Dear masculists

#INeedMasculismBecause was trending on Twitter last week, and like all things masculism, the ensuing argument broke the Internet.

Masculists pitted themselves against feminists in a Twitter battle as fruitless as every other Internet fight.

For the unacquainted, masculism is the ideology of men’s rights activists, who claim that feminism overshot, resulting in the oppression of men.

Follow the white rabbit down the glory hole that is the men’s rights subreddit for a more wide-ranging glimpse of just how society is keeping men down, with posts and comments that sometimes read like a circle jerk of the Nice Guys of OkCupid.

One of the most frustrating aspects of the movement is that many of these men have legitimate concerns, but they are articulating them in a way that is alienating and offensive.

Custody laws that inherently favor the mother, the incarceration and treatment of the prison population that is mostly male, the marginalization of male victims of sexual assault and abuse and other issues are problems that need to be addressed.

But these problems arise not due to oppression, but due to a history of flawed thinking in regard to gender.

Saying that male-bodied persons are being systematically oppressed is not a great way to endear people to a cause. To be oppressed, one must be disempowered. As we live in a patriarchal society founded, built and run by men, there is an obvious dissonance in the lamentations of men’s rights activists.

Though no research has been conducted on the demographics of MRAs, their concerns seem to imply that many are experiencing

oppression — oppression in the form of classism or racism, not misandry.

For the institutionalized biases that do exist against men, MRAs would do well to stop pitting themselves against feminists and instead join the more established movement.  
Constructions of masculinity are already being studied and discussed in gender studies classes around the country, and most feminists are aware of the negative effects of patriarchy on men.

Some of these men seem to realize that something is being taken away, and it doesn’t feel fair. But that something is the privilege that comes with being male.

Most men will never take a class that requires readings by exclusively female authors. There is no need for a male Bechdel Test, because male characters in movies are usually important and discuss topics other than women.  

Men still hold an inordinate amount of CEO positions and seats in Congress. When a man runs for president, no one will wonder if America is ready. He will never be asked what designer he’s wearing.

MRAs raise important issues, but they are misguided in asserting that male voices are being overshadowed by those of women and transgendered individuals. Trans men and women are some of the most invisible people in the United States.

Adjust the rhetoric, tone down the misogyny and perhaps we can actually address the problems about which MRAs are rightly concerned.

­— casefarr@indiana.edu