Men's Rights Movement

[Rev. Rye]

IMHO women are oppressed more by their biology than by evil men trying to keep women in their place. One could argue that the misguided efforts of many good men, in their desire to protect their women and children, resulted in inadvertent oppression. Times were different and I'm very reluctant to demonize people that lived before penicillin was discovered and latex invented. Rather than being a complete evil motivated by the desire to dominate, maybe patriarchy actually served a necessary purpose in past societies in which war, famine, and disease were daily threats. People, both men and women, had different sensibilities that seemed entirely reasonable to them, but to us sound oppressive - like being forced to marry the woman you knocked up. Perhaps someday, maybe sooner rather than later, people will consider it an act of oppression to knock up a women and NOT marry her.

I'm not buying it. We're in the first generation or two where it's actually not okay or totally ignored when you beat the shit out of your wife.

Perhaps patriarchy had a good (read: not asinine or oppressive) purpose once upon a time, like back in the days of the Old Testament. That may have been the case when people were living a hardscrabble existence in the desert. Key word being may have been. Sadly for NS, whatever benefits may have had for the days of Ancient Israel, the fact remains that we no longer live in the days of Ancient Israel. The situation has changed, the strict gender roles simply aren't working, and women are less and less willing to accept a system that treats them as property either explicitly or implicitly. Christ, even MODERN Israel, for all its many, MANY, flaws, at least tries to give its women a fighting chance to succeed.