Lessons from Afghanistan: It’s Time American Men Fight for Women’s Rights or Lose Their Own

It’s a tale as old as time — or at least as old as patriarchy. First, they come for women’s rights, and the men sit back, maybe even cheer. Then, inevitably, the rules creep up on them. The more control a society exerts over women, the closer it comes to policing everyone. If you think American men are immune, take a look at Afghanistan’s latest developments. After the Taliban decimated women’s rights with medieval bans on bodily autonomy, public visibility, and even raising their voices, men are now in the crosshairs of the morality police. Hair too short? Jeans too tight? Beard not long enough to be grasped by a fist? Time to join the women in having your body — and life — micromanaged by the state.

This should be a wake-up call to American men. If you stand idle while women’s reproductive rights and bodily autonomy are rolled back, thinking that it’s not your fight, think again. Oppression doesn’t stop with the womb. Once a society gives itself permission to control the bodies of one group, it’s only a matter of time before everyone is up for grabs.

Snoozing Is Losing

Let’s not pretend that what’s happening in Afghanistan is a distant tragedy with no lessons for us here. While the Taliban’s bans may seem extreme and far removed from our reality, the slow erosion of women’s rights in America is following a depressingly similar script. With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, we are seeing the beginning of the legal dismantling of women’s autonomy. Women across this country are losing control over their reproductive choices, and many men — maybe because it didn’t immediately impact them — didn’t speak up.

But here’s the truth: when you fail to stand up for someone else’s rights, you’re only pushing your own rights closer to the point of no return. This isn’t about being woke, and the loss of Roe isn’t just about abortion — it is about whether the government gets to decide what you do with your body. Now, men may assume that such a ruling will only affect women, but history and logic suggest otherwise. Bodily autonomy, once lost, doesn’t stop at the waistline or the gender divide.

The Taliban’s Beard Police: A Cautionary Tale

Taliban men are learning this the hard way. After years of controlling women’s every move, the morality police are now turning their gaze toward the men. Afghan leadership has decided that men, too, must meet rigid standards of “morality,” starting with their appearance. No more short hair. No more Western-style clothing like jeans. And if your beard isn’t long enough to be grabbed in a fist, you’re in violation of the law.

These men didn’t see it coming. Many supported the harsh restrictions on women’s freedoms — after all, it was just women. They might even have rationalized it under the guise of tradition or morality. But now, that same moral sword is swinging back at them, dictating the minutiae of their own choices. The men who failed to speak up for women’s bodily autonomy are finding themselves caught in the same oppressive trap they thought was designed only for their wives, sisters, and daughters.

Command and Control: It Is A Hungry Beast

Let’s bring this back home. If you think the rollback of reproductive rights stops at abortion, you’re not paying attention. The fight over bodily autonomy in America is already being framed in broader terms. The Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision didn’t just target abortion — it cast doubt on the very concept of privacy and individual rights. Next on the chopping block could be access to contraception, same-sex relationships, and any other private choices that conservatives deem “immoral.”

Let’s not forget, too, the recent rise of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, particularly the policing of transgender bodies. This isn’t a coincidence. Whether it’s controlling a woman’s reproductive choices or legislating what bathrooms transgender people can use, the central theme is the same: control over bodies that aren’t your own. And for those men sitting back, thinking their autonomy is safe? I’d remind you of the Taliban’s beard police. The slippery slope of control doesn’t stop once it grabs hold of someone else’s rights.

When Men Ignore the Red Flags

American men, let me ask you this: how comfortable are you with the idea that the state could one day start deciding how your body should be managed? How long before your appearance, habits, and health choices come under scrutiny? If you’re comfortable with the government forcing a woman to carry an unwanted pregnancy, how would you feel about mandatory vasectomies, chemical castration, or laws governing what kind of family planning methods you can use?

If you shrug off that idea as too far-fetched, take another look at the pace of change in Afghanistan. It didn’t happen overnight, but it happened. And the same forces driving this creeping authoritarianism — whether it’s in Kabul or Texas — aren’t concerned with fairness or gender parity. They’re concerned with control.

Once you give the state the power to regulate one group’s body, the door is wide open for it to regulate everyone’s. Today, it’s whether women can choose to terminate a pregnancy. Tomorrow, it could be whether you can get a vasectomy, resist chemical castration, or whether the state decides that your body must conform to a particular vision of morality.

Project 2025 Sharia Law American Style

Trump and the Republicans readily show an appetite for government intrusion into personal life that should give everyone pause. It’s called Project 2025. It starts small: with laws about what’s appropriate to teach in schools, restrictions on drag shows, or bans on certain types of healthcare. And it’s all framed under the guise of protecting children, preserving traditional values, or defending morality. But we’ve seen where this path leads, and it’s not to freedom.

Eventually, those who cheered the rollback of one group’s rights will find that the government has taken an interest in their own lives, too. Just ask the Taliban men who thought they were safe. Or better yet, ask the growing number of American men beginning to worry about the long-term implications of letting the government decide how to manage a person’s body.

Be A Stand-Up Guy

To paraphrase Bob Marley and the Wailers, get up, speak up, and stand up for her rights and yours, now, while you still can. If you don’t want the government telling you how to live your life — what to wear, what to believe, or how to manage your own body — then you need to start caring about the rights of others. When women’s rights are eroded, it sets the stage for a broader erosion of rights that could eventually affect everyone.

The rights of women, minorities, and the LGBTQ+ community are the canaries in the coal mine. When these rights are under attack, it’s a red flag that everyone’s autonomy is at risk. The fight for reproductive rights, in particular, isn’t just about women — it’s about whether the state has the power to control what happens to individual bodies. If men remain silent in the face of these attacks, they may one day find that their silence has paved the way for their own subjugation.

Speak Now, or Regret Later

Afghan men didn’t speak up for women’s rights, and now they’re reaping the consequences. American men could easily face the same fate if they fail to stand up for women’s reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy. Silence might feel safe in the moment, but it’s a dangerous game. When you fail to fight for the rights of others, you risk losing your own.

So, American men, take a lesson from the Taliban’s beard police: if you don’t defend the right of women to control their own bodies, don’t be surprised when the state starts telling you what to do with yours.