The Men's Rights Movement: I Just Don't Get It.

[FlyingNarwhal]

Hi.

I'm a supporter of men's rights. I think men should be treated fairly in society. I'm also a feminist. I think women should be treated fairly in society. I actually prefer the term "egalitarian". I think everyone, regardless of their gender, age, skin color, etc should be treated fairly in society.

There are plenty of ways in which women are still at a disadvantage, however there are also plenty of ways men are too. For instance, men almost never get as much custody as women in divorces. Men almost always get harsher jail sentences than women for the same crimes. Men who see a lost child are afraid to approach said child for fear of being accused of trying to abduct them by society. A man who is raped by a woman has a social stigma against him, to the point where many people still believe that male rape is impossible unless it is anal penetration. The whole "no means no" only applies to women apparently. Conversely, a man accused of rape is more likely to be thought of as guilty before the trial has even started, and even if they are found not guilty, they can have a social stigma for the rest of their lives.

Please don't think all MRAs are misogynists. It's exactly the same as thinking all feminists are the man-hating kind, the "feminazis" if you will. The MRM focuses on men's rights, but does not exclude members from supporting women's rights. There are legitimate issues facing both women and men that need to be solved.

I completely agree with all of this.

My dad had two kids from a previous marriage that he paid child support for. When he divorced his ex-wife, it was agreed that he would pay child support till their kids turned 18. He never once missed a payment the entire time, because he truly loved them even if he didn't always get to see them (the ex-wife got custody and my dad would only get to see his kids every other weekend). She kept taking him back to court and kept getting the court to order him to pay more, which the kids never really ended up getting (she just pocketed most of it). And once they turned 18, she got the court to order to pay through college. My dad offered to pay their entire college tuition rather than child support knowing that it wouldn't go to them, but no such luck. The court treated him like he was nothing but a dead beat father the entire time, even though he couldn't have been farther from it. One day there's a mix up at our bank and the monthly payment that was supposed to go to the ex-wife doesn't. They froze my parent's bank accounts, despite the long history of never EVER missing a payment. Then we find out later that one of my half brothers graduated and my dad was never told, so he overpaid what he was supposed to. He takes her to court, and the court finally agrees with him that he overpaid and she needs to pay him back. That was five years ago and he hasn't seen a dime of that money that he overpaid. Yet no one is freezing her bank accounts.

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I have been noticing like all across this vast universe we call the internets that there has been a growing movement of troglodytes calling themselves men and doing a lot bitching about women. They call themselves Men's Rights activist and they live in this virtual world called the Manosphere where they choose not to show weakness towards women by deciding instead of engaging women they will go it alone (I think that is a euphemism for having a romantic relationship with one's hand).

People, I am not kidding, this whole Men's Rights is all over the place. I have seen it on Facebook, YouTubes and ReEdit. It is literally all over the place like a demented monkey throwing crap everywhere.

But the shit that gets me, this movement has nothing to do with addressing issues dealing with men but with hating on women for some reason. If one looks at many of the websites the Manosphere people have created all one reads is that women are evil, we men have been wronged by women and that makes us mad. In fact that seems to be the sole purpose of the Men's Rights Movement.

Any cursory reading will show you that these "men" hate women the same way that the Nazi's hated on the Jews. Women are to blame for just about everything especially erectile dysfunction. And the most sickening thing I see coming for the Men's Right Movement is this insistence to justify every wrong men commit against women, I have seen them justify rape, beating and the shooting of an innocent twelve year old girl by the Taliban just because she wanted an education.

I just don't get. Can someone please explain it to me?

As already mentioned before, there are bad men's rights activists the same as there are for any activist.

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There are 2 areas where I think men need more awareness and advocacy.
1.) Birth control technology. I don't understand why men haven't taken to the streets demanding a birth control pill or its equivalent. I have seen SO many men trapped by pregnancies because they trusted in a woman's birth control. Unless you want to use condoms forever, which nobody does, men NEED more control over their reproduction. Since courts will never let men out of financial responsibility, men are largely at the mercy of women with this.
2.) Early education. Boys are being left behind in early education by a female dominated educational system that is a problem for many boys.

Other than that, men need to be quiet about their rights.

I agree that there is a bias against boys in early education. I had ADHD and even with it I was considered "gifted" in elementary school. My brother didn't have it and was considered a problem child and it was recommended that he be put on medication when he was in Kindergarten.

That said, most of this "Men's Rights" bullshit is just stupid. Men already have tons of rights that women don't. The medical and scientific communities all study men and pursue the male agenda much more frequently than the female's. And don't even get me started on how they treat lesbians -- pretty much as though we don't exist, or are all secretly bisexual. It's horrid.

The men's right's movement seems to be - because men have problems, women don't. I cannot get behind such a thing. That's not to say there are never any legit problems for men (as others have stated in this thread).

Perhaps men are afraid that, as women more and more move into positions of power and influence, they'll undo all the gains that male-dominated society has achieved: over-stocked nuclear arsenals, global pollution, chemical weapons, execrable film and television, the notion that professional sports are important, all that sort of thing.

Boru

I can tell you that one right we don't seem to have is being able to talk about how we may be wronged by society in any way. I'm not saying we are the ultimate victim of society, but look at the bolded sections in each quote. We are one of only a few groups, who when we vocalize that we may be treated unfairly that it is socially acceptable to just casually dismiss us. If a women's group stated that they were having specific rights violated and I just casually dismissed what they thought I would be branded a misogynist. But it is ok to do so with men because it's thought that "Men have no problems." And if we are not cast aside because it's thought we don't have problems, then generally the other reaction towards men that advocate for their own rights is that we are women hating pieces of shit.