Why Progressive “Men’s Movements” Are Bound to Fail

Submitted by Mastodon on Tue, 2012-12-18 23:00

Article here. Excerpt:

'Jill at Feministe reopens the ongoing Good Men Project battles with an excellent post and article about the reason that perpetuating rape myths is so very, very bad and not, contrary to GMP’s defensive posturing (when they aren’t fundraising on how excellent they are at pissing off feminists) about “dialogue”. In sum, when we perpetuate the myth that rapists are just nice guys who are confused about consent, rapists realize they can rape, claim confusion, and escape justice. Which is why the self-defined rapists that GMP gave voice to did, in fact, claim confusion. Imagine!

But I don’t want to talk about that right now. What I want to talk about is the idea that there could be a useful, meaningful progressive men’s movement that doesn’t devolve into men sitting around pitying themselves about how they’re so oppressed by women, neatly turning them into a reactionary movement. I used to think yes, which is why I was enthusiastic about the idea of GMP before they revealed how much it’s actually about bundling the same old defenses of male privilege in “complex” sheep’s clothing. I dearly want men to have conversations about masculinity and manhood, and the oppressive expectations patriarchy puts on men. I think that’s more important every day as we struggle with the way that these ideals of masculinity encourage violence and voting Republican.'

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Comments

... is that there is NOTHING they can do to get feminists to accept them. Men are, in the eyes of feminists, inherently evil. There's nothing they can do, be, or say to make them redeemable in their eyes.

If you're Satan, can you ever convince the archangel Gabriel or Michael or St. Peter that you're not evil? There's nothing Satan could do to convince them, would there be? Same thing here. Feminists view men as Satan, and themselves as St. Peter; all pure and righteous vs. the inherently, purely evil men.

Men who are part of or considering joining "progressive men's groups" should think again: you won't get anywhere with women and/or feminists by stewing in your self- and co-shaming zones, worshipping the feminist establishment and putting down your fellow men. It'll get you nothing, you'll go nowhere, and worse than that, you'll feel like sh*t abt. yourself and all for no decent reason. Sad, really.

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Submitted by Matt on Wed, 2012-12-19 01:59

If you can stand it, try reading the comments on that story. There are some intelligent posts, most of which were responded to with comments that would sound foolish even on the typical playground.

It amazes me that feminists try to sound so intellectual, as if their ideology is somehow based on science and reason. But, disagree with them, and all that you get are emotion and name-calling in return. They truly are the worst enemy of their own cause.

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Submitted by StayingFit on Wed, 2012-12-19 23:55

"They truly are the worst enemy of their own cause."

And yet, they have somehow managed to get the gov't to drop to their feet and do their bidding at whatever expense to whomever (i.e., men).

When I look at who has actually been responsible for the bad place males are in today, looking at our legislators, college admins, judges, etc., those who've actually passed the laws that have done what they've done, rendered judgments against fathers and fatherhood, instituted rights-ignoring policies, I see lots of men. These would be male feminists and/or manholes. And as much as the 'classic feminist' is the nemisis of men/fathers, the real agents of men's destruction in our society have been men in certain positions throwing their gender under the bus. In short, if feminists are their own worst enemy, then I'd observe that men have been, too, over these past 40 years. And not just any men; manholes. There's nothing more pathetic as well as poisonous to his own gender as a male feminist.

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Submitted by Matt on Fri, 2012-12-21 04:47