Men's rights matter - a rant I posted on tumblr that I'm also gonna post here

[atoms_vibrating]

(TW: abuse, rape, assault, mental illness, mental health)

Men’s rights matter.

Why? Because men are human beings, too. Men are victims of the patriarchy, too.

Oh, absolutely: men benefit from the patriarchy more than women, in quite a number of ways. But men experience the dark and insidious sides of the patriarchy, too. The patriarchy as a systemic

Comments

[meadowlark]

I would be so much more amenable to having discussions on men's rights if men didn't make a habit of coming into feminist spaces and demanding to know how feminism benefits them, howling about “female privilege," making logical leaps from legit, reasoned criticisms of feminist ideologies to “... and therefore feminism as a whole is invalid," and generally being antagonistic and vile. Sadly, that's how the majority seem to behave, and I have a hard time giving a flying fuck about men's rights as a result. :/

[meadowlark]

Relevant problem: Feminist men try to create space to talk about their experiences of patriarchy, what they find harmful about masculinity, etc., and those spaces are inevitably invaded and hijacked by the “All women are evil, gold-digging whores" crowd. The lowest common denominator ruins things for everyone, yet again.

[atoms_vibrating]

The reddit 'men's rights activists' that have migrated to tumblr. I hate those assholes. They're not men's rights activists. They're trolls; they're the ones making it hard for everyone, men and women included. They seem to completely fail to see how their actions are hurting everyone. They don't even care about people, it seems. My post is not for people like that. They don't deserve compassion if all they're willing to disperse is hatred and vitriol.

[meadowlark]

Agreed. They do zero advocacy on behalf of legit men's rights issues, and it's obvious that most of their effort is concentrated on reversing the political, social, and economic strides women have made. (Actually, "effort" is probably too strong a word, since their activity seems to entirely of penning bizarre, frothing rants about how women are sexually harassing them by wearing high heels and other similarly nonsensical shit.) For all of their protestations, they don't care about men or equality; they just want to hurt women.

[atoms_vibrating]

I struggle with that, too. I'm trying not to let that affect my interaction with every man I encounter, but it's hard. While this sounds contradictory to my post, I hate men as a species. I hate what men have done to me. I hate what men have done to people I care about. I hate that men start wars.

There are also men I love, though. My male friends who have never hurt me. I care about them and I care about their struggles and their issues, and how they have no space in society to be allowed to grieve or to talk about mental illness or abuse. I guess this post is for them.

[meadowlark]

While this sounds contradictory to my post, I hate men as a species. I hate what men have done to me. I hate what men have done to people I care about. I hate that men start wars.

That makes sense, and I share your feelings.

There are also men I love, though. My male friends who have never hurt me. I care about them and I care about their struggles and their issues, and how they have no space in society to be allowed to grieve or to talk about mental illness or abuse. I guess this post is for them.

In total agreement here. I guess in my mind there's a chasm between those men and the ones I typically hear ranting about "men's rights."