MRA in a Collegiate Environment

TracyMorganFreeman · 2013-12-05T20:42:43+00:00

I tend to quickly "establish" myself as someone who knows a of of stuff(which is really because the college environment is full of people fresh out of high school and not because I'm genius), and people tend to at least consider my arguments.

What I've found is that the key is to remain calm and address factual inaccuracies, but not by saying "THAT'S WRONG!", but something along the lines of "I think that's not sufficient because it fails to consider [X]".

If you stick with the facts and address limitations or problems with the arguments presented, it usually goes okay.

macman156 · 2013-12-05T18:35:45+00:00

I talked to my classmates about it once. We are all Engineers so the general consensus was.. isn't everyone equal under the law now? We typically don't give a shit as Engineers because the only girls we see on a daily basis are on the same intellectual level as us and are pretty much level headed. But i have a lot of friends in the Art college as well, which seems to be where a majority of the rad fems are. They are not smart people.

IS44 · 2013-12-05T18:25:07+00:00

And people keep asking me why I hated college...

I wish I could advise you to drop the class, but you probably need it. My general experience in trying to gently introduce men's issues to a discussion usually ends with accusations of sexism.

But that's me, and I was never exactly diplomatic when it came to class issues and debates regarding social issues. If I felt someone was full of bullshit, and that the same someone was trying to influence a class of young 20-somethings into ridiculous beliefs and 'ideas', I'd call the bullshit, and I would always do it directly. Sometimes rudely. People don't like it when their ideas are treated rudely and dragged into the open, but I stand by my rights; nowhere in society should anyone be forced to respect an idea.

Maybe you can take a different approach; I don't know. Here's what I do know: making a stand can still make a difference, even if doing that gets you shot by your opponents. Both of those books, I could never take seriously, but maybe you could press your advantages and tear the gender-presumptions apart.

chocoboat · 2013-12-05T19:39:16+00:00

I don't think personal experiences will give you any useful information. It depends entirely on the individuals in the class and the individual teaching the class.

But I would guess the most college courses like that would mostly contain people who are willing to listen to a well-reasoned opinion without shitting all over it and ignoring facts.

mnhr · 2013-12-05T20:09:15+00:00

I tried writing an essay from an egalitarian standpoint once years ago. The professor gave me and F and asked if I had even learned anything in the class. I can't even imagine what she would have done if I went full MRA in the paper.

Luckily, each professor is different, so maybe yours will be more open to points of view that differ from hers/his.

dejour · 2013-12-06T06:24:24+00:00

I took undergrad psychology, and I got very good grades.

In general whenever I wrote a paper I got over 90%. 95% was typical. I wrote two papers that were MRA-related (basically the idea that sexism goes both ways). On those two papers I got around 85%. Maybe they were slightly lower quality, but I think it was more the fact that the prof disagreed with my conclusions. Paper marking is subjective, and if the prof gets a bad feeling reading your paper you'll do worse.

In classroom discussions, I made a lot of MRM points. Usually they were backed up well. Reaction was okay. Sometimes people would back me up, but often the discussion would move on. No one was ever angry with me or ostracized me.

Psychology is probably a better place to make MRM points than other social sciences. The "women are wonderful" effect is well known. The Archer DV study (the one saying that DV is 50/50) was referenced in my textbook and by one of my profs. Psychologists know that women are treated worse in some ways (hostile sexism) and better in other ways (benevolent sexism). Usually they try to frame it as two different sexisms against women

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambivalent_sexism

Psychologists know that benevolent and hostile sexism correlate with each other.

Benevolent sexism is seen as a negative thing. So most MRM principles can be explained as eliminating benevolent sexism and therefore reducing sexism.

eg. You could say that DV campaigns and shelters are benevolently sexist because they don't recognize that DV is actually 50/50. On the one hand, women benefit from more resources and support. But on the other, people learn to see women as helpless victims. And if people see women as helpless victims, people will be reluctant to put women in charge of big companies or government. You can also add that changing this is fair and just for male victims of DV who currently have little support. I would advise including a thought about why benevolent sexism is bad for women. It's a bit wimpy, but I think it covers your ass.

JoshtheAspie · 2013-12-05T18:59:24+00:00

See if you can get an allowance for your "diversity" credits by taking a class on literature written by a particular group, like say Native Americans or Asians, or by doing an independent study by writing reports on "The Art of War" or "The Book of Five Rings".

rightsbot · 2013-12-05T17:46:23+00:00

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Jawbracer · 2013-12-05T20:25:12+00:00

In my English Literature class we are studying A Handmaid's Tale. Inevitably this leads to a argument about feminist views within the book. As I am known as a "sexist" and a "bigot" for supporting men's rights most turn to me to give a rebuttal. I try to explain that I am not A sexist or a bigot, but to no avail.

I personally would label my self as a humanist and those with a less than adequate education on what exactly that entails tell me that I should be a feminist as well. When I try to explain why I do not support feminism and opt for a choice that represents a greater number of people history repeats itself and I get called a sexist and a bigot.

I love the interesting ideas that come out of such a discussion, but the disregard and hate toward certain world views, like men's rights just saddens me sometimes.

Title	MRA in a Collegiate Environment
Author	IPlayUkulele
Upvotes	12
Comments	14
Date	December 5, 2013 5:44 PM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/1s69ps/mra_in_a_collegiate_environment/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/mra-in-a-collegiate-environment.1156976 https://theredarchive.com/post/1156976

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