international men's day, take 2

[darthfox]

I confess I had only heard of this thing from my former classmate on the Facebooks. And it was asked of me on LJ what this actually is and who organizes it and so on, and so now I read the following, courtesy of Uncle Wiki:International Men's Day (IMD) is an annual international event celebrated on November 19. Inaugurated in 1999 in Trinidad and Tobago, the day and its events find support from individuals and groups supporting men's rights and other human rights issues in Australia, the Caribbean, North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and the United Nations. Speaking on behalf of UNESCO, Director of Women and Culture of Peace Ingeborg Breines said of IMD, "This is an excellent idea and would give some gender balance." She added that UNESCO was looking forward to cooperating with IMD organizers.

The objectives of celebrating an International Men's Day include focusing on men's and boy's health, improving gender relations, promoting gender equality, and highlighting positive male role models. It is an occasion for men to highlight discrimination against them and to celebrate their achievements and contributions, in particular for their contributions to community, family, marriage, and child care.

(emphasis added.)
[deep breath] So okay.

• men's rights - also known as human rights (which is also true of women's rights), the difference being that men qua men are not customarily deprived of their rights as a class. (Again: ask a woman. Or ask a gay person about straight rights. Or ask a Jewish person about Gentile rights. Or ask a black person about white rights. And then apologize.)
  
• and would give some gender balance - gosh, I'm sorry, is the attention given in some parts of the world to making sure women are treated as the same kind of citizens as men imbalanced? Trust me, in the places where the need is greatest, you don't want to be sure men are treated as the same kind of citizens as women. See above re: rights.
  
• focusing on men's and boy's [sic] health - not, in itself, a bad thing. Except, again, this is what most of the focus is on usually anyway. I don't have statistics at my fingertips, but it is a fact that many, many, many pharmaceutical companies (for example) don't take careful note of how their medications may have different and more dangerous side effects in women. To take one example. Or older people. Or, or, or. OR! Who would like to predict how long it will be before some government-funded study suggests that men don't need prostate cancer screening until ten years after they've been getting it all this time, and then only half as often? Mammograms save women's lives, but by all means, let's cut back on that.
  
• improving gender relations - I'm all for it, of course, but I no longer have any confidence that what I mean by this is what the organizers of International Men's Day mean. I mean, as I said above, efforts to recognize that women and men are the same kinds of citizens. I suspect that they mean working to make men less misunderstood.
  
• promoting gender equality - ditto.
  
• highlighting positive male role models - This, right here, is a good thing. Especially if it's done for the benefit of the boys and young men who require such role models, rather than for the congratulation of the role models themselves. This item gives me reassurance ...
  
• It is an occasion for men to highlight the discrimination against them - ... and then the very next sentence squashes that reassurance like a bug. Fuck off. FUCK. OFF.
  
• celebrate their achievements and contributions - I invite you to look at lists of the following: Presidents of the United States. Nobel Prize winners. University professors. Fortune 500 CEOs. Writers, composers, painters, architects, and other creative people whose works young people study. Winners of the Oscar or the Tony for directing. I think you'll find that men's achievements and contributions have been celebrated since records began.
  
• in particular for their contributions to community, family, marriage, and child care - as
  cereta often takes pains to point out (and did just yesterday, in fact; LJ|DW), not fucking up is not an achievement, nor is it a contribution. You don't get a pat on the back for contributing yourself to your community, your family, your marriage, or the care of your own child. This would be going exactly as far as the call of duty.

So, yeah, there is my assessment of the first two paragraphs of the description of International Men's Day. My reaction has not changed: that there is every day. Call me when it's White Middle-Class Straight Cisgendered Able-Bodied American Citizen With A Bank Balance Day. I'll make some cookies.