Oftentimes, whenever i discuss men’s issues, as well as the importance of the men’s rights movement/male advocacy in general, a very common counterargument is the phrase "FeMiNiSm HeLpS mEn ToO". Yet, whenever we look at feminism's actions towards men, we always find that male issues and plights are either ignored, downplayed or even made worse by the "solutions" offered by feminism. Which raises the question. Why does feminism do such a shit job of helping men.

Now, putting aside the man hating and misandry going on in the movement currently, I think it boils down to a few reasons.

  1. It views most problems from a mostly female centric perspective: As you may already know, feminism is a very pro women movement, as indicative of its very name. Due to this female centric approach, men's issues are either ignored completely, downplayed or outright censored. Not only that, but men's issues, are often placed in a skewed importance scale. It explains why an issue like "toxic masculinity" is deemed more important than male victims of rape getting the help they need. It also explains why some issues gets very little, if any coverage by feminists, while others are deemed as "gendered". It's because it doesn't line up with the female perspective. Take for example, domestic violence, an issue that affects both sexes. Yet, when we examine who dv laws benefit, as well as which group of victims get the most amount of help, sympathy and resources needed to treat the aftermath of such an incident, its always female victims. Why? Well according to the female perspective, the only people who qualify as victims of domestic violence are those who's aggressors are stronger and more dominant than them. To most of these feminists, the picture of domestic violence in their minds is usually of a physically stronger, taller, more dominant, aggressive individual (most often a man) beating up their weaker, smaller, more submissive spouse (a woman). Despite the fact that women can be just as, if not more aggressive and or dominant than their male counterparts. Due to this, frameworks like the duluth model still remain endorsed, despite it being outdated and ignoring factors like age, attachment to the relationship, past sexual/romantic history, presence of children, etc.

  2. Very rarely do they consult men on their issues: Oftentimes, whenever feminists discuss men’s issues or even men in general, very rarely do they ask men what are your issues? What problems do you have? What's the source of your pain? ,etc., etc. The only time ive even seen something close to a sit down was with Cassie Jaye's making of the red pill . Instead, what they usually do is that they see a problem that affects men, and analyzes it from a very female centric view. Because they neglect to get the male perspective on men’s issues, what often happens is that they get a very skewed, incomplete picture of a very complex problem. For example, they may see an issue like male suicide and chalk it up to "toxic masculinity" or "men can't express emotions" when really the problem is that men don't get any help with their mental health.

  3. Most solutions put forward by feminists are either nonexistent, vague, or do little, if anything at all to remedy the problems that men have. On the rare occasion that feminists acknowledge men’s issues, the solutions presented do little, if any to help fix these issues. For example, their solution to try and fix the issue of high rates of male suicide is "Encourage men to open up more" or "Men can cry too". While crying and opening up may help in the short term, oftentimes it doesn't resolve the issue, but rather make it worse by prolonging the issue. A reoccurring theme of these "solutions" is how vague, fanciful and impractical it is. Take another example. Whenever the problem of male dv is brought up, the phrase "Men can just leave" is often common. While idealistic, it makes many assumptions, most dangerous of which is that men have nothing that prevents them from walking away from an abusive girlfriend/wife. This however is false, as most men who stayed and endured abuse did so because of factors like presence of children/pets, whether they were married or not, manipulation by his abuser, etc. By taking such an approach, you not only make the issue worse, but you also create other issues in the process.

In conclusion, I think feminism isn't equipped to handle or tackle men’s issues, simply due to the fact that they see most issues, regardless of which sex, race, gender identity, etc, is affected by it the most, through a female centric lens. Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing, but it must be applied to the right issues. Because by applying it to the wrong ones, the consequences can be dire. If yall have any other reasons as to why feminism is so bad at dealing with men’s issues, put them down in the comments below. Anyways, sorry for the long post, hope yall have a great day, and thank you for taking the time to read it. Cya until next time.