Need help in explaining/debating a topic

BlindPelican · 2014-02-07T21:00:48+00:00

A couple of ideas come to mind:

First off, don't make any implication that women don't need some protection or separate "men" and "women" when speaking about it. Use terms like "student", "people", "victims", etc.. Make sure your stance is inclusive (this is not only fair, but will help with the politics of the situation).

Secondly, do you have any anecdotal or reported incidents of men requiring protection at the bar in question? National statistics are good for national issues, but for something local like this, it might be good to use things that are close to home as examples. "Remember Tommy? The guy that got drugged and mugged last year and spent three days in a hospital because he couldn't get a ride home?"

Thirdly a good argument to make is that the issue isn't gender specific and wouldn't be taking anything away from any particular group - the same things that women might need (a cab home when they're had too much to drink or are feeling threatened) are the same things a man might need (the same reasons). So, you wouldn't need to make any special accommodations for men or women. Rather, you would just expand the realm of those people you're helping (and everyone needs help sometimes, right?).

If gender differences do come up, pointing out that men need protection and help from other men is a good way of framing the picture so as not to offend sensibilities (even if we both know those sensibilities are misguided and downright inaccurate).

Since this is a political matter, and involves getting actual things done, sometimes it's a good idea to put ideology aside and focus on the goal - which is to help both men and women and not solely women.

The nicety of this approach: if an opponent uses ideology against the idea, you can claim being pragmatic and paint the opposition as being dogmatic. "We're here to help students, not move forward on a political agenda that's irrelevant to the topic at hand" sort of rhetoric might work (though that depends on your audience).

Good luck with this and good on you for doing it! I think it's a great idea and I love hearing about men who actually take action to address inequality. Please keep us posted on how it goes!

rightsbot · 2014-02-07T20:40:16+00:00

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VortexCortex · 2014-02-09T09:01:49+00:00

an idea that was brought forward was to put $1000 exclusively towards protecting females at the bar.

Guys only night! Woooo!

None of these funds would go towards helping male students.

Awe. Well, in that case, free condoms? No? How about chastity belts then? $1000? Is this per night? That doesn't buy a lot of cabs where I come from, especially not with all that other useless ~~shit~~ stuff like t-shirts.

I know. Why don't you hire a constitutional scholar to come educate the fools about who is responsible for protecting citizens. Protip: Congress says it's not the duty of the government or the police.

If the government can't provide any protection with their trillions, what the fuck are you going to do with a measly grand?

Title	Need help in explaining/debating a topic
Author	KickingPanda
Upvotes	8
Comments	6
Date	February 7, 2014 8:39 PM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/1xau4q/need_help_in_explainingdebating_a_topic/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/need-help-in-explainingdebating-a-topic.1004004 https://theredarchive.com/post/1004004

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