Last week I hung a sign. Over my commute I had seen a sign that read "MMIW" along the depiction of a red dress, which referred to the many missing and murdered indigenous women, unaccounted for in Canada and the U.S. for months, maybe years I had seen this sign. For months I was glad to see it. It was a small reminder that there was a minority population being actively harmed within our system and that sparking the merest curiosity was important to supporting them. Over time the sign would weigh on me, spark potentially unintended curiosity in me. The message was pretty solipsistic. It implied to me that indigenous men were not going missing, at least not to the degree that women were.

Upon even a little bit of research, I found out that wasn't the case at all. Men were going missing, some estimates placing their missing numbers at well above twice as many as the women. The missing men didn't mobilize people to the cause at all like the missing women did.

So I spray painted a sheet. I cut holes and affixed straps to the corners and hung a sign which read MMIM (Missing/Murdered Indigenous Men). I did this at around two in the morning, admittedly cowardly, as I figured it was unpopular enough to advocate for men that I would face push back. Especially advocating for men in the same breath as mentioning women's problems.

I looked at local social media and of course found no one mentioning the sign. Admittedly I feel silly thinking this act was so duplicitous and brazen that people would bother mentioning it.

I want to advocate for men and boys of all walks of life, primarily because I don't think any of the establishes advocacy cares for them at all. But I work in a place where my public opinion has the potential to cost me my job. I could openly advocate, speak of men's issues but I risk my stability in the process.

What do we do? What do we actually do? I complain about things in secret and hang signs under cover of night like someone is going to apprehend me for it.

What is an actual way to raise awareness, further activism, help men?

Edit: It didn't take much more than a week for the sign to be taken down.