Men's movement
The
men's movement is a
social movement that includes a number of
philosophies and organizations that seek to support men, change the male gender role and improve men's rights in regard to marriage and child access. Major movements with the men's movement include
pro-feminist,
men's liberation, anti-sexism or
masculism,
mythopoetic and
men's /
fathers' rights.
Participants vary in terms of religion, politics, sexuality and a number of women are involved. The movement is predominantly western, although since the early 1990-s men's movements have been growing in non-western countries; an example is India, where dramatic rises in false accusations of dowry harassment, bride-burning, and other issues have resulted in large scale false imprisonment of innocent men and their parents, which have in turn provided impetus to a growing men's rights movement. Attitudes vary on issues such as
gender roles,
human relationships,
sexuality (including
gay rights),
reproduction (including
birth control and particularly the
abortion debate),
work,
violence (its causes and resolution) and aspects of
women's rights.
Pro-feminist
Pro-feminist men see the current model of manhood as
oppressive to all: women, children, and men. They feel that men as a class do not take responsibility for their behaviors and assert that men need to take responsibility for their own behaviours and attitudes and work to change those of other men. They often work with feminists and women's services, and may be involved in issues such as
men's health policy, the development of
gender equity curricula in schools, and the counselling of male perpetrators of violence, including
domestic violence.
They see society and personal relationships as characterised by
injustice and
inequality by men towards women and children.
They believe that
homophobia and hetero-centrism are key issues for all men. Whether this leads to attitudes which benefit males, while negatively affecting females, is a long-standing matter of debate.
Significant writers
*
Kenneth Clatterbaugh*
Michael Flood*
Jeff Hearn*
Michael Kimmel*
John Stoltenberg*
Robert Connell*
Michael MessnerMen's liberation
The perspective of men's
liberation is that men are hurt by the male gender role and that men's lives are
alienating, unhealthy and
impoverished.
They believe that men are
over-worked, trained to kill or be killed, brutalised and subjected to
blame and
shame. They give attention to the damage, isolation and suffering inflicted on boys and men through their socialisation into
manhood.
They may seek ways to "liberate" men and have some sympathy with
pro-feminist views.
Activities include:
*Men's
support groups and
mutual aid*
Therapy and
counselling*Involvement in public efforts on issues of men's health and boys' education.
Significant writers
*
Stephen Biddulph*
Don Edgar*
Warren Farrell (pre-1985)
*
Herb Goldberg*
Jack Nichols* Thomas Ellis
Mythopoetic Men's Movement
The Mythopoetic men's movement is based on spiritual perspectives derived from
psychoanalysis, and especially the work of
Carl Jung,
Joseph Campbell, and the poet
Robert Bly. It is called "mythopoetic" because of the emphasis on mythology communicated as poetry with some appropriation of
indigenous mythology and knowledge (Bly draws on
Native American mythology). There is an emphasis on "elder honouring", "reclaiming" fathers, and "unleashing the wild man within", but with an emphasis on the impact of fatherlessness on men's
psychological development which is related to their criticism of "soft" men - the victims of militant feminism and single motherhood. With the exception of a few groups such as the
Radical Faeries they are generally not politically active as groups, but may be as individuals.
Masculinity is seen to include deep
unconscious patterns and
archetypes that are revealed through
myth,
story and
ritual, as supported by theories drawn from
analytical or "depth" psychology.
There is some overlap with men's rights and men's liberation perspectives.
Activities include:
*Male
mentoring programs (based on the belief that mature males should help boys to become healthy men)
*Ritual, drumming and storytelling camps.
*
Support groups*Attempts at developing curricula for boys' programs in schools.
Significant writers within the Men's Mythopoetic genre
*
Robert Bly*
Stephen Biddulph*
Joseph Campbell *
Clarissa Pinkola Estés*
James Hillman*
Sam Keen*
John Lee*
Michael J. Meade*
Robert L. Moore*
David Tacey*
StarhawkMen's and father's rights, Masculism
The men's rights and fathers' rights differ in their orientation with men's rights relating more to
civil law and
civil rights and fathers' more to
family law. However, they share some of the ideas of other groups, such as:
* the men's liberationists' view that men's roles are harmful and limiting to men, particularly regarding the failure to enhance nurturing behaviours (and in particular in terms of their relationships with their own offspring), and
* mythopoetics' idea that masculinity inherently comes with prescribed qualities, roles, responsibilities and privileges.
To some extent they are a reaction (or, perhaps more appropriately, a response) to
feminism and there is a tendency to draw attention to feminism for harm done to men through
affirmative action and institutions like the
family court, etc. The major men's and fathers' rights theorists dispute the proposition that all men are empowered and privileged in society. Some hold that men can be objectified as "success objects", just as women can be objectified as "sex objects" and that a symmetry exists between these roles. The majority of men's rights groups are non-religious and politically neutral, however, a few are linked to conservative Christian and non-Christian political groups.
Issues addressed by men's rights advocates include:
*The general neglect of male issues and the structural oppression of men (such as male depression, the fact men commit suicide approximately 4 times more often than women, constitute over 90% of the prison population, a majority of alcoholics, drug addicts, homeless people, have lower levels of university attendance and life expectancy etc.)
*Women's role in and responsibility for
family or domestic violence.
*Family courts' discrimination against men.
*The correlation between
single parent families (ie: single mother families) and an increased crime rate and prevalence of drug abuse in children.
*The false claims of domestic violence or
child sexual abuse put forth by some women during divorce proceedings.
*Ethical appraisals relating to the fairness of
child support procedures for non-resident parents.
*The influence that financial/legal benefits and child support has on womens' decisions to leave relationships.
Men's rights groups advocate:
*Equal parental rights,
Shared parenting and, in
English law,
shared residency be regarded as norms generally (see
Residence in English law).
*Imposition of effective penalties for denial of
child access.
Main activities include:
*Providing support for men facing proceedings in the family court
*Providing information and advice on child support
*Challenging some feminist-dominated aspects of the mainstream media.
Some people claim that
Masculism is a different strand from Men's Rights, but often it is referred to as the same.[
1] The history of masculism and the men's rights movement is complex, with numerous influences; as such many see masculism as synonymous with the men's and fathers' rights movement (see below). Masculism comprises an inter-related group of social movements to address issues of equality and justice for men, fathers, and boys. While masculist thought has been present for over a century (see, for example,
The Fraud of Feminism, written by E. Belfort Bax in 1908), as a broad social movement it traces its origins to the divorce societies of the 1940's through 1960's. It branched off from a divorce-only emphasis to address broader issues in the mid-late 1970-s as a result of the influence of feminism. Whereas feminism questioned the roles of women and girls in society, and highlighted the limitations and disadvantages of those roles, masculism applied analogous methods to the analysis of the male role. In contrast to feminism, masculism does not deny that the opposite sex has had significant limitations and disadvantages. There are numerous strands within masculism; there are a conservative "traditionalist"
patriarchical strand, a moderate
equality-oriented one, and a liberal one which takes a more socialist approach and suggests a larger governmental role in resolving the problems.
Significant writers
*
Warren Farrell*Herb Goldburg
*
Christina Hoff Sommers*
Glenn Sacks US broadcaster and columnist
*
Howard Schwartz*
Bill Wishart*Thomas Ellis
*Kenneth Clatterbaugh: Contemporary Perspectives on Masculinity: Men, Women, and Politics in Modern Society, Westview Pr, 1990, ISBN 0813309921
*
Michael Messner: Politics of Masculinities. Men in Movements, Thousand Oaks 1997, ISBN 0-8039-5576-6
*
Child abuse*
Domestic violence (also called family violence)
*
Fathers' rights*
Feminism**
Feminist movement*
Gay rights*
List of family separation research articles*
List of men's rights organizations*
Mankind Project*
Marriage strike*
Masculinity*
Masculism*
Men's rights*
Men's studies*
Mythopoetic*
Pater familias*
Pro-feminism**
Pro-feminist men*
Promise Keepers*
Radical Faeries*
Shared parenting*
Shared residency in English law*at XYonline
movements An outline and assessment of the men's movement, from Community Quarterly, Special issue: Masculinities, No. 46, June, 1998*
American sociologist Hugo Schwyzer on the men's movement in the US* Flood, Michael:
Backlash: Angry men's movements in: Rossi, Staceay E.:
The Battle and Backlash rage on. 2004, XLibris Corp., ISBN 1-4134-5934-X, S. 261-287 [
2]
* Flood, Michael:
Men's movements in: XY magazine, vol. 6. 1996. Über den Maskulismus, s. S. 69 [
3]
