I'm tired of hearing about how much feminists hate men. It’s a sentiment that has been around for literally hundreds of years. Men over a century ago were calling feminists man-haters and insane and ugly and other awful things when the movement first started.Â
The goal of feminism is to bring attention to problems that specifically affect women and girls, and to advocate for more of their rights. Sometimes this results in bringing attention to issues that men are responsible for causing. I’ll start with an easy one. It wasn’t women who decided that women weren’t allowed to vote or own property. That was men. That was a pretty obvious example of a problem men caused for women. If anyone sincerely thinks women shouldn’t be able to vote, well, I have nothing to say to you.Â
But how about a more modern example. Catcalling. Yelling at random girls about their butt or something. That’s a specific choice many men make. And having heard many women talk about their experiences with it, it makes them feel small and afraid, because there’s a man who is likely larger than them yelling at them and making uncomfortable comments about their bodies. And from those testimonials, it’s often men who are significantly older than the girl or woman. If you’re a man who has never catcalled well, that’s good, but it still means you should pay attention to if it ever happens, or especially if someone you know is doing it.Â
“Feminists are glad for men to be hurt, raped, abused, etc”. I see this assertion over and over. There are absolutely groups of radical feminists who focus all their hatred on men to the point where they are vocally violent and hateful towards men. But this is not what every single feminist is working for. I can assure you that just as many, if not more feminists are advocating for the reduction of harm. They want to see rapists punished, but even more so for rape victims to get justice and to be able to recover from the harm they suffered. This includes male rape victims. I think there’s still a bit of cultural notion that men should be strong, and that being a victim of anything makes them weak and worthy of mockery. It’s a lot of other men who were responsible for this mindset.Â
Why don’t feminists advocate for men’s issues then? It’s not like there are any number of issues men deal with. Personally, I feel like this question is a bit unreasonable. The feminist movement is already trying to increase support and advocate for women’s issues, now they need to advocate for men’s issues as well? It’s not like they don’t care about men’s issues, it’s just they have plenty to deal with already. It’s not like men can’t take the exact same tactics and advocate for men’s issues themselves.Â