MEN ’ S RIGHTS ACTIVISTS
BY JAMES HAND
GOTTA LOVE ‘ EM
Anyone who has talked at any length about the tangled web of modern feminism and the cultures that surround it have likely found themselves talking about ... them . They hide in plain sight and float about waiting for the moment to strike . They anticipate the moment when a confident woman is lamenting a gross or creepy experience with a man so that The Devil ’ s Advocate himself can waft like smoke from the vagina of the Red Lady from Game of Thrones to creep up behind you and gently whisper through a trilby brim , “ Not all men .”
Oh yes , they are the Men ’ s Rights Activists ( MRAs ). You ’ re not familiar ? Well , let me break this down for you .
A Men ’ s Rights Activist sounds like a thing that ’ s really great . Fighting for the rights of men . Why not , right ? To the laymen , perhaps it ’ s not even a gender thing . Maybe , it ’ s a “ mankind ” thing ? Let me stop you right there because you ’ re wrong . It ’ s not a mankind thing . It ’ s a gender thing . To which , again , one is prompted to ask , “ Why not ? Why can ’ t men have a group supporting and standing up for the various problems that are specific to them ? Women have feminism , right ?”
Why , yes ! Right you are ! Very observant ! Have a cookie .
The issues specific to men that are batted around in these conversations usually focus on how men get the raw deal when it comes to divorce and custody battles , that men are
more prone to suicides , and that men are held to their own gender role standards , which can marginalize how they ’ re supposed to act and behave . We ’ ve all heard the phrase , “ Boys don ’ t cry .” ( Not to be confused with the heartbreaking and fantastic film starring Hilary Swank . See it if you haven ’ t .) We ’ ve all also heard the phrase , “ Man up .” I ’ ve had it said to me more times than I could possibly count . Or even in more colourful terms , “ Don ’ t be a pussy .” ( And I ’ m sure we can all feel the misogynistic heat radiating from that ).
Now , it ’ s important to note here that these problems aren ’ t made up , and they ’ re not incorrect . For the most part , the concerns check out . These are real concerns and they should be fixed . However , we need to be very clear about what the source of these problem is , and it ’ s a common enemy that both feminism and the MRAs share . It ’ s patriarchy . So therein lies the cultural problem surrounding MRAs ; the notorious
FEMINIST POV tendency to only speak up on men ’ s issues as a means to quiet women ’ s issues and thus , give headway to misogyny and patriarchy because of the privileged refusal to believe that anything feminism stands for can and does help them and that feminism is already working on the things that they claim to care about .
Simply put ? It ’ s because the movement was invented out of anti-progressiveness . When a woman is talking about domestic abuse , the MRA pipes up and says , “ Women hit men , too !”
Thanks for the tip . We literally had no idea that women too have hands that can be balled into fists and tempers that can be lost , and behaviour that could be unreasonable . Where would we be without these sort of folks to educate us on such matters ? It ’ s almost as if women are three dimensional beings capable of the same range of emotions men are ! Ya don ’ t say ?
There ’ s a unique and difficult problem with how we are supposed to go about diffusing issues like this . This is largely due to the fact that many people seem to believe that being anti-feminist is a problem . It ’ s the right way of the world , they think . This also includes the idea of being extremely pro-gender roles , but not finding either of them to be incidentally misogynistic . They see it as “ anti-misandry .”
I had once come across a flyer that stated :
Saying “ man up ” can cause a MAN DOWN 8 men commit suicide every day antimisandry . com
It had an imagine of eight blue washroom sign-style men on it . My spidey sense tingled a little bit as to what was really behind this website . I mean , what do the phrases in the top lines have anything to do with misandry ? Are they casually alluding to the fact that the reason men kill themselves is women ? And if they are , it ’ s an incredibly misogynistic thing to say .
Of course , I had to do my research . Sure enough , when I accessed this website , I read the tagline : “ Curing Feminist Indoctrination .”
The website went on to use angry , divisive , and colourful language to talk of how much they detest the angry , divisive , and colourful language thrown at them by a select few poor