How does one approach the issue of men’s rights in a country like India, for example, where every week there seems to be a story about a man raping a woman. Or Pakistan, where girls are being targeted and attacked for pursuing an education. Look at places like Bangladesh and China where sweatshop workers mostly women*, bear the brunt of greedy and often inhumane working conditions. India has a ridiculous female infanticide rate. Women are automatically relegated to certain roles and limited to them by virtue of their gender. Dowry related killings often end up with the woman being harassed even killed. I’ve heard more stories about women being victims of domestic violence than men. How then, as a man in one of these region, can you begin a conversation on men’s rights.
Lets move to the western hemisphere and look at most of the developed nations. Things are a complete opposite it would seem. Waves of feminism has resulted in laws that are skewed against men by default. Child custody cases are almost always judged in favor of the mother. I suspect that’s because of the “mother knows best” attitude that is almost always unchallenged. Do men have any parental rights in these countries anymore (check the options available for a woman at pregnancy vs. those available for a man). If the disparity in the options doesn’t bother you, you’re missing the point. Domestic violence automatically considers the woman as the victim (what about the men? The automatic response from the radicals is “Yeah, what about them?” Sigh). When it comes to assault charges a woman’s word is the only needed evidence. So much for due process. Been falsely accused? “There there.” (pat on the shoulder). Let’s not even go into education, now a place where you can’t even have a discourse without radical feminists disrupting the peace. What about men’s shelters vs. women shelters.
Seems to me, that the east could use with a dose of feminism. But perhaps this time we can have it limited to where females receive equal rights and consideration without undercutting men. Seems like the west can make do with a dose of men’s rights. And no, no one wants to do that by taking away any rights that women have fought over the years for OR stopping them from being considered equally in the future. The biggest problem in both cases is getting all parties to exercise some restraint without going overboard. As humans, it seems we have lost the ability to be balanced in our approach to any situation. The thoughtlessly executed “knee-jerk”, throw punches without looking, shoot first ask questions later approach always results in unintended consequences for everyone involved.
All of this brings me back to the original question. Is there a proper time and place for men’s rights? If humans had the decency to consider everyone’s rights equally we wouldn’t even have to ask this question in the first place, would we?
*Feminist.org contends that 80-95% of sweatshop workers are young women between the ages of 15-25. While I don’t call “bullshit” on this outright, I would like to see the data on this and arrive at my own conclusion. Thank you.
Mr. Faux Pas 