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Stoicism has seen a surge in popularity on social media. This philosophy was first developed by the Hellenistic Greeks, adopted by the Romans with Marcus Aurelius as one of the most well-known stoics. With stoicism’s popularity high amongst early 20th century Christian theologians, is it any wonder that this philosophy that was embraced by many Roman Emperors, medieval kings and brilliant thinkers is seeing a resurgence amongst young people, especially young men?
Stoicism can be summarised as accepting that there are things outside of your control but what is always in your control are your reactions. In a world that seems more unpredictable to young people, acknowledging this concept seems very reasonable. But what makes stoicism especially appealing to Gen Z men?
Self-control, resilience, and rationality are traits traditionally associated with masculinity that are crucial to stoicism, the most well-known stoics are men; Seneca, Epictetus, Zeno of Citium, and Cleanthes just to name a few, it is easy to see why this philosophy and approach to life is popular amongst men. But is stoicism a purely masculine philosophy?
Browsing the stoicism subreddit, there are debates about whether stoicism is suitable for women, with one woman asking if adopting stoicism will take away her femininity. There were also men blaming women for not following the stoic path. A distorted approach to stoicism has infiltrated the Manosphere – referred to by some as broism, that has made stoicism appear to be a philosophy designed exclusively for men and has been used by male followers of ‘broism’ to explain the inferiorities of women.
An X (formerly Twitter) account with 300k followers has a popular post explaining that women who adopt stoicism are integrating masculine virtue, they are greater than the ‘average woman’, but still less than the ‘average man.’ These accounts do not preach true stoicism but are what someone may imagine when they think of stoicism.
Women for centuries have been stoics, have accepted the belief that there are things outside of their control, but there are few well-known women stoics. Women are expected to go through pregnancy and childbirth and bounce back immediately. Women have always had to control their emotions to not be labelled as ‘hysterical’ while it is seen as masculine for men to voice and act out their anger, men are the more rational gender. Society demands stoicism out of women, yet women are seldom called brilliant philosophers, mystics, or spiritualists. Women from birth have been socially conditioned to suffer in silence and receive no recognition as a great thinker for it.
Written by Ruby Head-Esdale
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