Society expects that in order to "grow up" men must stop spending time on their hobbies and with their friends. Some might say "aha, that is how the patriarchy harms men too!" but I can guarantee you that no man has ever said to another "hey bro, you know what, we should like totally stop doing so much cool stuff"...
I avoided all of that by marrying someone into wreck diving, mountains, the gym etc too :-)
Excellent point; Blaming "The Patriarchy" (leaving aside the question of to what degree it might actually exist) for every social condition is absurdly reductionist to the point of being obviously incorrect; it pretends that women throughout history have had no social influence whatsoever. If men were really responsible for every social institution, we certainly wouldn't have the "settle down and give up all your personal interests so as to more effectively fund your wife and children" phase in the archetypal male life.
> Some might say "aha, that is how the patriarchy harms men too!" but I can guarantee you that no man has ever said to another "hey bro, you know what, we should like totally stop doing so much cool stuff"...
I think this assumes that the Patriarchy is defined as men deciding how things ought to be, when I think that it's more a trench our society fell into and can't figure out how to climb out of.
I avoided all of that by marrying someone into wreck diving, mountains, the gym etc too :-)