I’m reposting a link to this old entry of mine because I find the anti-feminist attacks at Hugo’s blog so tiresome.
An excerpt:
Frankly, I do know a few “hairy-legged dykes with a vendetta against men” and quite like them, but just as there are stereotypical members of any group, there are many of us that break the mold. Just as I cringe to see women (for example) denied of their individuality, I cringe to see men (corresponding example) denied the same. What the majority of third wave feminists hope to attain is an ideological meeting ground for all genders and both sexes to meet upon, to create greater understanding and compassion for myriad issues, from media representations to court decisions, to corporate measures and standards, and so forth.
Feminists do not want undeserved rights handed to women on a plate. We want equal access to opportunity. This access is affected by so much I think the theories surrounding it deserve more than a black and white take, when we all know that individual experiences are made in shades of gray.
Feminism, generically, purports to see the world through a gender lens. That’s it. And just as most people do when they feel the world is unjust in a particular way, they hope to change the injustice and may act to do so. The other views and layers come in as we begin to see how race, class, religion, upbringing, and geographical location affect how gender is formed over time.
Sounds very threatening.
Feminism, as has been said recently, is not a zero- sum game. A success of feminist movement does not mean that men’s rights are diminished. To believe so assumes that there is a Civil Rights pie and we’re arguing over a limited share.
The moral aggrandizing over the women’s movement’s lack of attention to men’s rights is ridiculous. For decades feminists have not only been explicitly providing examples how the majority of men benefit from the removal of traditional binding gender roles, but I’m afraid that it isn’t up to women to define men’s lives for them.
Isn’t that why the MRM is upset in the first place?
The problem with the blaming and shaming is that feminists are so often accused of man-hating for advocating women’s rights rather than actually hating men. In my experience, there are far more vocal anti-feminists who openly admit their bitterness and malevolence toward women than vice versa. In addition, as Echidne said elsewhere, it seems as though many anti-feminists would hate women whether feminism existed or not.
We are only an easy target for their ire.