John Anderson looks at some small but tangible progress in calling attention to men’s issues.
There are days when I just want to pack it in on equality. I lose my faith in people’s inherent fairness even the small successes I’ve forged for men’s issues seem irrelevant. What does changing one mind or even a few dozen accomplish? It doesn’t change anything materially. Men’s issues are still much too often ignored and marginalized.
That’s why it’s important to celebrate the successes. The tangible successes like criminalizing visitation interference in Illinois. The penalties are still laughable, but it starts the conversation and you never know where it will lead. Another such event happened recently at Simon Fraser University.
In fact, the only thing that is depressing in the entire story is that the bulk of the opposition seems to come from feminists. Their basic arguments are that men can’t be trusted. Because feminists didn’t create or approve this space, men will use it to subjugate women or they marginalize men’s issues. Men don’t have problems comparable to women so don’t need the space.
When suicide rates are brought up, the opposition responds, but women attempt suicide at two to three times the rate of men. In rape cases a rape is more serious than a false accusation. In domestic battery cases, the severity of injury is what is important not the act by the perpetrator, but in suicides an attempted suicide is just as important as a successful suicide. If women are successful at 6 – 10% of the rate of men, are they not as competent or is it a case where they really don’t want to commit suicide and it’s a cry for help? It seems that men actually wanting to kill themselves would be a subject worth exploring for individuals concerned with social justice.
One of the comforting things is when I move away from feminist leaning websites and enter more “neutral” spaces, the comments lean positive. People’s perceptions do seem to be changing. When we change a mind or a few dozen, it does have an effect.
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photo: ell r. brown / flickr
Wow, Im really surprised im reading an article here on the good men project that actually concerns mens/fathers issues. Many in the mens rights advocate community have said this outlet is far more about feminist shaming and vilifying of men, than it is about mens/fathers and boys concerns. maybe i will add this to my bookmarked sites after all.
I remember reading several discussions/essays wondering why young people especially women reject the label feminist. Most of these discussions involved feminists or “allies”. Basically they came to three possibilities. Women rejected feminism because feminism meant being like men. I like being feminine so I’m not a feminist. Women were satisfied with the amount of gender equality won so the movement “lost momentum”. Feminism was misinterpreted to equate to man hatred. I think that the answer is more closely related to the last. I don’t think that it is so much misinterpreted, but feminists have been on the wrong side of… Read more »
“What purpose is served by excluding it?”
Its normal for Utopian social justice movements to exclude the oppressor class from protections.
More good news, members of the same group came out strong against this too when the project was first announced a couple of years ago.
http://newmalestudies.com/OJS/index.php/nms/article/view/39
Thanks.
“In fact, the only thing that is depressing in the entire story is that the bulk of the opposition seems to come from feminists.”
How can it be depressing when it is so highly predictable and has been going on for decades? If you were to ask most anyone to guess which movement was most likely to have individuals who opposed a center to help men deal with issues and problems, what answer would most people give?
“How can it be depressing when it is so highly predictable” That’s true, but I have hope that what they’re saying (at least for those espousing gender equality) they may actually come to believe. Like I said I’ve seen over 3 dozen progressives, who probably would have classified themselves as feminists if they were forced to make a classification, change their views on the gender gap in education. I brought up the gender gap, but it was 2 women who initially researched the causes and looked for solutions. From my classmate Arlene: ————————————————————————– Yes, John, you are correct about the… Read more »
They are back lashing against men organizing for themselves, as well as that they are allowing men to have some issues, so long as feminists are controlling the conversation – and there is no talk about feminist legislation, misinformation or polices that impact men in a negative way. The fact that factions of the feminist movement is starting to address mens issues outside the negative scope of their male as abuser/ oppressor female are victim binary is evidence of the effectiveness of the men’s movements tactic of using controversy to breach the mainstream and effect change. Unfortunately, men do not… Read more »
I would argue Canada has a few in Sun Media television and the National Post. Barbara Kay and a few others at the national post, and several of Sun media’s shows (including Ezra Lavant (sp?)) have run pieces on men’s issues. But they are still rare,
Yes, she is an exception though, and a man – a male MRA saying what she says in the mainstream … well it just couldn’t happen as yet and women that have gone before her have been subject to attack, CHS, Wendy McElroy and Pizzy for example.
I’ve seen the tactics used to focus on the worst cases whilst ignoring “lesser” or “smaller” issues. It would be like ignoring black rights because they’re a minority of the population. It would be like only funding heart disease because it’s the biggest killer, ignoring breast cancer, etc. These people fail to understand you can support both male and female issues, they don’t take away from each other, as it’s commonly said it’s not a zero sum game and maybe it’s time these particular feminists learn that?
The fact is that men do succeed in committing suicide far more then women. Women tend to stage their attempts in a way that they can be found/discovered. Then there are the many male suicides which are staged as “accidents” but are in reality suicides. Alcohol and substance abuse is also prevalent with males. These facts in no way diminish issues relating to women.
I suspect men would be equally likely to give similar “cries for help” if they thought someone would.