Almost every instance of sexism against one gender is accompanied by sexism against the other gender. Complementarianism is rightly criticized for enabling abusive men to hurt women and then be defended by conservatives anyway (in addition to simply being logically and Biblically false). While complementarianism as an ideology is not false simply because of what it might result in, it is a brute fact that a complementarian mindset makes it easier for certain instances of male-female abuse to occur. What is often neglected, though, is the manner in which complementarianism facilitates the abuse of men by women. Female-male abuse is actually not even considered genuine abuse by many people, who regard it as humorous or acceptable.
Since statistics about a population's experiences are inherently unverifiable, there is no ultimate point to citing abuse statistics. Nevertheless, even if particular statistics were both accurate and verifiable, the seeming lack of reported cases of female-male abuse does not in any way signify that women do not abuse men. It only takes several moments of reflection to establish that there is no act of viciousness, sadism, or oppression that cannot be carried out by women. Unfortunately, cultural biases have prevented many people from accepting this obvious and basic fact.
How many men have been sexually or physically abused by women, whether in a minor or major way, and been deterred from acknowledging their abuse as what it is because of misandrist social norms? There is no way to know, but it is easy to demonstrate that there is a side of conservative ideas about gender roles that utterly trivializes or denies the suffering of men. Ironically, conservatives tend to completely overlook or deny this aspect of complementarianism (in its religious or secular forms) in favor of pretending like the mere push for consistent gender equality in the church and workplace is itself misandrist.
This side of complementarianism has historically manifested itself in the belief that men are expendable, and thus should be the nation's primary or only soldiers. It has manifested itself in the acceptance of the idea that the abuse of women is somehow more vile than the abuse of men--yet if men and women have equal value, as conservatives (usually) concede, such a double standard is an abomination. Additionally, it has manifested itself in the idea that men cannot be victimized by women in a physical or sexual [1] sense, despite reason, the Bible, and basic human experience disproving this in full.
Complementarianism clearly allows abusive men to easily misuse their alleged status as leaders. However, it also allows women to treat men in ways that would enrage many people if the genders were switched. If a woman strikes a man outside of a context like self-defense, the offense is commonly regarded as comedic, not as a deplorable injustice. If a woman sexually harasses a man, the offense is commonly seen as something the man should find desirable, not as something worthy of great indignation. If a woman physically or sexually harms a man, it is more likely that the victim would be mocked or overlooked by complementarians than defended by them.
Egalitarians who harshly condemn the abuse of women by men without condemning the abuse of men by women just as harshly, much less without drawing attention to the abuse of men by women, are hypocrites who either do not understand the ramifications of actual egalitarianism or choose to ignore them. Affirming gender equality is about deconstructing all double standards, not just those that specifically hurt women. Although women are often acknowledged as victims of sexism, every sexist societal stance against women entails some sort of sexism against men, whether or the hostile or "benevolent" variety. Men have been collectively and horrendously injured by patriarchal ideas just as women collectively have been [2].
Logic, people. It is very fucking helpful.
[1]. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/06/when-women-rape-men.html
[2]. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/12/how-complementarianism-injures-men.html
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