Author Spotlight
Susannah Mitchell
The women’s rights movement is not new. It’s existed pretty much as long as oppression against women has existed, which can’t really be quantified. Women, no matter how they were being marginalized, have always fought back, to a certain extent. Most of the time this isn’t successful, but the attempts have always been valiant and a huge amount of progress has been made.
However, some believe that this progress has begun to overshadow the rights of men. Thus, the gender that usually does the oppressing has started its own advocacy movement: the men’s rights movement.
Now, before I actually discuss my feelings about the men’s rights movement, I feel like I need to make several points: first, when I’m discussing the men’s rights movements and its proponents (called men’s rights activists, or MRAs), I am separating them from many of the rights they advocate for. Secondly, from what I have seen, mainstream MRAs are typically white men in their 20s and 30s (which is not to say that there aren’t younger or older members, people of color or women involved with the movement). Lastly, as is the situation with most sociopolitical movements, the most extreme members of the men’s rights movement tend to be the loudest. I don’t believe all men’s rights activists’ claims are baseless, and I don’t think they are all idiots. But a good portion of them are.
The men’s rights movement, as they have presented themselves, is a reaction to the feminist movement. To quote Wikipedia, “Men’s rights activists have rejected feminist principles and focused on areas in which they believe men are disadvantaged or oppressed.” Now, off of the definition of feminism, to reject feminist principles is to reject the idea that women are equal to men. So what the men’s rights movement began as is a movement to oppose and discredit the women’s rights movement, rather than a movement made to work with or alongside feminism. That is not to say that it should be faulted for that, but it shows a tendency for members of the movement to be very reactionist.
One of the areas in which the men’s rights movement is valid would be the certain areas in which they are at a disadvantage. A male rape victim is less likely to be believed or taken seriously, and mothers do win custody cases more often than fathers do. And while these are men’s issues, they are also women’s issues as well. Vlogger and sex positive educator Laci Green does a good job of outlining this.
Many of the issues that the men’s rights movement addresses are issues that stem from sexism against women. The entire point of feminism is to address sexism against women and to work towards equality. And yet, many outspoken MRAs belittle the feminist movement or claim that it’s “gone too far” and has started hurting men.
The idea that feminism has led to discrimination against men is hard to come to terms with. I struggle with that idea, because I struggle to see how a gender that’s been oppressed for hundreds of years and fought for every scrap of freedom that we have could turn around and hurt their oppressors in the same way. The women’s rights movement is characterized by empowerment, not victimization, and the way many MRAs victimize themselves is what discredits the movement itself.
The Guardian writer Andrew Lowry perhaps puts it best: “Trying to argue that men have become a class of disfranchised nobodies is like trying to argue the sky is red because you don’t like the colour blue.” I think a big reason why the men’s rights movement exists is because there is a group of men who hate women. When men don’t take women seriously, or when they don’t hold us up as equals, then sexism is allowed to occur. The wage gap is, yes, still a thing. Sexual harassment is largely aimed at women. And when we allow this hatred to go too far, it can have grave consequences.
If I’m being completely honest, a lot of the “men’s liberation movement” makes me cringe. They’re liberated. They always have been. In the words of Leslie Knope from “Parks and Recreation:” “You are ridiculous and men’s rights is nothing.” While I don’t think men’s rights are nothing, MRAs tend to make ridiculous arguments. Sorry.
Despite what I’ve already written, I have to wonder if the way I perceive the men’s rights movement is because of a more vocal, extremist subsect of MRAs. After all, the feminist movement has always been under attack, with many claiming that we hate men and that we’re all “feminazis.” The men’s rights movement does have legitimacy, but I believe the movement could use many improvements. This is not to say that the women’s rights movement is perfect. It’s far from it. But the men’s rights movement has a long way to go. The need to end victimization and their attacks on women and feminism is a must. Perhaps, if both men and women work together to end sexism on both fronts, then we can truly feel the effects of gender equality.
Lets first agree that the term “feminist” does not mean its denotation. The way the term feminist is used is that women are greatly oppressed and men aren’t oppressed at all or too insignificant to count due to it having female bias as “feminist” and not “equalist”, so disagreeing with feminism doesn’t mean you don’t want women to be equal in rights to males. I am not an MRA because of the stereotypical image of a fat basement dwelling fedora’d neckbeard, because i do not concern myself with such issues as i have my own to deal with, and because of the extreme points i have heard MRAs talk about. I am a white male raised in a lower middle class environment without a father and only living with a mother, though i completely disagree with feminist standpoints. The first being the mythical wage gap. Not only have several majored economists debunked this(check Time, Huffington Post, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CBS, CNN.) the very idea of this to occur legally is absolutely absurd. Other things feminists have done is in california you must receive a “YES” constantly through sex or else you can be framed for rape, which completely destroys the way our founding fathers organized courts which was “Innocent until proven guilty” to “Guilty until proven innocent.” Lastly, men are not “liberated” we just don’t like complaining over the internet like people actually care.(I’m complaining now because i can’t stand the amount of misconceptions that float everywhere on internet.) If you think men are liberated i’ll give you a tip of the iceberg: Every man who turns 18 must sign for the required draft, which shows how disposable men are, men are seen as lame if they ask the female party to pay for themselves, hulk hogans nudes were seen as hilarious but jlaws nudes were seen as abominations, men are more likely to be wrongfully convicted than women and getter a longer sentence, men make up 76% of all homicide victims, male circumcision is still a thing, and women who don’t even play video games wrongfully accuse game devs of being sexist because they make more relatable protagonists. The list goes on and on… Men today are wanting things like equal legal accountability whereas feminists trouble themselves with portrayal of women in video games and similar trivia. That being said, women are not treated as well as they should but creating an entire movement specifically for women and then denouncing a similar movement for men that disagree with the other party’s points is short and plain- wrong. I DO NOT want a movement because i wish to overcome lifes obstacles on my own, become more independent and less concerned about petty affairs in life. I wish i could say the same about feminists :/
Quoting Wikipedia and using the phrase “people of color”..nice. As a white, upper middle class male, I have historically enjoyed some “advantages” over those that don’t share my characteristics. However, with a burgeoning women’s rights movement, the role of the white male has changed, perhaps rightfully so. As you yourself stated in your article, the most extreme elements of sociocultural movements (sociopolitical, the word you used in your opinion piece, is more applicable to a movement that is directly involved with a legitimate and active political organization or movement. Since, in your opinion piece, you focused mostly on social and cultural aspects, I felt this was a poor word choice) are often the most vocal. Extreme factions of feminism often receive more media attention than their more moderate counterparts. Due to the polarizing nature of sociocultural subjects such as discussed in this piece, I ask you that you consider that perhaps men’s rights movements are in response to a seemingly hostile and extreme minority on the issue of feminism. The mere existence of men’s rights movements do not indicate that these movements work to place men above women or abolish women’s rights, but rather work to act as the male counterpart to a growing movement. Women’s rights groups are allowed seen as progressive and allowed to grow, but men’s rights groups are automatically barbaric and attempting to destroy women’s rights? Seems hypocritical, but then again, I’m a white male, so what do I know?
Quoting Wikipedia and using the phrase “people of color”..nice.