The Chivalry Rebellion: Black Men and the Empathy Backlash

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Um, got a bit of a quick public service announce announcement. So, check this out. In 1968, 75 out of 90 X-ray technicians admitted they were giving black patients higher doses of radiation. Their reason, and these are their actual words, "Black people's bones are harder and denser. Their skin is darker. Their flesh is harder."

As X-ray technology developed in the early 20th century, false beliefs about biological differences between black and white people shaped how doctors used it. Medical textbooks, training manuals, guidelines distributed by major manufacturers, including General Electric. All of them recommended that technicians increase radiation doses for black patients because they believed the black bodies were fundamentally different and harder to penetrate. I'm Dr. Michael H. Ford and this is a story you need to hear.

These were not rogue technicians acting alone. They were following their training. A 1957 medical textbook classified white patients as normal. For black patients, adjustment was recommended. A 1956 radiology manual described x-raying a black person's skull as a technical problem that required a modified technique. And according to two Harvard researchers writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, radiation doses for black patients were increased by up to 60%. The same false beliefs that were used to justify slavery that black bodies were fundamentally different, fundamentally harder, had been written directly into medical training and equipment.

It took a consumer safety activist named Ralph Nater to blow the whistle. In May 1968, Nater testified before the United States Senate that technicians were giving black patients one quarter to one half larger X-ray doses than white patients based on what he called a generalized intuition or folklore. His testimony sparked a national investigation. And in June 1968, the government concluded that there was no scientific basis for any of it. Federal guidelines were rewritten. Textbooks were updated. Training manuals were revised.

But the belief that black bodies are fundamentally different, harder, tougher, less sensitive, was never fully removed from medicine. It showed up in pain treatment. It showed up in lung function testing. It showed up in kidney disease calculator. The device changes, but assumptions only change when we understand where they come from. That is why this conversation matters. Healing starts with knowing. Follow for more in 1968.

>> All right. So, wanted to drop that uh because I know I've had experiences with that. I know personally uh from both white doctors and particularly white nurses uh when it comes to managing pain. Um you know, it is what it is. But I wanted to share that because I was curious to know how many of you have had some experiences with this. feel free to drop some information in the comments section, but also share that um with those who you feel may be able to uh take some some value from that uh in regard to their own experiences. So, I wanted to drop that real quick.

But today, as you can see from the title, we're dealing with what we call the chivalry rebellion, black men and the empathy backlash. And what I think is happening um especially with us is men are starting to reexamine their chivalry. You know the kind of chivalry many of us were raised with predom especially in you know predominately uh black femaleled families. We were taught to prioritize women their worldview their feelings their you know their suggest you know their suggestions. We were supposed to take direction from them because they were more inherently wise. We had all this kind of subtle treatment, you know, and very little of it was explicitly stated in terms of suggesting that she's better than you, but it was definitely an ongoing kind of theme that you needed to take direction for her. You needed to protect her even if you didn't know the woman in question. You need to take direction from her. And if there was any kind of situation, even when it came to you and your woman, you needed to prioritize her perspective, her feelings, her outlook, so on and so forth, right?

And I think in many ways, black men are starting to respond to errant women's behavior. You know, they're starting to resist our our social training in terms of these impulses of chivalry that we were taught to have in prioritizing women. And we're doing so directly and indirectly. you know, directly I'm talking about the things we're actually doing in response to women's bad behavior, but also indirectly in terms of how many of us are responding to poor poor behavior from women in public in in various scenarios. And we're seeing more of this on social media since there's more to respond to. And I think men are starting to withdraw because prior to this, we you know, we we were told that, you know, women were sugar and spice and everything nice. We kind of listened to that to an extent. We grew up with it. And even though we may have had individual experiences with women, we were still told that that was, you know, mostly the case. You just needed to to stop being mean. Don't don't isolate her. Don't attack her. Always prioritize her.

But when you start to look at the rise of social media, in many respects, it became a confirmation of what men have been saying for the longest about what we experience from women. I mean, I've said this before. I've had colleagues uh female colleagues that have argued, "Well, you know, Hassan, when you talk about crazy women that slash tires and spray paint things, that's that's just a random, you know, crazy one. Me and my girlfriends don't do that. We have master's degrees. We're professionals. We're white collar jobs. We're directors." And I'm like, "No, those are the very women I'm talking about." You know, this kind of attempt to differentiate women's behavior by class, for example, where they would say, "Oh, no. Those are just those ghetto girls in the hood." I'm like, "No, no, no, no, no. I'm talking about the one with the master's degree. Your girlfriend, the one the one with who's the director of the nonprofit you love so much. No. Yeah. She slashed tires. She spray painted stuff. And why? Because she thought her man was cheating. Not that he was. She thought he was, you know. Yeah. Those are the ones I'm actually talking about.

And so with this rise of social media where we're starting to see the evidence of what men have been saying, I think men have started to withdraw in certain respects. They're starting to question whether they should silently keep accepting this poor behavior. Um, and I think they're becoming less empathetic about it, you know. Uh, so let's see what I mean. So, this is a clip. I don't know if YouTube's going to allow this video to stay up. If it doesn't, you know, I'll shift it over to Patreon. But, let's see. So, here we go. Okay, I'm going to have to cut the music. I don't know if it's going to have an impact, but I'll let the video continue. And matter of fact, I'll let it play one more time. Um, but yeah.

Right now, I don't know if the guy who's running right now is her friend or just a stranger. He's probably running to, you know, find the car, get the license plate or whatever. But um when I looked at the men responding to this, I noticed a growing trend. There were just more men that were like, you know, whereas, you know, 20 years ago it might have been, "Oh my god, how can that happen?" Now it's more of, you know, she stepped in front of the car. She had an attitude. She was yelling at the dude or the person who was driving. We don't know, you know, what gender, race, whatever the person was, but the empathy toward her is diminishing. Now, apparently, the car is still there. So, I see why he's running because it's at the red light. But she she instigated a lot of that. She instigated a lot of it. Now, he didn't run over her. The car hit her and it twirled her around the door. But, um, nevertheless, that was something that she instigated. And I'm starting to notice among from the public, particularly from men, there's less empathy about that. Right now, I don't want anybody to get hurt. and she got up and walked away. I don't, you know, I don't think she's too hurt. I mean, you know, uh, when it comes to, you know, vehicle accidents, you never know. You know, the next day you can feel all kinds of things. But I don't think she's so hurt she couldn't get up and walk away cuz she did. She doesn't even look like she's crying. She looked, if anything, like she was just a bit uh, you know, shamed in a man. She was she was acting poorly. She got into his face and um you know or got into the driver's face, started yelling at him, then stood in front of the car and got you know got hit.

How much empathy are men having about these kinds of things? I think it's diminishing. Now, I'm not talking about an innocent person, right, who didn't do anything and just got hit because it's Tuesday. No, I'm talking about uh a situation where you have poor behavior displayed in public, you know, very uh contrary, very confront combative behavior and it's being responded to with less empathy because men have been told that we're supposed to sacrifice our lives for women. But what happens and nobody wants to talk about this when women's negative behavior becomes a problem? Nobody wants to address that.

Let's look at another situation. This is the California Post. This is dated June 1st, 2026. Walmart worker claims female boss bombarded him with nudes, sexually explicit messages, and tried to assault him in car suit. Okay. Says uh a Long Island, New York Walmart worker uh claims his female boss bombarded him um with nude photos and sexually explicit text messages and even tried to assault him in a car before helping orchestrate a year'slong retaliation campaign that ended with his firing according to a federal lawsuit. Shawn White, a former team lead at Walmart stores in Unionale and Valley Stream, accused the company of sexual harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination in a suit filed May 6th in a Brooklyn federal court. "We do not tolerate harassment or retaliation of any kind." A Walmart spokesperson told the Post, "We're reviewing the complaint, blah blah blah blah blah." You know, I think a lot of this stuff happens because they know poor people have less, you know, less access to legal counsel and they get away with quite a bit because people can't afford to count to sue. Uh but this young man, this man did. Uh the lawsuit centers on allegations against Robin Ford, a supervisor who began pursuing Whitely after he joined Walmart as a sales associate in 2019. Now, notice her picture doesn't seem to be up here, but that's the gentleman there, Sean White, right, who initiated the suit. Um, Ford allegedly sent White naked photos of herself and sexually suggestive messages inviting him to come over to my house and go out to eat. White claims the situation escalated dramatically in August 2019 during a ride home from a gathering attended by co-workers. Ford allegedly jumped on top of him and attempted to sexually assault him while his brother sat in the vehicle and witnessed the incident. The suit states White says he physically resisted. The complaint alleges Ford later mocked him in a text message to another employee employ employee writing, "Oh my god, why did White throw his hands up when I got on top of him? Oh my god, I can't."

Right. So, this looks like some emails exchanged here. This is between White and Deanna Venasia Padilla. I'm not sure who that is. A lot of it is blacked out. Um, but it says a January 31st 20 uh 31st, 2023 email obtained by the post shows Shawn White telling Walmart managers that he was uncomfortable working with Robin Ford and did not want to pursue a romantic relationship with her. Ah, the alleged harassment continued for years. According to the filing, White claims Ford sent messages stating, "I got eyes everywhere watching and when you come back, we are having sex." White repeatedly rejected the advancements the advances and never encouraged the conduct. According to the suit, it states Ford became angry after White rebuffed her and told him she had never been turned down by a guy.

Oh, see, and that's the entitlement that many women have because for the most part, women can get sex pretty easily. Um but to be rejected and have someone turn them down. Um you know there's this kind of general idea that men are the ones that have problems you know taking a no taking rejection because of the acts of a certain extreme you know extreme small perception of them excuse me small percentage of them who have an extreme reaction to being rejected whether they physically assault the woman or do something to her. So there's this idea that men are the ones that can't take rejection. But I argue the opposite. Men take rejection all the time. Especially um when it was expected that men initiate conversation with women they were attracted to. It was a matter of fact every man that ever taught me about game and how to talk to women basically said you're going to take rejection a lot more than not. Every man does on one level, you know, or I should say overwhelmingly majority of men take rejection on a regular. Women don't necessarily have to negotiate with rejection because there's no no social expectation that they initiate conversation. It's only recently as women have been forced to start doing so that they've had to start experiencing rejection. And you know what we're finding is they're not really handling it well. You know, they're really not handling it well. But you know, the idea is simply that men are the ones that have to grapple with this. And it's not so. And I think in many ways the the the reason that women have had to start negot engaging more is not something that men are at fault for. You know, among other things, the rise of me too culture has changed the sexual dynamic between men and women and initiating conversation. Cuz what men have found is that as long as she digs you, then you can pretty much do what you want. If she doesn't, then what you're doing can be considered an offense. And you don't know if she digs you or not until you speak. So men have just reached a point, I think, where it's just, you know, it's like, I got to roll the dice on my public, you know, uh, reputation based on what this chick thinks about me in a given situation, and it's just not worth it.

You have some women that destroy men's reputations because they enjoy the flex. They enjoy the power of being able to do so. And they're lucky, we're lucky if their name even happens, even shows up in the article, let alone their photo. You know, you can be accused of something and she has no investment in it in a in a public setting. There's no there's no name, there's no picture, there's nothing that suggests that this woman has has has involved you in something, even if it's a false accusation. And if it's even proven false, she gets to disappear with no accountability in too many situations. So, I think men have started to step back from initiating contact. Women in many ways have had to start speaking to men first and they they're not enjoying what comes with that. Cuz it turns out that not all women are able to attract all men. By and large, women can get sex more easily than men. But that's no guarantee that they can get any man they want. And we haven't even started talking about anything beyond sex, which tends to be what what women, you know, push for more so, right? cuz you don't you don't value what you can get easily. When women can get sex easily, they focus on, you know, something beyond the sex. For men, sex is effort. It's effort. So, they take it differently. But anyway, that that speaks to the rejection issue. And it turns out this woman didn't handle rejection very well at all. Right.

So, it says it states Ford became angry after White rebuffed her and told him that she had never been turned down by a guy after higherups uh allegedly ignored his complaints. White was promoted to team lead and transferred to work at a Valley Stream Walmart in 2021. But 6 months later, to his dismay, Ford started working there and harassment allegedly continued. "I do not feel comfortable and I don't feel like I'm safe or my job is safe," White emailed supervisors at the time according to the suit. All right, this is the email that refers to revision in parts 10 and 11 is titled says months before his firing, white emailed Walmart management claiming Robin Ford had targeted him because he refused to pursue a romantic relationship with her. I've seen this with professors, female professors and male students. This is one of the reasons I pushed back against Bel Hooks and her idea that this somehow is some kind of, you know, feminist uh agentic act for women to professors to have sex with students because the power dynamics do get ignored as it relates to women and young men at that or students, right? But feminists are comfortable with ignoring the p power dynamics when it pertains to women in a position of authority. They only focus on it when it's men in a position of authority. So here you have a situation where she's the employer or she's the boss and you can see how this is starting to impact him. He has made a number of overtures to the higherups. Nobody's listening. And part of the reason nobody's listening is again these policies were framed from the vantage point of feminists. You're you you're going to be hardressed to find an HR department for any corporation that doesn't take a female complaint seriously. Question is how do they take a male complaint? And most most of the time men report they're not taking as seriously. And we can see evidence of that here because you any corporation is going to want to avoid a lawsuit on the basis of sexual discrimination. But again, mainly if it's a woman doing the complaining, not when it's a man. When it's a man, they sweep it under the rug. And for the most part, they can afford to, especially if it's a relatively poor man who more than likely can't afford legal counsel and is kind going to kind of dismiss it, right? Why? Well, we weren't trained to perceive ourselves as victims in any given scenario as it relates to sexual discrimination from women. We were trained to ignore it. We were trained to take it. Matter of fact, it was never even identified as sexual discrimination. It never was. Whether you're in an academic setting setting, a work setting, none of it. Even even state or federal work, you weren't trained to perceive this. I mean, I remember growing up in 70s and 80s and I saw all these films that started coming out about women at the workplace and in marriages who were being, you know, abused and and harassed by men, the, you know, the bosses and, you know, chasing the secretaries around the work desk and, you know, even the the husbands who were demanding sex from their wives and women were going to court saying they shouldn't even have to have sex with their husbands. I remember that. And among other things, one way you can frame those eras was it was a training, an ongoing training seminar for women to not only see themselves as victims, but to weaponize that victimization for their own advancement. But that was part and parcel to having a women's movement. Men are only just now having a movement for themselves. The issue is most men are not identifying it as a movement. It's it's really something they come to, you know, out of frustration when you've gone through something like Shawn White is going through or you've been, you know, you've been been through a really bad divorce or she cheated on you. Those are the kind of things that send men, you know, to the internet to start asking questions. But, you know, it's developing into a movement whether men know it or not. And I'm one of the proponents. I'm suggesting it should be and men should be conscious and aware that it is such and pursue it because there's too much that's happened especially in the last 60 odd years that's been ignored. I think it needs to be brought up and brought to the four you know.

So anyway, let's continue. Uh however, instead of being helped, White received disciplinary write-ups and got suspended and complaint uh states the complaint states he was even fired in 2022 but got reinstated about a month later after he challenged the termination as retaliatory according to the suit. And I'm glad he did that cuz a lot of men would have just tried to find a job elsewhere. And it may have been out of necessity. Maybe the lack of available positions may have spurned it, but I don't care as long as he responded. And I'm glad he did. I think more men need to respond um and be we need to become more uh we need to become more responsive as it relates to lawsuits as it relates to calling the authorities on illegal behavior in terms of how we're treated you know by women in various spaces. I think it needs to become more of the norm. Women have to understand that their behavior comes with consequences because I think for the most part women are not socialized to to to see themselves their behavior as uh being worthy of not worthy of of uh response. But I think they get away with a lot. I think they they've been able to skirt accountability uh for most of their lives. I think they've they've been given a pass and men have been trained, you know, to ignore their problematic behavior. I think that's one of the issues. That's why I'm calling this uh you know this empathy backlash, the chivalry rebellion. I think part of it is that women are are starting to be held accountable more especially in a court of law and we need to become more latigious about these things and women are slowly starting to understand that their behavior comes with consequences. You know I don't think it's something that they've ever had to experience the way men have. I think it's going to change behavior, but in order for that to happen, men have to organize themselves well enough to identify what needs to be challenged.

So, it says White says he report he reported Ford's ongoing conduct through Walmart's ethics portal and directly to managers, but received little or no response. Emails shared with the post show he was still escalating complaints to management in early 2023, months before his firing. In a January 2023 message to Valley Stream store manager Jared Carpenter and several other Walmart supervisors, White wrote that he wasn't comfortable working with Ford said he feared losing his job and stated that he did not feel safe around her. This has been going on and off even when I was working at the Unionale location all because I don't want to pursue a romantic relationship with her," White wrote. He also stated the management team knows and no one is doing anything anything about it, but claims Carpenter told him he could either continue working or go home for the day.

So, this is an escalation email. According to uh Brown says, "On Monday, January uh 31st, 2023, team le O'Neal while on the wave zone said, "Coach Robin isn't talking to me. I told him this has been going on for months." I called coach Ashley A and I also communicated with coach Stephanie prior to speaking to SM Jared about being uncomfortable working with her. After my break around 4:20, I had a conversation with SM Jared via the jewelry action alley. Coach Stephanie was there as well. I let SM Jared know that I wasn't comfortable working with Coach Robin and that I was in fear of losing my job. SM Jared said, "Either I can work where Robin placed me or go home for the day." I responded by saying, "I can go home." and he responded by saying, "Yes, you can go home." I proceeded to clock out and went home. I don't I don't feel comfortable or safe around her. This has been going on for months, and I feel like nothing is being done about this. She's been targeting me for months, and I feel as if everyone is turning a blind eye to it. Today, I came in. I was assigned to work with her again, even after expressing that I was uncomfortable working with her the day before. Something needs to be done. The management team knows and no one is doing anything about it. associates have heard her publicly saying that me and her can never be good again because I declined her offer to work alongside her with the customized 9 to6 team and that she wouldn't be going through the things she's going through now if I originally uh I can't read that word her offer this had been going on on and off even when and it blocks out from there.

So, this is another email obtained by the Post. White complaining to Walmart managers. After that incident, the lawsuit states Ford began filing false complaints about White's performance, accusing him of incomplete work and portraying him as a poor employee despite positive evaluations and promotion. White alleges the retaliation intensified after he continued reporting Ford's conduct to management. According to the complaint, management ignored repeated warnings that White felt uncomfortable working with Ford. The suit also attributes a statement to Carpenter that White says reflected management's attitude toward his complaint, citing it as evidence of alleged retaliation. White claims Carpenter said it doesn't matter how good he is, it only matters what is on paper. Yep. Lawsuit alleges the remark reflected an effort to build a record that could later be used to justify White's dismissal. White also claims Edward Gregoric, who held the title of market manager, dismissed his complaints during a March 2023 meeting. According to the lawsuit, Gregoric told him, "Sean, you are the problem." Gregoric also alle allegedly warned that there were lawyers involved and that people could potentially be losing their jobs because of White's complaints. White says he continued reporting the alleged harassment and retaliation through early 2023. On June 8th of that year, Walmart fired him. According to the complaint, management told White he was being fired for falsifying time records and poor job performance. White contends those reasons were just a pretext and that he was actually axed because of his complaints about sexual harassment and retaliation. The lawsuit seeks commen compensatory damages, lost wages, emotional distress damages, punitive damages, attorneys fees, and other relief. Walmart had not responded to the allegations in the complaint as of the filing. the post assault comment from Carpenter Gregoric and Ford.

So yeah, now this has been happening for years. This isn't new. Whether or not that's the case here, I can only speculate, but the phenomenon is not new. It's usually come with men's silence about the matter, but men are actually starting to speak up. And I brought this case up for two reasons. one because I I think we need to pursue um you know justice in the in the court of law even though we know that black men have a a a crazy history in regard to courts but we need to actually become more latigious and start to push against poor treatment especially in the workplace. That's the first reason I I share um his willingness to go to court and suggest that other black men do so as well when able. But also because in the past many men would have just moved on. They' Well, there's a couple things. They would have either, you know, moved on to another job. They would have silently kept taking it. Some people would have hit just because it was available when she offered it. But I'm noticing that he had a whole different response altogether. And I'm hoping that that's emblematic of men shifting in their approach and as as opposed to just accepting poor behavior, they're starting to push back against it, right? Having less chivalry chivalous empathy for women even when women are out of pocket. We've been socialized to give them chivalous empathy, but actually starting to push back. And I think that that's what's happening here. I hope that that's what men are starting to push for in general. And I believe it is because the men listening to this, you know, even though I haven't seen your your comments yet, I would like to think that many of you um h have stories that are similar to this about yourself or someone close to you who's gone through something like this. And there was no repercussion for the woman in question, even when brought to, you know, the attention of the superiors as it were. No repercussions. even if she's gone above and beyond, right? The stories that are very reminiscent, the stories women used to tell in the Mad Men era, the 50s all the way through, you know, today of how men have poorly treated them, but no type of reciprocity when it comes to justice in regard to how men are treated by women in positions of authority. Right?

So, that said, I'm going to end it there. I want to hear your thoughts. I want to hear your experiences. Let me know what you've gone through, what you've witnessed, and where you think this whole conversation is going as far as men and chivalous empathy toward women. All right. All right. Holl at y'all later. Peace.