Please or to access all these features

Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Why are feminists so threatened by the MRA movement?

635 replies

LaVoixDeLaRaison · 09/09/2014 18:47

When I was at university, the Gender Equality society (of which I was a member) chose to rename itself the Feminist society, arguing that the only way equality could be achieved was by focusing on women's issues. This led some other students to set up an MRA group, which was met with some resistance from the feminists. On this very board I see commenters angrily referring to MRAs as if they are all members of an evil homogeneous group.

Isn't it possible that men and women both suffer oppression from society in different ways? That the levels of this oppression are not necessarily equal, but are still important if we are to achieve equality? I often see feminists agreeing with certain 'male issues' (e.g. media stereotypes, elevated male suicide rate), but suggesting that feminism has other priorities, and if they want to do something about these issues then they should make their own groups. Why do they get criticized when they do exactly that? Better still, wouldn't feminism be better off if it didn't alienate so many men (and women, focused on a wider range of issues, and stopped pitting the sexes against one another?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
12
TessOfTheFurbyvilles · 09/09/2014 21:57

Just one more point I want to make, before I have to get back to real life.

I will be as bold to say that MRAs have almost certainly never experienced the issues that the men they claim to speak for have. I know my brother believe that too.

BuffyBotRebooted · 09/09/2014 21:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AnnieLobeseder · 09/09/2014 21:50

SevenZarkSeven - really? Blush I was hoping everyone from that time had moved on. Not because I would wish any lovely feminist should ever leave FWR, but for the preservation of my own sorry pride! Grin

WinifredBurkle · 09/09/2014 21:50

When it comes to female on male violence, which I also find abhorrent, I feel that we should listen to the OP and follow the sterling example of MRAs with male on female violence:

IT'S NOT ALL WOMEN, SO SHUT THE FUCK UP.

Not tried this tactic before but seeing how women are getting it all wrong I thought I'd give it a go. How was it OP has it helped?

SevenZarkSeven · 09/09/2014 21:49

Petula

"What are you doing about global violence against women?"

Alternatively we could ask him:

"What are you doing about global violence against men?"

And the answer, I suspect, would be the same.

LaVoixDeLaRaison · 09/09/2014 21:48

BuffyBotRebooted
I don't really see how that's relevant. If we do want to compare the two situations (although I think the grounds for doing so are very weak) then it would follow that only those affected by cancer should devote their energy to fighting cancer, and vice versa with malaria. What's wrong with being concerned with both?

PetulaGordino
This is also irrelevant to the discussion at hand, and I'm not going to justify myself to you. My arguments would be just as valid or invalid regardless of the level of my activism regarding global violence against women, so it would be pointless to list my activity in this area.

OP posts:
BuffyBotRebooted · 09/09/2014 21:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SevenZarkSeven · 09/09/2014 21:48

But I mean, seriously, you've got to be taking the piss. Your posts don't even make sense and yet you're so earnest about it.

SevenZarkSeven · 09/09/2014 21:47

"My apologies if that assumption was correct, but didn't you suggest that you would fear for your personal safety if you posted on MRA forums, and therefore couldn't engage them in a discussion which challenged their views? "

NO she said that she HAD posted in discussions with MRAs and HAD received threats and so she didn't want to do it any more.

Can;t you read?

You sure as fuck can't construct a coherent argument.

TessOfTheFurbyvilles · 09/09/2014 21:46

I don't think anyone has said they don't care about the issues that some men face have they? It's just that they place more importance on the issues women are facing, as they're women.

There are plenty of issues I care about, but I can't campaign actively for all of them, I'd have no time for anything else!

SevenZarkSeven · 09/09/2014 21:45

Of course men can be oppressed.

Poor men, non-white men (in certain countries), gay men lots and lots often to the point of death etc and so on.

You haven't shown me that you care about any of those things, in your posts. You have talked about insurance and whined that men earn all the money.

CaptChaos · 09/09/2014 21:44

Honestly?

There is so much awfulness happening to women all over the world. A lot of it in places where women have no voice at all, that women have no energy to fight men's battles for them as well. We are sympathetic, some of us are actively supportive, but it's not our battle. We hold no power, few government positions, few statesperson roles. If you want to get to the root causes of why men have a hard time, look at the socially constructed gender roles we're forced to live with and campaign to get your fellow men in power to do something.

PetulaGordino · 09/09/2014 21:42

I would fear for my personal safety, and that is based on past experience. Do you not believe me?

gertiegusset · 09/09/2014 21:42

But you haven't told us yet what oppression men suffer from, oppression that the majority of the male population suffer from.

Beachcomber · 09/09/2014 21:42

Win you over?

No thanks. I think I shall now hide your thread and go and exchange ideas on subjects that are of more value to me, with posters who want to share and listen and build. Human rights are not just a sixth form debating subject.

HTH.

LaVoixDeLaRaison · 09/09/2014 21:42

TessOfTheFurbyvilles

Ok, well I disagree that it should be the responsibility per se of men to initiate the campaign (I believe we should all challenge abuse when we see it). I'm glad that he has been successful though, and am glad that the women's shelter offered him support.

OP posts:
PetulaGordino · 09/09/2014 21:41

What are you doing about global violence against women?

BuffyBotRebooted · 09/09/2014 21:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LaVoixDeLaRaison · 09/09/2014 21:40

PetulaGordino

My apologies if that assumption was correct, but didn't you suggest that you would fear for your personal safety if you posted on MRA forums, and therefore couldn't engage them in a discussion which challenged their views? That was how I interpreted your comments, but please correct me if my interpretation was wrong.

OP posts:
PetulaGordino · 09/09/2014 21:39

And an extra one from me for tess's brother Flowers

LaVoixDeLaRaison · 09/09/2014 21:37

BuffyBotRebooted

What a needlessly rude response. You did something I thought was commendable, so I congratulated you. I'd also like to congratulate you and anyone else in this forum who has campaigned for women's issues. I'm sorry if you take offence at that, but that's a genuinely strange response which I could not realistically have forseen. I'm not going to abandon common decency, I like to congratulate people and thank them for the good things that they do.

I never said it was the fault of feminists that men also suffer from oppression. You have tactfully chosen to ignore the more serious issues I raised, and focused on insurance premiums instead, which I find to be dishonest. I still have not seen any reason why feminists should not concentrate on both? Does an acknowledgment that men can be oppressed mean that I am any less concerned about global violence against women? No of course not, and it's offensive to suggest that that is the case.

So why should you care about these issues too? Because you realize that they can affect the people you love? Because you feel that oppression is wrong in all forms, no matter who it affects? Because you want to stop men and women from being so alienated by feminism? Those are just a few of the reasons that I believe it is necessary for you to care about these issues.

OP posts:
PetulaGordino · 09/09/2014 21:37

I still want to know why the assumption is that I don't post anywhere else and haven't experienced any direct threats as a result

CaptChaos · 09/09/2014 21:37

Seven, in all fairness, we have been mean. We haven't won him over, even with our facts and knowledge and logic. We've destroyed his silly assertions and stuff. Souch so that he's all confused about why he's here

Poor MRA dude.

BuffyBotRebooted · 09/09/2014 21:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BuffyBotRebooted · 09/09/2014 21:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Posting is temporarily suspended on this thread.