Men are the new fascists ..

Apparently, this was about a march by a group called CARF, and they were marching against two 'far right' protesters, Sydney Watson (a girl) and Avi Yemini - both of whom were protesting in favour of men's rights.



These two individuals stated they weren't trying to diminish women's rights in any way, or even the rights of 'minorities'; but felt as though they were trying to make a point - that is is okay to be a 'blokey' bloke (or what most people consider as a 'masculine' man).



We can argue the case against 'toxic' masculinity and so forth, and not everything considered 'masculine' is necessarily good or 'wholesome'.  For instance, it is far more civilised for men (as it is for women) to use words to talk things out, rather than resorting to physical violence. 



This is probably what feminists describe as 'mansplaining' (the tendency for some men to rationalise and explain certain things, which some women might regard as patronising or belittling).



Fair enough: as long as the men in question aren't using it to justify bad or questionable behaviour, then I would rather put up with it than say, being yelled at or (worse still) being physically assaulted.



However, there are many things which the 'men's rights' movement try to address, like child custody or domestic violence issues (and no, it is not just violence against women and girls which is still at stake here, it can happen to men too).  Other issues would include male sexual assault, the 'emasculation' of boys in school (especially by female teachers), the importance of 'father figures' in one's life (especially on Father's Day), men's depression, men's health and many more things which affect the men and boys in our lives.



If I saw that such men's rights movements were trying to celebrate rape and other similar problematic behaviours, then yes, I would agree that feminists should step up and say, 'Enough is enough'.  And I would even agree that men should be stepping up and saying, 'Enough is enough' too, if they saw how badly affected the women and girls in their lives were and didn't like it.  I would not only agree, but also embrace it and say it is a good thing this is happening.



But in the meantime, I see nothing wrong with men saying they are also affected by these things, not only vicariously but also directly, and as long as their problems are genuine, then why not?



cheers,

Night Owl