Columnist Ingrid Jacques says liberal ideology, anti-male media fuel a growing divide between the sexes
A growing anti-marriage movement is being fueled by viral TikTok trends and high-profile celebrities painting men as the enemy, but according to a new column, women may ultimately be the ones losing out.
In a USA Today op-ed, columnist Ingrid Jacques warned of a rising wave of “heteropessimism,” defining it as women’s growing feelings of disappointment and antagonism toward relationships with men. She argued that viral trends like “divorce glow-ups” and anti-male literature have actively widened the divide between the sexes.
“Studies show that married women are not only happier but also live longer and earn more than their single counterparts,” Jacques wrote on Tuesday.
She explained that the media modern women consume is increasingly hostile toward traditional relationships, pointing to bestselling books like “Yesteryear,” which centers on a “tradwife” influencer.
In that novel, Jacques notes, men are reduced to lazy or toxic tropes: “Either a man is an idiotic man-baby who lacks ambition and a brain, or he’s a quintessential patriarch who pals around with other sexist pigs in the manosphere. Husbands are at one point referred to as ‘freaks.’”
On Amazon, the book’s description includes, “A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, ‘Yesteryear’ is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.”