Uncharted territory: do AI girlfriend apps promote unhealthy expectations for human relationships?::Chatbots such as Eva AI are getting better at mimicking human interaction but some fear they feed into unhealthy beliefs around gender-based control and violence
I’m afraid you’ve got it exactly backwards. What you’re describing isn’t feminism, it’s patriarchy.
I think a lot of people who aren’t familiar with feminist thought have a mistaken idea that anything that promotes female social status or harms male social status is feminism. But the patriarchy is really designed for the benefit of the wealthiest most privileged men, not all men. This princess trope is a perfect example, as it excludes men who are not able to provide that level of material support from forming relationships with women who hold such views, and reserves more options for wealthy men.
The irony of course is that many of the men who would most benefit from feminism have been tricked into thinking it is the cause of their struggles, when it is more likely to be the solution.
Feminism has a “no true scotsman” problem. Pop feminism can very much be “whatever promotes female social status,” and even within academic feminism there’s squabbles between schools of feminism.
Fair point. It is true that there are some schools of feminist thought that are more outright hostile to men’s interests, but they don’t have much prominence in recent times. Maybe it’s a bias from the circles I am involved in, but my perception is that the dominant forms recently are highly inclusive and egalitarian.