Kristopher Saad /Contributing Writer
The recent rise of men’s right’s activist groups is due to two primary reasons. 1) Men are responding to some of the double standards and biases introduced in some feminist philosophy. 2) Men have realized the need to increase advocacy and awareness of issues primarily affecting the male gender just as feminism has done the same for the female gender.
Unfortunately, the rise of men’s advocacy groups has been met with an onslaught of bashing, shaming and name-calling from feminist groups. Accusing men’s rights organizations as anti-equality, sexist, misogynist organizations that seek to devalue and discredit the feminist movement in order to maintain the patriarchy. This couldn’t be further from the actual aims and goals of men’s rights groups. On both sides, knee jerk reactionaries and radicals have taken combative stances that have devolved most conversations between men’s rights and feminist groups into simple-minded, irrational and illogical debates diluting into name-calling that don’t get any real talking done.
Some segments of feminism and feminist philosophy have taken an unfair and one-sided approach against men’s rights groups. This is completely counterintuitive to the actual conversations that should be taking place because it marginalizes these men’s groups which is inherently hypocritical and it is ironic that a self-proclaimed feminist would act in such a manner. It only takes a small presence of mind to realize that by marginalizing and side-lining men’s rights groups, one is working against equality rather than for it and as such these people are fighting against their own cause. Men must be included as much women in the conversation for equality.
Men’s rights groups do not seek to discredit or destroy feminism. In fact, I would argue that most members of men’s rights groups could more than likely be considered feminists themselves. They simply felt that mainstream feminist discourse was beginning lose touch with its core philosophy of a truly egalitarian world society.
Feminism has in effect censored some men’s’ rights discussions through its liberal use of misogyny and sexist shaming of anyone who has anything to say that is against or questioning of feminist ideologies or stances.
Feminism has also shunned and turned away men from entering conversations relating to women’s rights citing reasons such as: “It’s not about men, it’s about woman”, “It doesn’t concern men”, “Only women understand and only women can be a part of the discussion” and “They’re purposefully taking away focus from real issues”. This separation and exclusion of men simply furthers an inequality in gender based equality discourses and is counterproductive to the feminist philosophies of equality for all, regardless of gender.
Recent pieces on “Rape Culture” and male feminist apologists have harmed the overall equality conversation by introducing stereotypes against the involuntary act of being a man. Many recent pieces have been skewed to imply mere guilt by association by just being of the male gender. Some pieces going so far as calling all men involuntary enablers of “rape culture.” I have personally read many of these pieces such as this one called: The Gentleman’s Guide to Rape Culture by Zaron Burnett. In this particular piece Zaron argues that ALL men are guilty of certain grievances that are supportive of rape culture. Again, presuming that all men are guilty of supporting rape culture when that is not at all the case.
Feminism has refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of men’s’ rights groups on the basis of tyranny of the majority, citing the male-centric patriarchy as a reason to exclude men from conversations involving their very own rights and abilities to achieve and maintain happiness. Feminist and men’s rights issues aren’t black and white. In fact, most of the issues are complicated and interrelated and it’s why men should not be excluded from the conversation.
There are a fair amount of issues concern men nowadays that should not be ignored. Domestic violence, rape, and sexual predator stereotypes are just a few very valid issues affecting men. The feminist movement’s marginalization and discrediting of men’s rights groups is counterintuitive towards a movement that is supposed to stand for equality, not one-sided advocacy.
One of the only ways to truly have an equal and unbiased conversation on equality is to take gender out of the equation either through the dissolution or joining of forces between feminist and men’s rights groups. They could call themselves the “equalists” and fight for the equality of all people, stand against stereotyping and focus on having productive conversations on issues that are not gender exclusive. Obviously this would be an extremely difficult thing to actually do, but we must take a more proactive approach to mediating and have productive conversations between different advocacy groups. Right now enough isn’t being done. The real issues aren’t being looked at nor focused on.
opinion@fiusm.com
I believe that US gender-feminists have pushed for these changes to American law enforcement, have pushed for these new “manufactured statistics Alliances” that are turning back the pages of history and Inflaming the public with rape hysteria.
These faulty and inflammatory manufactured rape statistics statistics are regressing American law enforcement to the point where “Klan law” is replacing “case law”.
Men and the public at large have no idea of the sexist laws that the feminist created. Any woman can have her husband thrown out of the house with a protective order. She does not need any proof or evidence of abuse Watch this vid to seehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMXW0K2SD4g
In Key West two teenagers are having drunken sex. The girl is on top of the boy thrusting away at her. The cops arrive. They arrest the boy for rape but not the girl who brought the booze and was on top.The police receive Violence Against Womens Act incentive money for aevery boy and man they arrest.The reporter told me that the girl was his girlfriend http://keysnews.com/node/46274
College boys are being brought before a tribunal and thrown out if a girl accuses him of him of sexual assault or harassment.He cant bring a lawyer or question the woman.Please read this article for an example http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324600704578405280211043510
One of the main reasons males are interested in men’s rights is the outcomes of divorce, where mothers receive custody of the children 84% of the time and fathers only 8% of the time (balance goes to foster homes or relatives).
The anti-father bias shown in our family court system dates all the way back to the Tender Years Doctrine of 1830 and has not changed effectively since then. Today, the largest feminist group, NOW, still openly opposes shared parenting, as do all the other feminist groups.
Modern fathers are increasingly involved with their children and are determined to share custody with the mothers after divorce, yet feminism, despite claiming they want equality, do not want equality when it comes to raising children – they want to be in complete charge.
What feminism claims they stand for, and what they really desire, are two very different things.
You make a lot of good points but I just cannot imagine feminism which portrays an adversarial relationship between the sexes and relies on morally insane fallacies like collective male guilt can ever be compatable with a civil rights movement like the MRM.
I think that the opinion that you have expressed is a reasonable one but in the end it is a solution that is easier said than done.
In my opinion, Feminism as an equality movement took a crippling blow once influential people started using it as a basis for their careers. You have people in power positions within academia and politics whose living depends on Feminism always being a relevant voice, and thus they require someone to always be the enemy that promotes the inequality Feminism allegedly fights against. So there are people whose income depends on them always portraying men as the enemy. In addition to that, many Western societies have adapted to accommodate Feminist ideology and dialogue so the lead voices of the movement keep their voices noticed by constantly edging their dialogue to more extreme ideological positions.
The Men’s Rights Movement is an inevitable and necessary counterpoint to the Feminist social dialogue, even if a person may not agree with everything the MRM says or does. In situations were money is involved and abuse of politics leads to imposing misery on people for the benefit of the few, it is important for society to have different viewpoints to help identify the problems and find new solutions. Gender equality will not be achieved if one gender always has to be the enemy to motivate the drive for equality, it is a self-defeating structure.
The issue I have with the MRM is that while many of the problems it identifies are relevant and the new voice it has added to our society had brought necessary attention to those problems, much of the movement is structured (in spirit if not in fact) as a response to Feminism. To be fair, aggressive Feminist attitudes have made it difficult to point out that their ideology doesn’t have all the answers so the heavy criticism Feminist ideology receives from the MRM is well deserved. The unfortunate part of this situation is that it has the potential to lead to a parallel dynamic of what has developed in Feminism, namely that the MRMs dialogue may end up dependent on having Feminists as the enemy to keep its messages relevant. Maybe that is why Feminists rally against the MRM as hard as they do, they know what they have done and fear an equivocal backlash. I would like to hear where the MRM foresees itself going after the head-butting dies down and a progressive equilibrium between it and Feminist ideology has been achieved, which is the result that I am hoping will come out of all of this.
There is no rape culture. There is no popular, social, legal, legislative, by-law, or other systemic or endemic support and propagation of rape or false rape or statistics to claim that such rape is occurring … other than that done by feminists, who have been known to actively excuse and condone female rapists and also to produce definitions of rape so loosely that they have finally been able to get rape statistics that are frightening.
The problem with all this patriarchy stuff they keep yelling about is that the only thing around that resembles patriarchy these days is feminism itself….
and i think they are afraid that people are starting to notice….
I wonder if the comment section under this article is blocked. Let’s see.
A well written article, but I’m disappointed you left out that Feminist groups have routinely engaged in outright criminal violence against men’s groups who even so much as try to hold a public conference on issues such as suicide or domestic violence.
Well-written. Many, many of us are ex-feminists, and some still identify as feminists but have become reluctant to do so for the very reasons you mention.
Although feminism alone is not responsible for the issues we face and is not the only reason we exist, the truth is that decades of trying to work with feminists only to be mocked, belittled, marginalized, told to sit down and shut up, or ignored has shown us the necessity of a men’s human rights movement–one I’m proud to say has people of all races, sexes, orientations, and ethnicities within it.
After having worked for decades to try to please feminists, we have had to come to the conclusions that their actions do not match their words, by and large, and it is they who must now come to us if they want to be part of the conversation in a productive way.
Well said. In fact many if not most of the more articulate and active MRA would have initially called themselves feminists, or at least quite sympathetic to the feminist cause. The typical pattern was that they researched feminism quite thoroughly, and as they did they found more and more double-standards and hypocrisy and outright misrepresentation.
Anyway they then cast about for explanations and alternative viewpoints, often only then discovering mens rights web sites and fora. The more they discovered about both feminism and men’s rights, the more they turned away from the former and towards the latter. At least that’s what I’ve found.
The vast majority of MRA are anything but the ogres they are made out to be. Further, I would say that many MRA have a more complete understanding of what feminism actually is than do many people who identify as feminists, and who can’t see past the superficial mirage of “feminism is just about equality, who doesn’t want that?”. And that my friends is a significant part of the problem.
There is an element of wanting to take down feminism within some areas of the manosphere and by some extreme MRAs. Note the manosphere and MRAs are not the same, but get mixed together all the time. Feminists and MRAs might never be able to work together because simply acknowledging that men might be vulnerable completely undercuts their nonsense core belief in (cue scary music) THE PATRIARCHY. Simply put real equality scare feminists and women in general. One simple example is work quotas. Feminist want to force equal representation in the boardroom, do they also want to force equal representation on the dangerous jobs on deep sea fishing boats? Will they support women being required to register for selective service in case conscription is required for the next war? Real equality is about taking the good with the bad. Feminist and women in general only want to take the good.
It might be worth doing a follow-up that takes into consideration the formally chartered early men’s rights organizations of the 1920s in Austria, UK and USA — and Tibet!
SEE: “Early Men’s Rights Activism”
ESPECIALLY: 1926 – Bund für Männerrechte, Vienna, founded by Sigurd von Hoeberth (Höberth) and Leopold Kornblüh in March 1926. In January 1927 the Bund split into two organizations circa: Aequitas (Hoeberth), Justicia (Kornblueh); journal “Self-Defense.”
This article is much appreciated by those who are tired of the feminist vs MRA stance that so many have decided to take. Instead of listening to each other, and admitting where things are falling short, there is a lot of bullying and shaming going on, as well as blatant attempts at censoring. A lot of MRA members are mad, for good reason, and there are enough feminists poking and prodding and searching for reasons to discredit MRA’s that is just exaggerating their anger. The recent addition of several women into the MRA movement might be the start of bridging the gap and hopefully a light at the end of the tunnel.
“The feminist movement’s marginalization and discrediting of men’s rights groups is counterintuitive towards a movement that is supposed to stand for equality, not one-sided advocacy.”
The feminists who have the power to influence policy and laws, those with the money and power, DO NOT stand for equality and they never have. The many millions of “moderate” egalitarian feminists are unaware of this fact (though that is finally changing) and appear willing to follow their “intellectual betters” straight into bigotry and fascism. Radical feminists have controlled education policy from Head Start all the way up to post-grad, for decades. They have also dominated the family and criminal courts. They actively discriminate against men and boys, criminalizing all things masculine. It has become a multi-billion dollar business, and the world is full of self proclaimed feminists who support every anti-male law and policy, while insisting that they aren’t “like that.”
They need to wake up.
I would love to see feminists and men’s right activists working together to make a harmonious equal arena for us all to get along.
However, TRUE equality (50/50)—something that for some curious reason (wink, wink) scares the living hell out of feminists and apparently most women— will require women to be held equally accountable, responsible and with equal inconvenient sacrifices. Feminists and most women do not like these negative parts: they only want the cake and get to eat it, not the rest of the work and results.
Men are assisting unwittingly; Feminism isn’t winning because it is right.
Men are picking up the trails left by women now, with increasing demands for their Utopian ideological wish list to become true, men now use these whims and wishes to compete for women. The greatest power of women is that of manipulation and scheming.
With the natural dynamics between men and women, women will eventually and not so long from now, run it all, and have all the power. Anyone looking square at this dilemma can easily see that men will become redundant and of course had-sucker fools who caved in so they will be thought of as real men in their erroneous ideas of what makes a male a man.
Change men, change the world!
The truth is not hatred, but oooohh how it is hated!..and it show every time they do not even want us to speak.
Great piece! Yes, you hit the nail on the head
“Men’s rights groups do not seek to discredit or destroy feminism. In fact, I would argue that most members of men’s rights groups could more than likely be considered feminists themselves. “
That is the most ignorant, moronic TWADDLE I have heard in ages. Where did you get such any idea, anyway?
What makes this statement incorrect?
While one university’s students wake up and start to realize the need for men’s advocacy in the face of feminist bigotry and corruption, another U.S. University pretends that science itself is sexist and launches a Biology course directly taught by its feminist department.