The Courage to be Disliked: The Japanese phenomenon that shows you how to free yourself, change your life and achieve real happiness

by Ichiro Kishimi

For example, there are men who verbally abuse their wives, who do all the housework, with such remarks as, ‘You’re not bringing in any money, so I don’t want to hear it’ or ‘It’s thanks to me that there’s food on the table.’ And I’m sure you’ve heard this one before: ‘You have everything you need, so what are you complaining about?’ It’s perfectly shameful. Such statements of economic superiority or the like have no connection whatsoever to human worth. A company employee and a full-time housewife simply have different workplaces and roles, and are truly ‘equal but not the same’. YOUTH: I agree entirely. PHILOSOPHER: They are probably afraid that women will grow wise to their situation and start earning more than men do, and that women will start asserting themselves. They see all interpersonal relations as vertical relationships, and they are afraid of being seen by women as beneath them. That is to say, they have intense, hidden feelings of inferiority.