Is male on male violence a feminist issue?

[Evoman]

231. I think feminism has and can do more against male vs male violence than men's rights groups.

Even though it may not be a topic that is popular among feminists and even if some men here decry feminism as not caring about men, we really need to think about this.

If you don't think the life of your average man has gotten LESS violent as feminist theory has started changing social dynamics, you are living in a dream world. Feminism gave BOTH men and women a way at challenging gender roles...in fact, it's basically the only reason we can even see how damaging gender roles are to men.

I've been in scuffles. I've been in fights. I abhor violence, and have only ever used it to protect myself. Part of the reason, I suspect, is that I grew up in a rough neighbourhood. But the violence I've had to endure is peanuts compared to the violence that men of older generations and of other centuries endured. Duels for honor. Blood feuds. Honor killing.

Even the violence in my neighborhood was often the result of the lack of introspection. Women may have been fought over. Men may have fought to impress women or defend them. But that is the result of ignorance....it's not because of feminists....its because of the lack of feminist thought. Women I know, even in the hood, hated violence but fear and lack of equal status makes them powerless to do anything about it. The only way we men can be free is if women are free.

I won't fight over a women. I will not hurt other men over perceived slights. The only time I will ever use violence is if violence is done to me and I have no choice. My fiancee is a feminist. She doesn't agree with stupid gender roles, which means that she see through the pathetic challenges of some dumbass alpha male who tries to antagonize me. It frees me from having to be some dumb ape. She didn't leave me when I got cancer and lost the ability to provide for her, because she is a full free women capable of supporting us once she finishes school.

So call me a feminist. Not because I have some white hero aim to defend some weak chicks against the patriarchy. Call me a feminist because I care about who myself and what a gender equal system really means to the stupid pressures we men put on ourselves.