Men’s Rights Activists are groups of men who believe they uphold the rights and dignities of the “boy child,” or forgotten man. While societal issues specifically target and disenfranchise men, Men’s Rights Activists often wrongfully—and violently—blame women for these problems.
Most MRA circles online perpetuate a slew of misogyny and peddle anti-feminism, believing that feminism is why men can be so unfortunate. They believe that marginalised groups have risen to power and taken control, therefore, ousting men as the only rightful group only owed success and prosperity.
You often see MRAs responding very poorly when a feminist organisation takes to task historically unfair policies that leave girls vulnerable to sexual violence. The statistics don’t lie. In intimate partner violence cases, male partners are more likely to kill women. Men kill more women. Conversely, most of the wealth in the world is owned by men. The top 1% of the wealthiest people own most of the world’s wealth. Of these, only 12.9% are women. Most companies are controlled by men, with 78% of companies having male CEOs. Most world leaders are men, with only 31 countries with female heads of state. Doesn’t it stand to reason that for vulnerable men, their biggest enemy is patriarchy?
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What MRAs get wrong about feminism
Because feminism seeks to challenge and redress systemic injustice perpetuated by patriarchy and capitalism, men who identify within these power structures feel like feminists are targeting them. When feminists call out the male leadership who uphold laws like failing to raise the age of consent, child marriage, and ensuring girls’ education, practices upheld by patriarchy, men find that these feminists aren’t doing anything about poor young men.
However, feminism, at its core, seeks to elevate all marginalised people, including men. MRAs don’t want equitable partnerships in a marriage where a man is the sole breadwinner and they do not feel the woman should get financial compensation for housework. But if a marriage has a wealthier female partner, she must share her wealth with her husband. Some men even support a 50-50 split of assets during a divorce if the man has less wealth than the woman.
Men do make up the majority of homicide victims. Globally, 80% of homicide victims are men. However, MRAs overlook that the majority of the perpetrators of homicide are men. In addition, women make up the majority of gender-based violence victims. Women are the victims of 64% of family-related homicides and 82% of intimate partner homicides. MRAs fail to acknowledge the role men play in upholding a system that enables this pattern of behaviour.
MRAs often equate misandry and misogyny. They also conflate feminism with hating men. On social media sites, many MRA voices believe that radical feminists are a group of women whose goal is to reduce or minimize men. Radical feminism is founded on the theory that power in society is unequal. However, the goal of radical feminism is to uproot patriarchy and ensure justice for all. Studies show that radical feminism was built on stopping the male oppression of women. In the 1970s, radical feminists argued that rape was a crime against women, not the right of husbands, as previously upheld. Making rape a criminal offense also protects male survivors of sexual assault.
Instead of working together to protect all potential victims, MRAs create false equivalences from botched statistics. In 2013 in Canada, in response to a campaign against sexual assault, MRAs launched a poster called “Don’t be that girl” against false rape accusations. This is a dangerous equivocation because it equates a man’s reputation to a woman’s life. In addition, false rape accusations are fairly similar in number to false reports of other crimes. It’s also important to remember that most sexual assaulters don’t face any repercussions for their actions. MRAs also offer no resolution to what can be done to reduce rape culture. Anti-feminist men’s groups use gender-neutral language to offset the results of gender inequality. And this agenda further serves to preserve the status quo.
MRAs also have a history of violence. In the US in 2020, a man murdered Judge Esther Salas’ oldest son and seriously wounded her husband. She had presided over a case against the country’s male-only military draft. The man criticised her for not moving the case forward fast enough.
In 1989, two men shot 30 bullets in Canada at a group of female students, yelling, “You’re all feminists.” Fourteen women died. Mass shooters in the US are often found to have a history of domestic violence against women.
What men are doing right
Some men have noticed the unique gendered problems facing men and recognise how the labour for undoing this damage falls on men. Various groups outright tackle the fact that men are the biggest victims of suicide globally. They work to reduce the stigma against seeking mental health treatment. Public figures also help demystify men’s victimhood and how they can be empowered as survivors to ensure the same doesn’t happen to others.
Online spaces that focus on men but are strictly pro-feminist tackle toxic masculinity head-on. They also have resources for men while celebrating great fathers, husbands, and workers. They highlight positive behaviour from famous men who behave admirably in a culture that would have previously considered such behaviour unworthy to uphold.
Young men may feel lost in a rapidly evolving world where misunderstanding can cost you your livelihood. Doing something that may have been acceptable a few years ago but is frowned upon now with the best intentions doesn’t negate the impact. Men seeking a better understanding of the world follow out-of-touch self-proclaimed mentors such as Jordan Peterson, who once said a plus-size cover model would never be beautiful regardless of how much authoritarian tolerance.
Read also: 7 Toxic Masculinity Traits You Should Look Out For
Young men can also follow troubling MRAs like Andrew Tate, who advocate for bigotry and misogyny as a source of empowerment. They could follow the teachings of Bell Hooks, who wrote In The Will To Change: Men, Masculinity and Love.
Gender roles have evolved since humans evolved enough to gain complex lives. Masculinity is bound to change. In this day and age, masculinity encompasses compassion, kindness, and vulnerability. Men themselves state to thrive in this world, men need to unlearn patriarchy, not perpetuate it. Because feminism seeks to undo the reaches of patriarchy, men who care about men’s rights should join the cause.
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