Man of Honour
[..]
I think when it comes to male-female relations and the attack on masculinity, either directly or indirectly, many men I've noticed aren't self aware they are men and how they could be perceived.
It's like the example of a man crossing over the road if a woman on her own is walking towards him on the same path. There is a noticeable amount of men who aren't self aware.
When prejudice is deeply engrained enough within a society for it to be normal it becomes invisible. One way to make it stand out is to imagine exactly the same thing but with a different target.
So, for example, try re-reading what you wrote with "black person" and "white person" instead of "man" and "woman". Exactly the same thing but with different targeting. Same actions. Same words. Same thoughts. Same feelings.
And it does fit. There have been societies in which some "white" people would be uncomfortable if they saw a "black" person walking towards them on the same path. Many anti-"black" and anti-male stereotypes are the same stereotypes. And there have been people who made the same arguments you're making. And probably saw themselves as moderates since they weren't advocating complete segregation. Just that lower status group identities should always give way to higher status group identities as a result of being aware of how they could be perceived.