This community sends “All lives matter” vibes. I understand that there are issues with how men are treated and there is nothing wrong with talking about it, but it does seem a little bit like a distraction from feminism issues. Women are objectively under a lot bigger threat and talking about women rights more makes a lot more sense. Of course, mentioning how men are treated is also useful, but dedicating a whole community to exactly this part of the problem seems a bit problematic. It would be more useful for it to be about general issues of gender roles or something like that, this way it seems like it is targeting feminism.

Furthermore, I heard that unionbusting companies now are starting to focus on feminism, racial inclusion and etc. Because it makes everyone uncomfortable and devides people by some arbitary characteristics. That makes people less likely to unite in their common interests, because it is percieved that their interests are very different, which is not the case.

  • anarchost@lemm.ee
    2·
    8 months ago

    Based on your Reddit link, I would say that my Wikipedia link identifies the same group as you did. Of course, I’m not going to hold you to the opinions of individual shitty people within a group as long as that group doesn’t choose them or those particular positions as representative of the group.

    I’m also not going to hold you as a representative of the group either. If you’re unfamiliar enough with them to not be able to rattle off a couple names (and not just withholding them out of spite) then I imagine you aren’t particularly committed to the movement as it exists, anyway. You can feel free to say “well fuck them” if you feel like it.

    With that out of the way, allow me to tear into the largest and lowest hanging fruit. From your source:

    IS THE MEN’S RIGHTS MOVEMENT A COHERENT GROUP?

    Not really. There are a growing number of official advocacy groups that lobby for men’s issues, but they are scattered and focused on specific issues. Some advocacy groups include: A Voice For Men, The Community Of The Wrongly Accused, Fathers and Families, Media Radar.

    I remember A Voice For Men because it is one of the worst groups that could represent men’s rights, period. With one of the most reprehensible people as its founder. From Wikipedia and extensively sourced:

    In early 2011, AVFM created the website Register-Her, a wiki page that initially listed the names, addresses, and other personal information of women convicted of murdering or raping men.

    So a doxxing website exclusively targeted at women, but at least they only targeted actual felons, right?

    Nope.

    Later, the site’s operators expanded the registry include women they judged guilty of “false rape accusations” or “anti-male bigotry”. They also began publishing personal information about women who participated in protests against the men’s rights movement (MRM), who mocked the MRM on social media, or who publicly supported feminism. [Website owner Paul] Elam said that there would no longer be “any place to hide on the internet” for “lying bitches”. The site was closed for a time, but restored at different web address (at least, until February 18, 2020).

    Paul Elam himself:

    …argued women who allow men to buy them drinks or drunkenly kiss men “ARE NOT ASKING TO BE RAPED. They are freaking begging for it. Damn near demanding it.”

    • Throwaway@lemm.ee
      23·
      8 months ago

      You got it spot on, I’m not a MRA, Im honestly not very familar with the goings on. I just see them on /all and /popular from time to time, and thats when I glance at the front page on their respective subs.

      Everytime I glance at the mens rights sub, its about the issues men face, and overcoming them, or solving them, or just talking about the issues. Uplifting men in general.

      Everytime at glance at the mens lib, its a bunch of posts about how men are the real monsters, how men should be more feminine, how men are sexist without knowing it, how men are the oppressors, how men are to blame for their issues, how masculinity is toxic, etc etc.

      Notably menslib fills their sub with the weird kind of feminism, and has no room left for overcoming mens issues or helping men in general.

      And yes, like many groups, mras arent exactly coherent. Theres definitely some assholes among them, same as feminism, same as mens lib, Im sure. Hell, a few suffragettes went on to become OG fascists. Every large group of humans has assholes. That does not mean the group is bad, just that theyre human.

      You really have to go with what they say and do as a whole, and make your own judgement. The klan was bad. The suffragettes were good. That sort of thing. I cant convince you of anything, this is an internet argument, but maybe give the sub a chance. And definitely stay away from A voice for men, fucking christ.

      • anarchost@lemm.ee
        21·
        8 months ago

        Well, that’s why I asked about the figureheads that you believed were correct in the movement. Anybody can stumble in and be accidentally correct or incorrect, but the issue with the men’s rights advocates as a whole is that their ideology springs from people like Paul Elam and his organization. They were the number one group in your link.

        It’s important to start from a solid basis, and that’s where feminism starts from the right place and anti-feminism starts from absolutely the wrong one.