Men’s issues not an attack
When men fight for their human rights people call them misogynists
March 9, 2016
Do men need rights? The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Do you advocate for men’s rights?
The first standard argument against men’s human rights is that men have no problems and should check their privilege. Second, addressing men’s problems is a misogynistic attack on women. Third, men’s problems are real, but feminism is for men too, so men’s advocacy is redundant. Fourth, women’s problems are worse, so men’s should be ignored.
Shouting “bigot” is easy. Bigots do so frequently. If you convince people your foe eats kittens you’ll trick them onto your side, but opinion isn’t everything. Ad hominem can’t turn right into wrong.
The men’s rights movement is worse than misogynist; it’s competition. If their gender relations monopoly breaks, feminists may have to start keeping their promises, or even share their countless billions in donations and government funding.
Most men like helping women. It appeases that cloud of hormones our brains release at the sight of a neotenous face. But when suicide is the leading killer of men under 50 in the U.K. it’s time to rethink things.
Men have problems. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say men are 80 percent of suicides. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said that 92 percent of workplace deaths are men. Law professor Sonja Starr says men receive 63 percent longer sentences than women for the same crime. California, Kansas and Tennessee forced male rape victims, abused as young as 12, to pay child support.
No one cares about the well being of men, men least of all. Evolution says protect women and children first. Men’s rights are a hard sell; they violate our instincts. People resist the idea of male victims and especially female victimizers.
Erin Pizzey opened the first battered women’s shelter in 1971. Pizzey said women she sheltered were often as violent as the men they left. She observed that domestic violence is gender neutral and usually reciprocal. Pizzey said feminists seized control and threw her out of her own refuges for what she said. She and her family were threatened, their dog was shot and they fled the country.
Today only women’s shelters exist. Rules vary by region, but usually no boys over 12 are allowed, and there are few real services for men.
Canadian Earl Silverman fled a violent wife about 20 years ago. In his time of need the only services for men were anger management. He said, “As a victim, I was re-victimized by having these services telling me that I wasn’t a victim but I was a perpetrator.”
Silverman started a men’s crisis line and in 2004 requested funding for male victims services. After a runaround between various ministries he was told no funds could be given to men.
In 2006 he was repeatedly denied a sex discrimination hearing before the Alberta Human Rights Council. He represented himself against the government and after a four-year investigation it was determined that men don’t have equal need, so it’s legal to give men nothing. In 2009 the organization Statistics Canada reported 585,000 men and 601,000 women were abused by a current or former partner.
In 2010 Silverman opened the only men’s domestic violence shelter in Canada. It ran for three years on Silverman’s dime and donations.
In 2012, to force a hearing, he made a frivolous threat against an attorney. He was arrested, his computers and documents seized. Then he was quietly released to prevent publicity.
Mounting debt forced him to close the shelter and on April 26, 2013 he hung himself.
Karen Straughan, who knew him, guessed this was a final attempt to force his story onto the public record, in a coroner’s report. The police haven’t released his full suicide note.
Men’s rights advocates are among the most maligned people in the world, but by definition all feminists should be MRAs. Advocating equality means standing up for everyone.
Some call for men’s rights but are afraid to call themselves this kind of human rights advocate because of how many people those rights offend. MRA is a slur to them.
When Valerie Solanas published the SCUM Manifesto, calling for the extermination of men, that’s not an indictment of feminism. Feminists called it dark comedy. She shot two men, apparently attempting her genocide on a small scale, but she’s a lone nut. Feminists cite the SCUM Manifesto as an inspiration and in Sweden are performing plays based on it, but I’ll assume with good intentions. Every group has nuts who do more harm than good. The important thing is that the group makes up for it.
So, when are feminists going to do something about the inequalities faced by men?
I’m tolerant, but if you promise me results eventually I’ll demand results. If you don’t have results, you shouldn’t have lied.
Bob • May 23, 2016 at 12:51 pm
Oh; and I won’t have to make awkward small talk afterwards or promise to clean the garage.
Bob • May 23, 2016 at 12:50 pm
A little KY jelly, some internet porn and a twelve pack. Next problem?
Factsseeker • Mar 14, 2016 at 2:01 am
One does not have to watch ‘House of Cards’ to understand that many of our male leaders need to show off to young women for sex. Male leaders view ordinary men as their sexual competitors and therefore their enemies. These two factors will ensure that MHRs will get little attention whether its about shared parenting, male victims of domestic violence, male health, war veteran support, male suicide, male mental health, violence against men generally or male education disadvantage. Our male leaders are simply not interested. Bill Clinton’s press secretary Didi Myers was clear when explaining the president’s behavior. She said male leaders are motivated by ‘enlightened’ self interest. She understood, that most male politicians are exhibitionists, and the end motivation is to get sex. They do this by blaming ordinary men for every thing, thus winning the favors of younger women. Ironically, as more older women get into power, there could be a change in attitude towards MRs, because women are not totally obsessed with sex as a measure of their self-worth.
MGTOW-man • Mar 10, 2016 at 9:45 am
The words spoken in this article are a series of events that prove the feminist movement is a ruse for female superiority, with duped men lapping it up, helping them even.
The only reason so many MHRA’s are against feminists is because, unlike the dictionary definition of feminism, feminists have directly stood in the way of dissenting men and progress they seek.
Victor • Mar 10, 2016 at 5:06 am
Fantastic piece. Thank you.
Mr. E • Mar 10, 2016 at 3:54 am
“by definition all feminists should be MRAs. Advocating equality means standing up for everyone.”
Yes, but Feminism isn’t about equality for everyone, only women.
Tom Golden • Mar 10, 2016 at 3:25 am
So true and so well ssid. Thank you for standing up for men and boys in an environment where that sort of courage is costly on many levels. Excellent!
Frank-Ferndiszt • Mar 10, 2016 at 2:42 am
Well said. Thank you for this. It’s a shame that things turn into oppression olympics so easily. Pointing to a problem for men and boys, doesn’t mean you’re dismissing problems that women and girls face.
Lastango • Mar 9, 2016 at 11:44 pm
Mr. Bassham, may I respectfully suggest you do not understand feminism.
There is only one feminism — one which, at its core, has always been a calculated drive for coercive, totalitarian power. Its only ideology is Marxism. It has no other foundational ethos. Feminism’s communizing, collectivist nature explains why it is so intolerant of outside voices and why it brutally smashes questioning voices within its ranks. Feminism has nothing whatever to do with securing equality or liberty for women or for anyone else.
It’s easy to lose sight of that feminist forest for the trees, because feminism does have a
rainbow of manifestations — it is constantly morphing in search of the best mix of strategy and tactics to seize political, economic, cultural, and social control. Also, not all feminists have the same job, or attack men from the same direction or in the same way. Some are waging war against men, and some are waging peace against men. For instance, some offer a smiling face and a warm greeting. They *love* men — honest! Some, especially the academics, strike a pose of science, formal process, and professionalism to help sell their product.
Still others are pop-culture popularizers who help keep feminism a fun, in-thing to do. Celebrities add attractive glamour and a cool factor. Writers, movie-makers, and other content-generators insinuate feminism into our daily lives while working to marginalize dissenters. Then there are the politicizing thugs using pressure to damage and harass people and organizations which raise questions about feminism, the college students who ostracize their fellow-students for thoughtcrime, and the street-level thugs who do the gruntwork of shouting down speakers and punk-swarming online forums.
Feminists also differ in their intellectual participation. Some are far-seeing tacticians and
strategists. At the opposite end are the fembot plodders, me-tooers, talking-point parrots, and dupes. The latter are no less dangerous for their limitations — they make it possible for feminism’s thought-leaders to execute plans, and they vote. Feminism is utterly tribal; nowhere under its tent are there any moderate, reasonable, thoughtful, or fair feminists, though there are many who make it their business to appear so.
It is not possible to bring feminists to a fuller understanding of men and masculinity because disenfranchising and exploiting men is foundational to how feminism takes and holds power, and reaps the benefits of power on behalf of its perpetrators. To imagine otherwise would be like trying to conceive of an ancient empire that grew without subjugating other peoples and seizing their land.
Robert O'Hara • Mar 9, 2016 at 8:04 pm
How rare and refreshing to see a columnist write something truthful about the MRM.
Itajara • Sep 16, 2022 at 3:36 am
Imagine a world where the majority of people understand that there are all sorts of feminists with all sorts of positions – while at the same time, there is also diversity of opinion within the MRA crowd. Believe it or not, there are feminists who support MRA, and the very rare MRA who supports feminism. (I’ve seen two, so far.)
It doesn’t always have to be somebody’s fault. Men live shorter lives than women- I’ve seen feminists blame that on our toxic masculine culture. Its a crummy, blameshifting argument. The Y chromosome is way different, and degrades over time much quicker.