Men Also Suffer From Patriarchy – Chimamanda Adichie

Chimamanda Adichie says as even though men benefit from patriarchy, they also suffer from it.

The award-winning author made this speech at Hubspot’s Annual Inbound Conference where she was one of the keynote speakers for 2018. According to her, the effects of patriarchy has a huge impact on both men and women but men tend to suffer from it more.

“Both men and women suffer from the illnesses that lead to suicide but it is men that have a much higher rate of dying by suicide. Why? Because men are socialized to suppress so many human parts of themselves, men are socialized not to ask for help, men are socialized to be afraid of fear, men are socialized not to show vulnerability. From the moment we tell a little boy that ‘boys don’t cry’ or we tell a hurting teenager to ‘man up’ we are creating an adult man who will be cheated of the full range of his emotions. So, while men benefit from patriarchy, they also suffer from it,” she said.

Chimamanda Adichie has a way with words and her idea of how society should be. We still haven’t forgotten the last time she pushed the feminism sermon by saying she has issues with men holding doors for women.