Your guide to understanding ironic misandry

[boston bean]

Whenever feminists try to discuss issues pertaining to violence against women, oppression and outright misogyny, we're often met with tedious 'whataboutery' and 'not all men' responses from people who find it uncomfortable to have their privilege reflected back at them and critiqued. But there's a special breed of person known as a Men's Rights Activist (or MRA) who likes to go one step further. These people like to talk about something called 'misandry', which translates to the not-technically-made-up-but-completely-powerless 'hatred of men'. MRAs will have you believe that misandry is:

a) rampant within the feminist community and

b) capable of causing equal if not greater harm to men than millennia of oppression and disadvantage could ever possibly do to women.

Yes, the curious logic of the MRA dictates that feminism and the fight for women's liberation has actually resulted in equal and opposite systemic harm being done to men. Cast even a cursory look over arguments between MRAs and feminists and you'll be treated to a laundry list of complaints - some genuine and some imagined - intended to demonstrate the heinous oppression apparently inflicted on men today. Misogyny and misandry are treated by MRAs as interchangeable things, with the latter being widely viewed as 'just as bad, if not worse'. As Newton discovered, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and so it is that MRAs view the battleground of sexism. Or, as the little girl in It's A Wonderful Life might put it, everytime a bell rings, a family court judge kidnaps a man's children from him.

Please try to read the article, if you can:

http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/dl-opinion/your-guide-to-understanding-ironic-misandry-20140825-3eafb.html

[AngryAmish]

1. oh dear

[hifiguy]

2. They seem to unanimously be

reichwing assholes judging by the ones I have seen around the intertubes.

[seabeyond]

3. it seems to be a mens issue, not a party issue, from my experience.

[boston bean]

5. agreed, I've read a lot of this same shit here.

And we are all liberals/progressive/dems and there is no RW trolling going on here, so....................

[hifiguy]

6. The authoritarian streak skews

right wing, usually. But the entire MRA mindset is something men should confront other men about. It is just another kind of toxic authoritarian. macho BS and there is already too much of that floating around.

[gollygee]

7. Libertarianism is not a cure for the MRA mindset.

There are plenty of people who embrace both libertarianism and the MRA movement, let alone just the mindset.

[hifiguy]

8. Never meant to imply that it was

And I have no time for libertarians. My sole point was to say that men who see MRAs as the bullshit artists they are should call them out on their bullshit.

[gollygee]

11. Ok

Sorry - dealt with some assholes today and I'm probably quicker to strike than usual.

[hifiguy]

12. 's OK

[seabeyond]

10. the patriarchy skew in favor of all men. hence, my recognition it is a mans issue, not a party

issue

[kcr]

17. I agree

Most tend to be more conservative but there are a few DUers I agree with on a lot of stuff otherwise, but as soon as there's a thread about this issue they're a complete 180 from me.

[treestar]

4. The Family Court stuff is often false, too

Or if true, it was back in the 1970s. Child support laws are now completely equal and based on each party's income. If they make more than the woman does, there could be a reason for that not due to "misandry."

[Iggo]

9. Oh those poor babies.

[Rex]

13. The world is mostly ruled by patriarchies. MRA groups look stupid when they whine that men

are being oppressed. Sure, buy other men!

[Call Me Wesley]

14. I find all this sad,

and there must be some big fantasy going on with particular minds. So, let me see if I can get this straight here (I can't

- I am a white male.
- My income will automatically be approx. twice the time bigger than every woman's income who holds the exact same job and might be way better in it.
- There is no law that holds me back from doing with my body whatever I want. That's pretty cool. I control everything. Grunt.
- If I have kids, but then break up with their mother, why should I pay anything? I can't see the kids anyway, because they're taken away from me. (Actual argument of oppressed fathers.) Still, I will never get tired to include them into this argument, even I don't give a f***k, but am concerned about my well-being.
- I don't really know why I need Men's rights (because I already have the full set for free of it, given to me at birth.) But it's cool to know that there's a movement out there who will stand up for me when I'm feeling oppressed by the opposite gender. And I once felt that, in middle-school, when Bethany didn't liked me back.

The three first points above are true about me. They're facts, simply because I'm male. The following ones are - to put it mildly - something I'd be ashamed of.

Issues are plenty. But if 'feminism' equals to 'man hatred' in some minds, then it actually is 'not all men,' unfortunately. It should be 'all men,' who understand that we haven't achieved equality yet and that it's actually no fight of the genders but the fight of one gender who wants to stronghold their already given privilege plus another thousands of shades of behavioral rights, i. e. being comfortable with lesser pay and lesser respect for women, taking 'catcalling' for a mere compliment offered, etc. etc. You know what I mean.

I'm not afraid of feminism. I'm not afraid of equality. I'll stand with it, for it.

[PeaceNikki]

15. And this, CMW, is one of the many reasons that you are awesome.

[Call Me Wesley]

16. I'm lacking.

I'm not as awesome as you yet. But I'm trying.

[AverageJoe90]

18. "I'm not afraid of feminism. I'm not afraid of equality. I'll stand with it, for it." This.

[wryter2000]

19. Whoo-hoo