Patriarchy is first and foremost a dominance hierarchy, meaning that only a small number of elites (rich White men in the US) are at the apex of the pyramid-shaped hierarchy. It’s a system that is based in social Darwinism, meaning that those who are fittest and most deserving excel and deserve their higher position that they have attained by being the most ruthless. In other words, homeless men or other people who have not achieved power and privilege deserve what they get by patriarchal thinking. If there were to be such a thing as “low status men,” which I don’t believe is an actual thing, then that too is the fault of patriarchy.
Drive through any low-income area or slum and you will see plenty of “low status” men who are married or partnered up. Harvey Weinstein is not low status, Les Moonves, etc., etc. Your theory is absurd — I’m sorry. It has no relation to reality at all! Harassment, abuse, and rape are about putting women in their place. They are not about sexual desire except as that overlaps with desire for power. Men do not sexually harass or abuse women because they are starved for sexual contact. Also, women are not just sitting around picking and choosing from the dozens of men available to each and every one of them. That is just a really stupid myth. It sounds plausible, but it’s not.
There are branches of feminism that rightly deserve to be criticized because they have primarily focused on how White women can get the same power and privilege as White men, rather than looking at the larger hierarchy and its injustices. But intersectional feminism wants equality and a better life for everyone. Just like “men” is not a monolithic entity, “feminist” isn’t either. I don’t actually consider myself a feminist. As you pointed out, being against rape is a position that that any reasonable person would hold. My issue with you was in disbelieving that it is as serious an issue as it is.
Homelessness is a serious issue and one that our country should be spending more time addressing, particularly for veterans and those who have mental health issues. But saying that feminism is wrong for not specifically focusing on that issue is like being mad at the Teamsters Union for not taking up injustices in the Screen Actors Guild. They’re both unions, after all…… Also, most men will never experience homelessness. All women have experience with sexual violence and harassment and a huge number of them have experience with rape.
Your issues are not with feminism. That’s just a convenient red-herring. Your issues are with the injustices that are part and parcel of the dominance hierarchy known as patriarchy. You’ve just been trained to blame women, because otherwise, you might actually participate in demolishing patriarchy too, and it wouldn’t want that to happen.
