There is no doubt that patriarchy has had an impact on men as well. The patriarchy, which is the source of gender-based oppression for both men and women, makes it difficult to understand why someone would need to start a counter movement to women’s movements and denigrate all feminists who fight discrimination. Men’s rights activism was founded for the upliftment of all genders from the voice of men, but in recent years it has developed an ill perceived face which has ruin the significance of the movement. But why has it turned out this way?
What is activism for men’s rights?
On social media, men’s rights activism pages and user accounts are now commonplace, and they have a sizable following. These so-called “Men’s Rights Activists” frequently state that the purpose of their social pages and accounts is to “promote awareness, discuss, and share problems relevant to men and boys.”
But sometimes they lose their own perspective and start to put down and talk badly about people of the opposite gender, which is obviously not a good way to promote equality.
Here are some methods for removing the misrepresented side of men’s rights activism:
Women are out to turn the world against men because they despise them
Too frequently, the term “misandry” is used to minimize the arguments made by women against the patriarchy. However, feminism has nothing to do with detesting males. Men can occasionally support sexism and misogyny, whether knowingly or unknowingly, and feminists dislike both of these things. It’s critical to acknowledge this when it occurs.
A few outspoken women, whose opinions most would argue do not correspond with feminist doctrine, as well as the false notion that feminists believe that males are essentially bad, are two reasons why the caricature of the “man-hating” feminist arises. Simply put, this is untrue, and claims that “not all males” are responsible for the issues are disruptive and counterproductive.
MRAs may also believe that feminists despise men because they do not give men’s issues the same amount of attention in feminist settings. Although it is important to acknowledge that patriarchy harms males as well, the fact that it harms women should be sufficient to bring about societal change.
Just like fake feminism is blamed for pushing men down, similarly, the ill perceived face of Male Right activism targets feminists too.
Because chivalry is a female privilege, feminists are hypocrites
According to a common myth, feminists label unequal treatment as sexism when they agree with it and as chivalry when they disagree.
That is untrue. The so-called “benefits” of being a lady are largely the result of “benevolent sexism,” a set of actions that have been shown to be detrimental to both women and social activism. This is because people frequently fail to recognise them for what they are: actions rooted in restrictive stereotypes of masculinity and femininity that prevent gender equality by maintaining men in a position of dominance over women.
This is not to argue that individuals should be rude to one another, because gallantry and civility are two different concepts. Being kind to someone just because they are a great person is different from being kind to them just because they are a fragile, defenseless woman.
How it’s harming men themselves
Male rights activists from all over the world are calling for men’s rights, but their demands have changed to focus on issues that are really the result of patriarchy, which affects both men and women equally. According to the campaigners, men are killing themselves because society makes fun of them when they voice their insecurities, rather than because women report sexual assault.
Male rights activists should choose to focus on this instead of bashing women and the MeToo movement. Statistics for dowry killings and sexual assault demonstrate that considerably more women than men are victims of gender violence, despite the fraudulent cases of dowry and sexual charges. Several studies have also shown that people who support male rights often lie about the information they give to people in order to mislead them.
Aside from this, the activists who are allegedly protecting the rights and interests of males appear to have no idea what difficulties trans men confront. Also, these activists don’t seem to care about caste, since they don’t mention the rising suicide rates among men from lower castes in their long arguments for making a men’s commission.
In other words, many campaigns are less about the actual issues that men face in general and more about creating a false and baseless counter-narrative. As a result, the movement is void, insular, and ignorant of the greater patriarchal bonds that prey on individuals of all genders. To appreciate the power dynamics at work, a discussion on men and masculinity is undoubtedly necessary.
Our views about Men’s Rights Activism
Changing the subject or doing things just for the sake of demeaning any other gender is going to serve nothing but harm to everybody. Many unheard stories are disappearing as we become more focused on having a competition here. It’s as simple as that; there is no “all” in any gender. No “ALL MEN” or “ALL WOMEN.” Hence, even though men’s rights activism is wavering at the moment with ill perceived notions, there are several activists that are fighting the proper cause of gender equality representing men.