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'The idea of men’s rights is often considered taboo to talk about. It is this idea that a conversation about men’s social concerns would have the power to negate the accomplishments that feminists throughout history have made. The buzzword “equality” has limitations, where the conversation stops right when you start to mention the voice of men. So, what is this movement all about?
These issues are the things that largely go unexamined. These are the things that cannot be heard above the humming of every other right’s movement. We are talking about child custody cases, criminal sentencing, domestic violence, workplace fatalities, men’s reproductive rights, educational inequality, and men’s health issues. I myself was very misinformed about men’s social concerns and grievances and so, like many of us do, defaulted to whatever was easiest to believe. I was looking at this from a woman’s perspective believing that this movement was only a backlash to the momentum of the Women’s Rights Movement- and in some ways, this is true. The men’s rights movement has definitely taken some ideas from the Women’s Movement and tried telling them from their perspective.
Letter here. Google the quoted text to jump the paywall. Excerpt:
'We need more courageous men as leaders in every facet of our lives and society. We certainly don’t need more women in government demanding their special interest, social welfare agenda be passed into law.
It is stunning if one looks at our current society how dominant the influence of women continues to be in this nation. Women are the major influence in today’s world. Count the number of groups supporting or promoting women. Then count the men only organizations. Equality? Hardly, when you look at longevity of life, suicide rates, unemployment, college graduates or personal wealth in the nation.'
'Junior Gillian Friebis said she usually does not speak in class, but that when she decided to raise her hand one day in her politics course, she was shut down by a man in the class. It was an experience she feared would occur after seeing other women being interrupted in the same fashion by other men.
During a class discussion about the political relationship between Catalonia and Spain, Friebis spoke only to be immediately and repeatedly interrupted by a man who said he was trying to play the devil’s advocate to her point.
“After he kept talking over me, I didn’t keep trying, because I knew it was going to happen again, and it reminded me, ‘Oh yeah, this is why I don’t talk in this class,’” Friebis said.
'A Michigan Democrat running for attorney general released a campaign ad this week in which she suggests that not having a penis makes her qualified for the position.
Dana Nessel suggests her answer to stopping sexual harassment in politics is to elect more women because they can be trusted "not to show you their penis in a professional setting."
“If the last few weeks have taught us anything, it’s that we need more women in positions of power, not less,” Nessel says in her ad. “So when you’re choosing Michigan’s next attorney general, ask yourself this: Who can you trust most not to show you their penis in a professional setting? Is it the candidate who doesn’t have a penis? I’d say so.”
“I want to tell you what you can expect me not to do,” Nessel continues. “I will not sexually harass my staff, and I won’t tolerate it in your workplace either. I won’t walk around in a half-open bathrobe, and I’ll continue to take all sex crimes seriously just like I did as a prosecutor.”'
'In less than two months we’ve moved from uncovering accusations of criminal behavior (Harvey Weinstein) to criminalizing behavior that we previously regarded as presumptuous and boorish (Glenn Thrush). In a climate in which sexual mores are transforming so rapidly, many men are asking: If I were wrongly accused, who would believe me?
I know the answer that many women would give — are giving — is: Good. Be scared. We have been scared for forever. It’s your turn for some sleepless nights. They’ll say: If some innocent men go down in the effort to tear down the patriarchy, so be it.
...
Ms. Lindin was widely criticized, but say this much for her: At least she had the guts to publicly articulate a view that so many women are sharing with one another in private. Countless innocent women have been robbed of justice, friends of mine insist, so why are we agonizing about the possibility of a few good men going down?
I think the worry is justified. And it’s not because I don’t get the impulse to burn it all down. It’s because I think that “believing all women” can rapidly be transmogrified into an ideological orthodoxy that will not serve women at all.
...
I believe that the “believe all women” vision of feminism unintentionally fetishizes women. Women are no longer human and flawed. They are Truth personified. They are above reproach.
I believe that it’s condescending to think that women and their claims can’t stand up to interrogation and can’t handle skepticism. I believe that facts serve feminists far better than faith. That due process is better than mob rule.
'A Cornell graduate is suing the university, saying he was discriminated against and denied a hearing following a Title IX investigation into a sexual assault allegation.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, accuses Sarah Affel, Title IX coordinator for Cornell University, of discrimination based on the student's ethnicity, sex and religion. The documents also state a variety of allegedly unlawful actions that were taken against the former student, referred to as John Doe, an ethnically Bangladeshi Muslim.
The graduate is now demanding a jury trial and is seeking restitution from Cornell.
The suit is the second in eight months that alleges a student or former student contemplated suicide following a Title IX investigation at the university.'
'Male survivors of slavery in Britain are often overlooked compared with female victims because shame stops many men speaking out and seeking support, campaigners said on Monday.
Men who have been enslaved are less likely than women to recognise their ordeal as a crime or report it to authorities, leaving them isolated, vulnerable to drug abuse and at risk of being re-trafficked, according to the British charity Hestia.
"It's much more difficult to get men to engage after slavery - they are more likely to write it off as just a bad employment experience, even in cases of brutality," Patrick Ryan, chief executive of Hestia, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"Men tend to face more of a struggle than women to recover, and not dealing with this can create a risk of re-trafficking," said Ryan of Hestia, which provides refuge and support for victims of domestic abuse and modern slavery, mainly in London.'
'Men arrive at this moment of reckoning woefully unprepared. Most are shocked by the reality of women’s lived experience. Almost all are uninterested or unwilling to grapple with the problem at the heart of all this: the often ugly and dangerous nature of the male libido.
'By the same token, when a young feminist recently declared she is “not at all concerned about innocent men losing their jobs” in the process of weeding out the bad guys, she is also harming the cause. The same people who warn about broad rhetoric turning all Islamic people against us should exercise the same prudent specificity in calling out what constitutes almost half of the world—our brothers, fathers, uncles, cousins, husbands, and friends. We don’t want to create more chauvinists and alt-righters.
'The overarching lesson drawn by many critics of Weinstein and his brethren is that there is something inherently pernicious about men in general. Many people now genuinely believe that traditional manhood is lethal and is destroying our nations.
Actress Emma Thompson responded to the scandals this way: “So what we need to start talking about is the crisis in masculinity, the crisis of extreme masculinity which is this sort of behavior” (emphasis added throughout).
...
One pundit insisted that this systemic issue has only one solution: Whenever a man in power is found guilty, fire him—and replace him with a woman.
Is masculinity the problem? Is there something inherently toxic about manhood?
'Both Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg spoke out Monday about the pervasive culture of sexual harassment permeating the Capitol, as two legislators felt the consequences of the allegations facing them.
State Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, who’s been accused by at least six women of sexual abuse, announced he will resign effective immediately. Monday the State Senate Rules Committee stripped State Senator Tony Mendoza of his leadership roles temporarily. Mendoza is accused of acting inappropriately by two former female staffers, including a 19-year-old who says he gave her alcohol and invited her to his hotel room.
“The decisions today were correct decisions. The resignation and stripping the senator of his committee assignments were appropriate. Needs to be zero tolerance. I believe in due process, but I also believe that when women have the courage to step forward, we need to listen to them and believe them,” said Steinberg.
'Females do outshine boys at school and at university‚ a study at Stelllenbosch University has found.
“On average girls actually do better than boys. They learn to read much quicker than boys do (which is true of pretty much all middle- and high-income countries). In South Africa girls also perform better in mathematics‚” say doctors Nic Spaull and Hendrik van Broekhuizen from the research group on Socio-Economic Policy (ReSEP) in Stellenbosch University’s Department of Economics.
...
“We examined 19 fields of study and find that females are significantly more likely to get a degree in 12 of the 19 fields (often by substantial margins)‚ and are significantly less likely to get a degree in five of the 19 fields.”
“However‚ this is almost entirely because they do not access these traditionally ‘male’ programs rather than due to lower completion rates once they are in. Only in Engineering and Computer Science do girls do worse than boys once they are accepted to the programme.”
Article here. And to think... there are girls who'd much rather be in the Boy Scouts. Wonder why. Excerpt:
'The Girl Scouts of America has posted a warning to parents on their website that advises:
"Holidays and family get-togethers are a time for yummy food, sweet traditions, funny stories, and lots and lots of love. But they could, without you even realizing it, also be a time when your daughter gets the wrong idea about consent and physical affection. ... Think of it this way, telling your child that she owes someone a hug either just because she hasn’t seen this person in a while or because they gave her a gift can set the stage for her questioning whether she ‘owes’ another person any type of physical affection when they have bought her dinner or done something else seemingly nice for her later in life."
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