I think it’s fair to say male HMs have an advantage, with the challenges over all, but also the age-old way that social dynamics work, favouring “alpha” males whilst smart, strategic or loud women are seen as a threat. Tim is well aware of the eviction patterns of past seasons and the moving parts of the social structure in the house, and he exploits all of that. Props to him for that I guess, he’s not trying to blaze a new trail of gender equality and inclusion, but he’s “playing the game” as they say.
Tim is one of those people who loves to get a reaction, he’ll identify a weakness or sore point in others and he’ll pick away at it until the subject of his persistence cracks. His favourite victims are people who are emotional and reactive, and they’re usually female. The gaslighting comes into play when he then tries to backpeddle and claim he was just trying to be honest, or just trying to help, blah blah (eg. the lolly jar). This is actually low-level abusive, the first little seeds that are sown to make someone doubt themselves, or to socially isolate them by making others doubt them - textbook coersive control - and he does get away with it. He’s exploiting gender bias and inequality by reading the room and deciding what he can get away with, and what he can’t, and then going for it. And Tim is a shrewd operator, so I don’t for a minute think he’s doing it unconsciously, his mind is always on the game. Except he has a huge blindspot in his strategy when it comes to attractive guys. He was trying to persuade the other OGs to save Joel, even though he was a strong adversary. Same goes for Drew.
When I saw Tim’s Amber Heard tweet, I was disgusted by his flippancy. The fact that he thought it was clever or funny or would be well received by his followers reveals his privilege. As a woman, reading in the news every day of other women who have been hurt, or even murdered, in their own homes by men they loved and trusted and invested their lives in, just devastates me. I actually know someone, a lovely, generous person, trapped in an abusive relationship whose life and happiness have been completely ruined by her husband. So no, Amber Heard jokes are completely unacceptable, and it was Tim’s male privilege that made him think it was funny and that other people would think it was okay. And he does get away with it, deleting a tweet isn’t penance.