I'm not OP but I think the reason the gender divide is particularly relevant is that, without a focus on the humanities, alienated men largely will just turn into fascists because that's the endpoint of shallow populism that would be born in current poor material conditions. Women in the same position are less likely to go that direction (although obviously still often do so you have a point) even if they aren't exposed to any academic conversations or whatever. Empathy is critical for men to develop because we gotta learn to see ourselves as part of a whole, if you're marginalized because of your gender then you'd already understand this system by virtue of being excluded from it.

Do you truly think english lit classes do all that? You got a lot more faith in the institutions than I do.

I'm not talking about English lit classes as an institution, I'm talking about the kind of person who might be interested in what English lit classes, and more importantly literature in general, have to offer them.

And then, is this cultural space degrading only for men but women are all good?

Probably not, but I think that's a separate conversation, so I didn't want to talk about it here.

I did note that you mentioned some vaguely lefty guys at least, but do you not think "educational institutions" in the west play a part in producing greek statue guys?

Not really? Greek Statue guys don't have a real interest in engaging with the things they pretend to like, and their understanding of them is very shallow. Thinking back to my own college literature classes, I don't think that would have been rewarded, but maybe I got lucky with my professors.