The signs from the last march have been giving our men nightmares for a year. The ones from the year before still rankle. These placards and their slogans have poked neat little holes in Pakistanis’ collective idea of “mardangi,” or manhood.

The first sign that shot “mardangi” through the heart was, “Warm up your own food,” from 2018. That was so outrageous it caused a small national meltdown, prompting men to draw up their own lists of things women should do themselves: “Sew your own clothes,” “fix your own flat tire.” You can talk about your property rights and harassment in the workplace, but how dare you ask me to press that button on the microwave? You really have it coming.

Things got a lot worse for men during the second Aurat March, last year, when they had to read a poster that said, “How do I know where your socks are?” Another sign that posed a direct challenge to the social order was an illustration of a woman sitting, fully clothed, with her legs open, just like men do. It read, “Look, I am sitting properly.” Young girls are told over and over again to sit properly, with their legs closed. That a woman would claim a full seat has been called “womanspreading” and declared vulgar and repugnant to our culture.

Then there’s the sign that says, “My Body, My Consent.” After the human rights activist Marvi Sirmed repeated the slogan on TV earlier this week, one of the panelists, a TV and film writer, lashed out: “What is in your body? Have you seen your body? A man would not spit on your body!” Then he called her names that are usually never uttered on the air. Many journalists condemned the outburst, but the panelist became a hero of sorts to some men for, as they saw it, putting Ms. Sirmed back in her place. Other TV programs scrambled to invite him to give his side of the story.

But really, what has had the patriarchy drop all pretense of civility is a placard that asked men to keep to themselves selfies of their penises. “Lahol wala …” was the reaction of a senior journalist on live television as he started to recite a prayer that’s meant to ward off Satan. Then he went on to proclaim that the slogan was a violation of his basic human rights and the judiciary should take action.