At some point, you've probably heard the phrase, "not all men" being used as a rebuttal to conversations addressing feminism, misogyny, and sexism. And it can get incredibly frustrating and derail the conversation when you try to explain why it's harmful.
Evelyn's video received over 1 million likes and 18 thousand comments — many, perhaps surprisingly, from men who thanked her for educating them and said that they'd stop using the phrase.
BuzzFeed spoke with Evelyn to break down her, well, breakdown. Ultimately, Evelyn said that the three sources of "not all men" point to a root problem: men’s collective lack of deference to women. "Deference is fear and respect," she expanded, and men have deference to each other. So when men desire and need women but don't have deference to women, they cling to patriarchal ideologies "wherein anything male is superior to everything female."
To better define the male "pick me" behavior, Evelyn started with toxic masculinity: It's taught as a norm that men must "wear" to be wanted and needed by women and other men. She revealed, "Men wearing toxic masculinity really are saying, 'Pick me.'"
Control and tone policing also stem from male "pick me" behavior, Evelyn noted. When a man says "not all men" in the midst of a woman sharing her experiences, he effectively tone-polices her and denies her experiences to center himself. Moreover, he demonstrates defensiveness and an unwillingness to engage in introspection. "That comes from a place of desire and need without respect," Evelyn explained, because "toxic masculinity doesn’t know respect."
Evelyn began connecting all of these dots when she studied labor as an undergrad at Cornell. She learned that the US and its economy have been built on the backs of women and people of color, leading her to realize that government and religion are primary drivers of oppression. So she went on to earn two master's degrees — one in theological studies and one in public administration — from Harvard. "I studied how religion and public policies throughout time cemented misogyny in the public psyche and our way of everyday life," Evelyn said.
While Evelyn created this video to address men's use of the phrase, "not all men," she told BuzzFeed that she challenges anyone to say and prove that they are free of sexist bias. But this isn't meant to be an offensive statement. "We were socialized in the context of white patriarchy," Evelyn acknowledged. "To survive, every single one of us had to adjust to the norms set in that context — which included adopting the ways in which we diminish, belittle, and shame women, even for the wrongdoings of men."
Subsequently, Evelyn emphasized the difference between an active perpetrator and a passive bystander. She pointed to the use of, "I didn't do anything," to indicate whether one has actively done harm when it should be looked at as an indicator of whether one has intervened. In this vein, "I didn't do anything," becomes, "I didn't do anything to stop the hate I witnessed."
