"The 8 Biggest Lies Men's Rights Activists Spread About Women"

2014-06-11T16:58:37+00:00

That moment when a feminist shite article can't tell the difference between feminism and women. We all know that moment.

ManBearScientist · 2014-06-11T18:32:51+00:00

That was an article I'd be embarrassed to see as a a blog post. Examples:

"The problem we see is a culture that still puts women first in so many ways, and men come in last," AVfM founder Paul Elam told the Huffington Post.

Yes, this is a real thing.

Bless her heart. You can truly feel the snideness that only a white, privileged, upper-middle class, college educated white girl can muster. I can almost detect the "like"s and "OMG"s that didn't make the final edit.

But of course she is snide. What's worse is her ignorance:

Although MRAs made headlines recently for their alleged connection to the Santa Barbara shooter (a connection many MRAs have tried to deny).

It is racist to claim all people of any one race look alike, but apparently it isn't sexist to act the same way towards men. Yeah, red pillers, PUAs, and men's rights groups are all composed of men (ignoring the fact that many women are MRAs), but otherwise they have as much in common as the bloods and Rosa Parks.

The first two groups look to exploit sexual stereotypes for casual sex. MRAs want to eliminate negative stereotypes. Not knowing the difference is analogous to mistaking Stepford wives and feminists.

MRAs are often dismissed as angry, sex-starved man-children, but the movement likens itself to a male response to feminism. And it seems to be becoming even more vocal in the wake of the feminist movement's new wave of online solidarity.

There is that mean girl attitude. She tries to distance herself from the snide opinions she expresses, but it is clear that she is simply expressing her own prejudices and disguising it as comments from the public.

The rest of the article is composed ENTIRELY of outright lies and disinformation:

Unfortunately, despite their activist moniker, MRAs do not generally use their networks to create meaningful change. Instead, they often parrot the same talking points on the bottom of articles about women's issues to prove that men are, in actuality, the more oppressed gender.

...

This is a shame. Men have real concerns (like a higher rate of workplace deaths and homelessness, as well as being subject to rigid constructs of masculinity), but the hostility expressed by MRAs towards the struggle for women's rights does nothing to rectify the injustices men may face, primarily because these injustices are not caused by women. They're caused by things like race and class, factors largely absent from most MRA discussions. They also owe much to patriarchal gender roles — the exact same roles that feminists fight to dismantle.

She claims the MRAs don't want to actively change anything.
She claims men do have real issues, ignoring that THOSE issues are what MRAs truly want to correct
She parrots the line that feminism will break gender roles. Feminism has not and does not even want to break gender roles that don't benefit women. No major feminist organization has even a single male-only issue.
She pretends that men blame every problem on women, while a majority of the major men's rights issues focus on correcting legal structures (laws, university policies).

On her points:

1 - Hypocrisy:

A minority of women are man-haters, but feminism isn't. However, men's rights groups are all misogynistic.

2 - Positive stereotyping, changing definitions, and more hypocrisy

Turns out, women aren't just abused but negative, angry sexism. They also have to deal with positive sexism! Here is the definition of benevolent sexism the article she links gives:

[Benevolent sexism is] a subjectively positive orientation of protection, idealization, and affection directed toward women that, like hostile sexism, serves to justify women’s subordinate status to men

Hear that men? The positive image of men DYING to save women and children in a disaster isn't sexist BY DEFINITION. Yeah, men have never heard of positive stereotyping, it doesn't affect them at all.

Rape excludes men, by definition. Sexism excludes men, by definition. Domestic violence excludes men, by definition (see: Violence against Women Act). Education equity excludes men, by definition (see: Women's Educational Equity Act).

Get the picture? Men aren't part of the definition. Define them out of enough things, and they can be treated as asexual, genderless objects that oppress women instead of human beings.

3 - The system can't be biased against men

Yeah, men have issues gaining custody. By when that happens, it is example of a very complex system behaving in weird ways, not oppressive, regardless of the numbers.

She ignores the figures that would make her argument less sound. For instance, how much violence towards children is committed by mothers (61%), women's higher rate of default on support, lower support for single fathers (who work longer hours). She also ignores higher rates of suicide for fatherless homes, higher rates of behavioral disorders, higher rates of juvenile delinquency and higher drop out rates.

Basically, she ignores the fact that the system does not evenly give support of the child to the better parent.

4 - Male genital mutilation isn't a real problem.

She basically says that male mutilation isn't at all comparable to female mutilation. This ignores one simple fact: male genital mutilation is far more prevalent. The WHO claims that between 1/6 and 1/3 of the world's male population is circumcised; that could be over a billion people.

Yes, female mutilation is worse in terms of severity. Yes, it is a tragedy when it happens. But the numbers are much lower; the maximum number claimed for women is around 140 million.

The CDC found that up to 2% of male circumcisions worldwide have severe adverse affects. That means up to around 70 million men. Additionally, they found that 1.5-16% of men have minor complications (52M to 560M).

5 - Stereotyping is worse than dying

She claims that men being forced into Selective Service isn't female privilege, because it male-only service is a result of stereotyping women.

Even ignoring the fact that she forgets that MEN were stereotyped into service just as women were stereotyped out of it, she claims an injustice towards women. To put it simply, men's lives are not held as highly as female feelings.

6 - More hypocrisy

No, men can't have issues. Especially not when women have similar issues. When men are sexually objectified, it is just a joke. Get it?

And let's not forget to blame the patriarchy. Yeah, men are causing every problem men AND women face. Because men are stupid. Oh wait, that is an example of patriarchal abuse of women. When men are portrayed as bumbling idiots, it is really negatively stereotyping women as the more responsible partner.

Did I forget to blame patriarchy? I blame the patriarchy for that.

7 - Using stats selectively: a study

She claims the rate of false rape allegations is 2 - 8%, and uses it as a basis for her arguments. And yet, I could just as easily claim 11.2% (Lee et al., 2003). Or 18.2% (McCahill et al., 1979). Or 41% (Jordan, 2004). Or even 90% (Stewart, 1981).

But reality goes beyond the number. The MRA movements aim isn't just to complain about the number of allegations, but to reform the legal system to maintain the principles of western law: "innocent before proven guilty."

The law, the media, and many institutions (colleges especially) have seen fit to turn that into "guilty before proven innocent," and that is the real problem.

The subtle shifting of blame

Rape culture, something. No means no, silence means no, drunk means no. Don't hook up without someone without a yes.

Look behind the rhetoric, and you can see the gears turning. She's run out of some steam at this point, but continues to subtly infer that men are rapists that cannot be trusted, and need to constantly be told not rape women. You can see she clearly could not even comprehend a man being a victim, she is focused on her narrative.

Her summary is as follows:

The real irony of the men's rights movement is that so many of the legitimate issues men face are already encompassed by the feminism it so vehemently opposes, because gender equality is a fight that affects us all. In the words of bell hooks, "When women and men understand that working to eradicate patriarchal domination is a struggle rooted in the longing to make a world where everyone can live fully and freely, then we know our work to be a gesture of love."

My summary will be even shorter. Feminism has never, in any form or capacity, removed a negative male gender role. Feminists fight for "gender" equality by redefining gender to mean women and writing men straight out of the definition. Men need the men's right movement.

bedwards740 · 2014-06-11T18:03:20+00:00

If the draft hasn't been around 40 years, Then why did I have to sign a paper "volunteering" my services to the United States in the event of a war when I turned 18 in 2002?

WallyRenfield · 2014-06-12T10:12:14+00:00

To sum up the article: MRA's don't need to exist because feminism already covers their issues. Now excuse me while I, a self proclaimed feminist, attempt to shit on each and every one of those issues.

Chambergarlic · 2014-06-11T18:09:50+00:00

The intro made me tear my hair out :(

oscillating000 · 2014-06-12T04:17:00+00:00

Let me just write an entire article to prove that I don't know what I'm talking about

Seems legit, you guys...

qp0n · 2014-06-11T17:53:54+00:00

TIL chivalry is sexism

greycloud24 · 2014-06-11T17:44:21+00:00

i contest that some of the listed "lies" are in fact truths.

if child custody is higher among women, and worker pay is higher in men that it is in women, then if one is discrimination, than both are discrimination. you can't have your cake and eat it too. its either a two way street or it is discrimination. if one is not discrimination and instead is the result of complex interactions than it is true of both (as they are both complex). so either there is discrimination on male child custody or there is no discrimination in the gender pay gap, take your pick.

male genital mutilation might not be as bad as female genital mutilation, but it is bad. and female genital mutilation is designed to limit sexual infidelity which does reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and that is a health thing. male genital mutilation needs to be stopped. currently the genital mutilation of only one gender is commonly performed in western nations. this needs to stop. genital mutilation is a crime against humanity independent of the gender of the person who's genitals are being mutilated.

avoiding conscription is a female privilege, even if they don't actively want that privilege. men cannot escape their male privilege either, even if they don't actively want that privilege. both men and women have a huge host of privileges, and to ignore the privileges of one gender and not the other is sexism.

i won't get into semantics about which gender is "worse" onscreen, as the idea of what is "better" or "worse" is not well defined. i will point out that violence against men is more socially acceptable than violence against women and that this is reflected in our media.

false rape claims make up between 20-41% of reported rapes, or about 2-5% of total rapes. rape is by far the more common problem. but this does not mean that we should ignore the less common crime of false rape reporting.

some feminists (not all, not even most, just a radical few) want to turn all penis and vagina sex into rape. other radical groups want to say that all sex while intoxicated is rape. these vocal few are very loud and some MRAs have addressed them. i am not building a strawman saying that all feminists are radical. but to say that these radicals don't exist is foolish.

veyron1001 · 2014-06-11T19:20:13+00:00

Um, but all of these are true.

Title	"The 8 Biggest Lies Men's Rights Activists Spread About Women"
Author	goodbyeraggedyman
Upvotes	28
Comments	28
Date	June 11, 2014 4:16 PM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/27vx1f/the_8_biggest_lies_mens_rights_activists_spread/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/the-8-biggest-lies-mens-rights-activists-spread.999407 https://theredarchive.com/post/999407

Comments