A person by the name of Micah J. Murray posted a satirical article ” How feminism hurts men” on his personal blog and subsequently it has been reposted on Huff Post Canada in the Religion section. As a father of a daughter, 2 sons and a stepson, I have a few thoughts for Miach to consider.
Your trite and simplistic portrayal of the complex debates around gender as one of male privilege versus female victimhood does not surprise me, however that it is proffered by a god-fearing father of two “wild little boys” does.
Rather than focusing on feminist constructs such as “female objectification,” “rape culture,” and “gender wage gaps,” I suggest, Micah, for the sake of your sons, you should acquaint yourself with some of the realities of boys’ existence in the early 21st century. After all, isn’t that what dads should do?
In every age bracket, male mortality exceeds female mortality. Males in developed countries will live lives on average 5 years less than their female counterparts, yet more funding goes towards research and programs for women’s health issues.
Welcome your wild boys to the world of male privilege and gender equality.
From birth girls are protected from genital mutilation by legislation that criminalises any form of genital cutting no matter how minor, yet boys are not granted their right to gender equality in regard to genital integrity. Non-therapeutic genital mutilation of infant boys is a shocking abuse of human rights. Yet the movement that purports to stand for equality feminism ignores its widespread cultural and religious practice. I hope your wild little boys are intact, Micah?
Boys face a paradox in their socialization. On the one hand they are encouraged to be tough, endure pain and suffering without complaint and thus submit to the hero myth of manhood, a willingness to labor and die in the service others. On the other hand their natural vigour, energy, roughhousing and competitive fantasy play is condemned as hyper-masculine violence-in-the-making.
The feminized daycare, preschool and school systems further promote this paradox by beating the wildness out of boys so as to conform to female behavioral and learning styles, whilst popular culture continues to bombard them with imagery of macho heroes, bumbling fools, and men as violent bastards.
Many boys are underachieving in school, they are excluded (expelled) more frequently, and drop out more often. Up to 1 in 5 have their wildness placed under pharmaceutical control to fit the unnatural feminized school environment. How are your wild boys holding up in the system so far Micah?
A third or more of boys are being raised without involved fathers or effective male role models. The consequences of this are well-known in the Juvenile courts, where some 80% of offenders come from functionally fatherless homes. Even those boys lucky enough to start life with an involved father may not continue as such, with biased family courts responsible for excluding many fathers from their children’s lives.
Whilst I hope your marriage survives Micah, there is 50 % chance that it won’t, in which case you may be lucky enough to gain equal parenting–but sadly, the odds are stacked against you. Even the most wonderful wife in the world today is perfectly capable after a few sessions with a feminist Domestic Violence worker or divorce attorney of seeing you as a mongrel bastard abuser that your children must be protected from.
At age 18 or so young men are required to register for the draft in many countries, but in the spirit of gender equality, young women are not. Hope you explain the privilege of that to your wild young boys Micah!
Should your wild boys complete their school education they will be significantly less likely to gain entry to college or to graduate from college then girls. At college induction they will be branded as potential rapists and told that girls fear them. If they have consensual sex, they still face the possibility of being accused of sexual assault if the girl involved later regrets the encounter for any reason. Regardless of the truth of the matter they can be denied by campus administration their right to due process, to face and question their accuser, to trial by a jury of peers and to the same level of evidence that applies in criminal matters.
Have you started teaching your wild boys not to rape yet Micah? Gotta get in early you know.
Hope you realize how frequent child abuse, including sexual abuse is, Micah, and I especially hope you realize that the most frequent victims of physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect are male children, and the most frequent perpetrators are adult women. The rates of sexual abuse of boys by women in also probably greater than previously suspected. Adult women, even at some fine religious schools, prey on adolescent boys for sex, and society sees it as an “affair” not rape, the boys supposedly lucky to be abused.
Hope you will have a healthy skepticism for anyone, male or female, left responsible for your wild boys Micah.
Heaven forbid that your wild boys might at some stage start to understand that their lives are not all privilege and happily wandering about oppressing women. They may come to learn that violence in dating relationships is a two-way street, with as many male as female victims, but little or no help for male victims. Despite the rhetoric about how unsafe the streets are for women, they may view the freely available crime data that shows men are the overwhelming majority of victims of street violence and violence in general.
According to the World Health Organization, men account for 80% of the victims of violent death worldwide. You do know that don’t you Micah?
Should a pregnancy result from one of your son’s sexual encounters by accident, deception, or otherwise, he may be given no voice in decisions regarding the outcome of the pregnancy, but may have the women’s will imposed upon him. He may be denied the opportunity to father his biological child; if the woman wishes to abort he will have no say and if she wishes to adopt the child out he also have no say. On the other hand, he may be forced into paying for a child he is not ready to father. Meanwhile mothers abort, adopt out or dispose of unwanted babies in the trash or safe haven drop-offs without consequence.
You really should warn your wild boys about this Miach. As a god-fearing man how does your sons’ lack of any say at all in abortion sit with you anyway? Just asking.
Did you know, Micah, as a father it is your job to make sure your boys develop a balanced understanding of the world in which they live? But at college they will be denied balance on gender matters, and should they dare speak will likely be shouted down as misogynists who need to check their privilege. Should they wish to join with other young men and women to discuss and debate issues they see as relevant to their own and society’s futures, they may be denied the right to form a campus association, or even have their efforts stymied by violent and abusive protestors who label their right to free association and speech as “hate.”
I guess what feminist governance in education is doing to our little boys is like you describe in your church setting, relegating women to kitchen or nursery but without a voice en masse. Don’t you see the similarities Micah? I’m not saying girls have a trouble-free ride through life either, I am well aware of the problems barriers and discriminations that many face. But if you truly want to have an inclusive conversation regarding the transition of the genders to a fairer more balanced and cooperative future, I think your satire is misplaced. Think about it won’t you Micah? Your sons’ futures may depend on it. As a quick primer on gender equality from the non-feminist perspecitve, you could read Glen Poole’s excellent new e-book, Equality for Men. The data is from the UK, but very similar to the US, Canada and Australia.
If you want more data on any claims I have made in this article, please feel free to contact us, check out our facts page, or even check out our wiki. Good luck and let us know if we can help enhance your understandings of the issues faced by your sons better.
