Question (and lets start a discussion ) for university members of Reddit MRA: what's the climate like for men on your campus at the moment? Are people becoming more sympathetic to men's viewpoints, or are men's concerns still verboten?

derpylord143 · 2016-07-21T11:44:59+00:00

In my uni, the experience is definitely strange, such as in my criminal law class, we were discussing the sexual offences, specifically rape. we were trying to see who thought men should be allowed to be victims of rape, every guy in class said we should be, and about half the girls said we shouldn't (the other half didn't speak), one girl said and i quote "if they get a hard on they must be enjoying it" (i felt like saying "well then if a women gets wet shes enjoying it right?"). Rape culture came up and i made comments like "you're taking the term out of its original context, specifically that it was coined to describe the state of US prisons, where rape was so rampant and accepted that it wasn't even shocking, it was part of prison culture, on the other hand, everyone in society bar a select few hate it...", "you bring up people saying don't do this or that, but thats not acceptance, its risk avoidance, its different if they walk up to a victim and say "yeah its your fault you didn't X" but saying "if rape happens so much, then do X to lower your risk" is not and will never be victim blaming, its victim prevention, if i lived in a high theft area id lock my door, so i wasn't robbed, if i had to pass though a "ghetto" id hide my valuables so i wasn't attacked for them... its risk avoidance not victim blaming, ultimately if you dont take such steps then the risk cannot be that high" then my seminar leader wouldn't let me speak again... (well actually it was after i questioned her use of stats when she wouldnt let me use mine but i think her credibility was dashed by that anyway) but pretty much every guy in class was on my side...

i slammed feminism in critical intro to law. my seminar leader was feminist and talking about how we should look at the law through feminist lenses till i brought up them pushing sexist laws and policies such as the Duluth model, male only rape laws, sole mother custody family law policies and so on... I went on to say that its not critical thinking to simply assume the feminist lenses is the right one and that you need to be critical of all that you rely on, including the lenses, and that pushing the students to use it without talking about and analysing the downs sides to it is counter productive. much of the class was on my side (including some of the girls though a few didn't like me) but then again, being law students, who have to rely on evidence, they are probably more open since i was more than willing (and did on occasions) hit them with more than enough evidence.

however most lectures and seminar leaders were feminist, one of my classes was so dominated by feminists arguing with them would've meant everyone disliking me (which would ultimately have hampered my course). not only that but much of the course was built around feminist views on the law, so having argued against it with more knowledge than anyone else, at times it felt like i was against everyone as i was arguing the very cores of their views. for instance some girls in the lecture answered the question "name some things that feminism has done" (note it was in critical intro to law) and they said "got women the right to vote", which itself isn't true (the suffragettes actually slowed female voting rights - or at least that is the view of many historians), but the lecturer then said that women didn't have equal voting rights until 1928, which isn't a lie but its deceitful as she didn't mention the vast majority of men (who had the vote at an age when women didnt) died in or 4-5 years before 1918 when men had got universal voting rights. it seemed that my classes after a year were considerably more open to my views then they were before i was advocating my points (at the start of the year they all dismissed my views but by the end they were far more open - a few even looking into this movement).

to answer it then, its negative of the MRM (as they haven't looked at it properly simply holding the normal views pushed by feminists) however when feminism is criticised and supported by evidence, most people accept that its flawed, and that it is bad for men, when you bring up mens issues, they are supportive, and at the end of the year when they found out i was an MRA, none of them stopped liking me, as i hadnt been sexist and the one girl who tried to make me out that way, had 2 girls and a guy say stuff like "he isnt, he just isnt a feminist, ultimately his issues with the movement are legitimate". its hostile, unless you can make your arguments first and have people see that it isnt sexist, but another way of looking at things, the hard part is making people accept that, and on my course i probably had it easier, since its all based on evidence. not only this but it seems that feminist influence is far more effective on women, as the men were far more accepting of my views and accepted them a lot faster, (a couple of guys telling me to LOOK THIS FORUM UP suggesting a couple already shared my views).

Edit: Altered a part to make it a little more accurate (not all men had died, only a small portion of the male population suffered huge losses, predominantly between the ages of 18-30)

FUCKEAGAMES · 2016-07-21T11:10:28+00:00

I go to university in Ohio and I am also an athlete. Every male sports team has to meet with the "title 9 director " once a year. The lady basically tells us that short of getting signed and written consent there is no way for us to defend ourselves against a false rape accusation and that she realizes how messed up that is. Well, one day a good friend of mine had a young lady in his room that he had to kick out because she wouldn't leave. The next day she filed a police report and went to the school. With no evidence whatsoever the police come to his room wanting to search it and the school actually tried to kick my friend off campus for being a danger to the student body. Ludicrous! This young lady then went on to do the same thing a few weeks later to some other poor guy! My friends name was dragged through the mud for an entire semester and the schools "investigation team" basically just assumed him guilty from the start. Sorry I'm on mobile and on my way to work but I'd love to talk more about this because it is a source of great frustration and I was actually investigated as well because the same girl claimed I was harassing her. My friend and I both damn near got expelled all on the word of an 18 year old girl.

MagicGainbow · 2016-07-21T08:26:11+00:00

I've seen the Hunting Ground screened at my university and posters abound about rape culture.

nicksnacs · 2016-07-21T10:27:46+00:00

I would say the teachers and vast majority support feminism by default. But generally it's not that extreme. If you bring up men's problems like suicide, hazardous work, and likelihood to be murdered you'll generally receive understanding and an come to an agreement that it is a problem. Almost no one is going to deny those statistically backed things.

But the wage gap still persists strongly with almost no one to speak against it. I saw an anti-rape poster for women in the men's bathroom and people (guys, since it was the men's restroom) had written all over it that men get raped to and they have no support for it and whatnot, but there were also people on there saying the opposite.

Definitely wouldn't say that feminism is rampant but it definitely exists in the atmosphere. Kinda the way feminism claims patriarchy and misogyny is systematic. Feminism is built into the college system but you're not always going to see it.

disayle32 · 2016-07-21T05:41:48+00:00

My university has definitely been overrun with feminism...but there are little signs that our feminist overlords haven't completely won all the hearts and minds. Last semester, I was in a "social advocacy" class and our final project was to create a website that would function as an advocacy hub for a cause of our choosing. I decided to create a fathers' rights website. Much to my surprise--and pleasure--the class had a very positive reception to the idea. Several of my peers even told me their own experiences of discrimination by family courts, or the experiences of those they knew.

Throwawayingaccount · 2016-07-21T12:02:53+00:00

Georgia (The state, not the country) student here. Graduated in may with BS in Computer Science.

Most teachers were in support of women's rights. I had little contact with non CS/Math teachers due to how my schedule worked out. However, something notable that stuck with me is my English Lit 2 teacher was also the head of gender studies. And she did state that all genders have issues, and we can't neglect any of them. So that's a good sign.

Back to the CS department, it's fucking obvious how much pressure the teachers were under to increase the number of female CS students and graduates. Like holy shit, most of them flat out could not code. They were consistently the least productive (codewise, some were good if we needed to do artistic or design choices) person that actually tried in group projects.

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