International | Of Mars and Venus

Why young men and women are drifting apart

Diverging worldviews could affect politics, families and more

An illustration depicting a young woman and a young man leaning against opposite sides of a brick wall
Illustration: Louise Zergaeng Pomeroy
|Atlanta, Beijing and Warsaw

In a trendy food market in Warsaw, Poland’s capital, two female engineers are discussing how hard it is to meet a nice, enlightened man. Paulina Nasilowska got a big pay rise a few years ago. Her boyfriend asked: “Did you have an affair with your boss?” He is now an ex-boyfriend.

Ms Nasilowska’s friend, Joanna Walczak, recalls a man she met on Tinder who revealed that he was a “red-pill” guy (a reference to “The Matrix”, a film, meaning someone who sees reality clearly. In the “manosphere”, a global online community of angry men, it means realising that men are oppressed.) He thought household chores and child care were women’s work, and that women could not be leaders. They didn’t have a second date.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Divided in youth”

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From the March 16th 2024 edition

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