Men's Rights Movement

The Men's Rights Movement (MRM) also sometimes known as the Men's Human Rights Movement (MHRM) is a loose movement of men and women who have identified certain problems facing men as a group and who seek to redress and rectify these problems. The MRM and its participants are routinely subjected to vitriolic attacks and derision by feminist groups and others.

The MRM is a pluralistic movement that accepts internal dissent. It is comprised of many organisations and individuals that are loosely affiliated. Despite this participants within the MRM maintain a largely consistent position on men's rights.

Individuals within the MRM are sometimes known as Men's Rights Activists or Men's Rights Advocates (MRAs). Some adherents to MGTOW identify as MRAs while others do not.

Men's Rights Australia is part of the broader men's rights movement, a movement focussed on addressing specific issues facing men and boys in the modern world. These problems vary from country to country

While the men's rights movement has existed for a long time, it is only in recent years that it has been growing rapidly or receiving significant media attention. Those within the movement are generally known as Men's Rights Activists.

The movement started to significantly increase in membership from around 2010 onwards. The MRM has many detractors. Some who want to discredit the MRM claim it is a violent movement. This could not be further from the truth. The MRM goes out of its way to be a non-violent movement. The most popular online sites within the movement such as A Voice for Men and the MensRights sub on Reddit actively exclude censure and ban people who make threats of violence or advocate violence.

The MRM is a movement concerned about problems facing men and boys and focuses on bringing attention to the problems in the wider community as well as discussing ways to alleviate and resolve the problems.

Despite what many outside of the movement think this is not just a movement for men. Many women participate in the MRM and often seem to be among the movement's most active contributors. The movement is pluralistic and inclusive. As well as many women the MRM includes gay and transgender men. Participants in the movement come from across the political spectrum. They are united in their recognition of the problems facing men and boys and agree that these problems need to be addressed. Anyone who broadly agrees with the aims of the movement is welcome to participate.

We acknowledge that women and girls face gender-specific issues as well. This is particularly true for women and girls who live in the developing world.

We reject many of the claims espoused by leaders in the modern feminist movement, such as the claim that we live in a rape culture or that domestic violence impacts women far more than men.

Many of the men who have entered the movement until now have been personally impacted by one or more of these problems. They might be, for example, men who have been dealt with unjustly by the family law courts in their country. After experiencing this they may become aware that their treatment by the courts was common and from there become aware of he broader MRM. Young men may experience discrimination in their high school or University on the basis of their gender and from this may become aware of the broader movement. Increasingly people who have not been personally impacted by these problems are recognising a broader problem in society and are stepping up to make a difference.

The movement is notable for being task focussed. Although there is no one definitive list of the issues that the MRM is addressing there is broad agreement on a core set of issues. Most activists within the movement have certain areas that they focus on.

The Men's Rights Movement:

• Rejects male disposability as unnecessary in the modern world
• Rejects traditional gender roles
• Is committed to reasoned peaceful advocacy
• Works to resolve certain issues facing men and boys
• Works to eliminate vilification of masculinity
• Works towards equality of opportunity for all

Non-violent Advocacy

Participants within the MRM are committed to non-violent advocacy. MRAs base their advocacy on solid data and clear identification of the problems facing men.

Rejection of Feminist Doctrine

Many aspects of feminist doctrine such as feminist definitions of sexism, patriarchy and intersectionality are generally rejected by MRAs.

Bodily Autonomy

Female genital mutilation is now illegal in many countries, and international organisations work to reduce this practice. These same societies often refuse to grant boys the same bodily autonomy that they grant girls - the right to be protected from unnecessary medical procedures. The men's rights movement objects to male genital mutilation (also known as circumcision) on the same grounds as female genital mutilation. Both violate the human rights of the individual being mutilated and both should be illegal. In many countries today (including Australia) all individuals have protection from unnecessary medical procedures except for infant boys. That the foreskin is removed in most cases without anesthetic exacerbates the problem.

Many do not know that the foreskins of infant boys are not destroyed as medical waste but are rather put to a variety of uses. While it is true a few are used for medical research the majority go to cosmetic companies. In some countries the sale of foreskins by hospitals is a lucrative business.

Disposability

All societies consider men to be disposable. Men are drafted and can be forced in to combat against their will. Men overwhelmingly take on the dangerous jobs in society. Some choose this, after a lifetime of being told they should do this. Some are forced to do so by economic conditions.

While it may have made sense for a society in the past to be prepared to sacrifice it's men for the survival of the society, the men's rights movement holds that this is no longer necessary.

Domestic Violence

Men constitute between one third and one half of all victims of domestic violence. A similar proportion of domestic violence aggressors are women. The notion that domestic violence is a gender issues simply does not stack up to the evidence. We object to all domestic violence regardless of the genders of the people involved.

We want: Recognition from society that domestic violence is not a gendered issue and a gender-balanced response from government.

Unnecessary Medication

Children, and boys in particular, are being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and drugged at an alarming rate. This rate is increasing, which is prompting an increase in the sales of drugs for treat the condition. In the United States, for example, sales of ADHD drugs have increased by 89% in four years. The rapidly rising diagnoses rate suggests one of three things is occurring:

1. A higher proportion of people have ADHD than in the past
2. There are a higher proportion of false diagnoses than in the past
3. The definition of ADHD is changing rapidly

Any of these should be a concern to parents who have received a diagnoses for ADHD for their child and a recommendation to medicate. A rapidly changing definition could mean that a diagnosis is true in a legal sense but false in a practical sense.

See Also

• Problems facing men and boys

External Links

• What are we really talking about
• The Men's Rights Movement versus The Feminist Movement... Necessary conflict?

References

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