would like to find a life partner, and 75% said they would like to have children. The number of men wanting children (80%) was somewhat higher, but the difference does not seem staggering.
Overall, the picture of the sexes that emerged from the survey is quite positive: a majority expressed interest in each other, believe they hold shared values, look forward to a life together, want to have children, and feel respected and understood by the other. Only a minority of young women have chosen negativity.
Clearly, the survey results should lay to rest any notion that men have been radicalized into extreme or hateful views of women.
A minority of women, on the other hand, do have regressive and dangerous views of men, and these should be addressed with government-funded programs, public outreach, social media campaigns, and male-positive statements by leaders. Unfortunately, such a productive response is unlikely.
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Why wasn’t this more positive view of gendered responses and beliefs at least part of the story that the New Statesmen pundits chose to tell and the rest of the media to broadcast?
Clearly, many feminists are emotionally and ideologically attached to the idea that women dislike men and don’t see a future with them, that they are angry and alienated. Some feminists want this to be true and try to make it true.
Female anger and unhappiness assure a basis for feminist careers, advocacy, reporting, social activism, and demands of government; they guarantee abundant future funding for hundreds of feminist groups. Feminist lawyers, journalists, advocates, social workers, teachers, academics, and corporate leaders all profit from female bitterness and discontent.
Men’s advocates and anti-feminists are not equally attached to the idea that women dislike men: to the contrary, most of us want men and women to work together in fruitful partnerships. Some of us, however (yours truly included), may suffer from confirmation bias and gloomy prognostication.
The truth, if the survey results can be trusted, is that despite everything wrong with our cultural messaging, social policies, and laws today, especially around sexuality, marriage, divorce, and child custody, men are still overwhelmingly positive in their attitudes toward women, and women are less intransigently negative than contemporary phenomena often make it seem.
Imagine how much better things could be if leaders of our society would work consistently to help women see all the reasons for respect, care, admiration, fellow feeling, gratitude and love for men. Imagine how much stronger our social fabric would be if expressions of anti-male hostility were condemned as ugly and wrong instead of celebrated as bold and progressive.
We could be looking forward to a future that even the feminists couldn’t spoil. Until then, let’s not jump to the worst possible conclusion.
**