We are now experiencing a global backlash to all of the above. One small step for feminism – or any progressive movement these days – followed by a gigantic leap backwards.

In 2025, we are now in a very different world. A world of Trump 2.0, welcomed in by tech bro-ligrarch Elon Musk. A world where borders are closed and DEI programmes are being rolled back across the US. A world where content moderation is being stripped away on one of the largest social media platforms. A cultural landscape where the world’s largest search engine has removed Women’s History Month, Black History Month and Pride Month from its calendar. An era in which progressive books have been banned, art shows celebrating LGBTQ+ and Black artists have been cancelled and where ‘masculine energy’ is officially back in. One especially frightening development has been the lifting of the Tate brothers’ travel ban: after being under house arrest in Romania for the past two years facing rape and human trafficking charges, they have now been allowed to travel to the US (although Florida has opened a criminal investigation into how this happened).

This plot twist is worrying for several reasons. Firstly, because it fits the general global trend we are seeing of an embracing of extreme right wing views and figures, but also because it signals the renormalisation and acceptance of dangerous misogyny. Sadly, you only need to scroll through the past few weeks of headlines depicting various horrifying incidents of male violence against women, medical misogyny and outright sexism to see a fraction of just how pervasive misogyny is worldwide.

Away from the headlines, we are seeing this trend in young people’s views too. In a recent study, just 32% of men in Gen Z said that they would define themselves as being a ‘feminist’. In research from 2024, one in five men aged 16–29-years-old reported having a ‘favourable’ view of Andrew Tate.

“It’s one small step for feminism followed by a gigantic leap backwards” – what the acceptance of ‘open misogyny’ means for women’s rights worldwide