^_^

And the winner of the "Most Tormented Character" Tournament is...

hm rgu just has a really nuanced take about how patriarchy harms men. it says that men are brought up in a society that encourages them to harm women and emulate other misogynistic, abusive men [touga emulating akio, and to a lesser extent saionji emulating touga and later akio]. this often does come at some cost to their own psyche, because the men they are emulating hurt and abuse them too [touga is abused by akio, saionji is abused by touga though touga is not nearly as skillful with it]. but regardless, they are punching downwards to mistreat the women in their lives the same way their abusive male role models do [touga abusing nanami, saionji abusing anthy], and they choose to act this way to women because, despite the conditions of patriarchy inflicting a toxic and self-destructive relationship with other men on them, they are willing to imitate and obey the same men that hurt them if it means they can keep the privilege and power over women that the patriarchy grants them by default for being men. [touga wants to be akio's successor, he wants to inherit the world that akio has constructed for himself, which is built on the foundation of patriarchal power over women. and to do this touga deliberately keeps himself on akio's radar rather than pull back once it becomes clear what akio's intentions with him are. touga believes he's letting himself be manipulated, he believes he is consenting to it, and that that will be worth it if it means claiming akio's seat of power in the future. (of course what touga doesn't consider is that he cannot meaningfully consent to any advances akio makes, because he's a minor and akio is an adult.)]