In Catharine Mackinnon's world – now ours – accused men are symbols of a larger sickness, for which they must pay by forfeiting their rights.

elissa1959 · 2008-07-30T03:17:21+00:00

Wow. This author is attributing things to Catherine McKinnon that I never knew could be attributed to her. I thought she was an interesting feminist, but certainly not all that mainstream, because of some of here more radical notions (usually about penetration and power).

However, this author says that McKinnon is responsible for the (sexual) harassment laws that make it illegal to create a hostile work environment.

Well, there are laws in the US that pretty much say that if you're en employer, you need to have fair hiring practices, etc etc. Why shouldn't you have to have fair "retaining your workers" practices too?

Men are (rightly) complaining that t-shirts that say "boys are stupid" create a hostile environment and that we shouldn't allow it. I agree completely.

So, why should a place of employment be allowed to have practices (such a nudey calendars up) that similarly target and offend women?

This author is similarly attempting to argue that there is no "patriarchy", simply because men are also oppressed in some very basic ways. I don't see the contradiction here. There are both men's oppression and women's oppression in the world. Both are often due to some very rigid concepts about men's and women's roles. Both men and women are hurt by some of these.

For instance, part of the patriarchal oppression of both genders: men as protectors, women as weaklings. This means that men overwhelmingly get killed in wars and in dangerous jobs.

As far as men's lives being shorter and men committing more suicides, both are related to stress and mental health. (Anti-male) patriarchal gender roles are responsible for men not asking for help for medical problems, of either a physical or mental nature.

So you can rage against feminists raging against patriarchy, but it hurts men as well. (and yeah, a lot of feminists take McKinnon with a grain of salt. We also think Paglia's full of shit.)

Title	In Catharine Mackinnon's world – now ours – accused men are symbols of a larger sickness, for which they must pay by forfeiting their rights.
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	9
Comments	1
Date	July 27, 2008 11:46 PM UTC (17 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/6tpfa/in_catharine_mackinnons_world_now_ours_accused/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/in-catharine-mackinnons-world-now-ours-accused-men.1057173 https://theredarchive.com/post/1057173

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