Barbara Kay: A man who’ll stand up for the rights of other men (and boys) on campus and in society

Article here. Excerpt:

'On International Women’s Day a few weeks ago, I sat on a radio panel devoted to the occasion with two young women, both enthusiastically self-avowed feminists, who think we still live in a “patriarchy” in which men’s interests are better served than women. They were shocked when I demurred, dubbing our society a “matriarchy.” I explained that in the things that matter most to everyone — health, safety, parenting rights — women receive far more public attention and sympathy than men, and in fact men often receive negative attention, and the message that they are not generally valued in our culture.
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I hope there will be no protests Tuesday evening, at the University of Toronto, when clinical psychologist and Ryerson sessional lecturer Oren Amitay, speaks at an event hosted by the University of Toronto’s Men’s Issues Awareness Society, sponsored by the Canadian Association for Equality (on whose board I sit). His topic is “Why men don’t ask for help — and how we can change that.”

Amitay’s presence alone will make the men who attend this event feel validated and supported, a rare occurrence for many men in our society. In an interview, Amitay told me that when the going gets tough for men, they have a tendency to go down one of two unhelpful routes: either clam up, refusing to ask for support, or grow bitter and angry and act out. He aims to give them a better option, to adopt a perspective that is neither closed nor self-destructively mired in feelings of victimhood. He describes the tools he offers as “self-agency” and “self-efficacy” — a means of navigating “the reality.”'