BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — New research from an IU professor says more men are more reserved towards women because of the Me Too movement.
The research comes from the 9th annual “Singles in America” study with Match. 5,000 single Americans took part in it and IU professor says more than half of single men say the movement changes the game in dating.
IU freshman Summer Johnson agrees.
“Women have a lot more power now and I think this movement was supposed to happen,” Johnson said. “A lot of guys try to understand women more now and I think they try to respect just because of the movement.”
Two years ago the story broke of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual abuse accusations. Since then, women all over the world started using #MeToo on social media to tell their story.
“We know that the Me Too movement brought to light that a lot of these troublesome behaviors were on the part of men,” IU professor Dr. Justin Garcia said.
Dr. Garcia is a leader of the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University. He wanted to ask men if the movement has changed their behavior.
“Forty percent of men said they’re a bit more reserved at work and 34{a19b272382e43567b93d81f78cecbca1de1bd20e733811fd76565cd2f1d1cf89} of men said they’re a bit more reserved on a date,” he said. “So those are pretty big numbers that suggest to us that large numbers of men are behaving differently.”
Sociologist Isabel Hundt said most men don’t even realize what they say might be offensive to women.
“Men and women are not enemies to each other,” she said. “But this really allows us to take a look at where are we at, how can we bring more balance and compassion into the relationship between men and women. However, I also notice that a lot of the Me Too has turned into revenge. So we’re just turning tables but we create the same scenario just different positions and that’s where it becomes dangerous.”
IU freshman William Bonilla said there’s not much talk about the movement among men on campus.
“I feel like with time it will gain popularity and more people will feel comfortable talking about it,” he said.
But not all men are oblivious.
“Staying within borders and respecting what they want and listening to what they want and working with them and not doing anything forcefully,” Bonilla said.
Dr. Garcia said the next step is finding a middle zone which isn’t easy.
“They don’t want to be so extreme that they’re afraid to say anything to someone, particularly of a different gender, but they also don’t want discrimination and harassment,” he said. “We’re trying to use research to chip away and understand all the issues that are there and to help inform better policies, better practices, in the workplace, our city and in our dating life.”
(PHOTO: JUNG YEON-JE / Contributor / Getty Images)
