I think most people who spend any amount of time online have noticed a wide variety of anti-feminist groups of predominantly (but not exclusively) men who are opposed to feminism because they either believe that it has gone too far or believe it was flawed from the start. On Reddit for example, the subreddit for Feminism has over 50,000 subscribers while the MRA (Men's Rights Activists) subreddit has over double. Now (most of) these groups aren’t stupid enough to argue against women’s right to vote but generally dispute many of the modern day complaints and goals of feminism. For example I’ve seen much discussion among MRA’s disputing the wage gap, rates of rape and false accusations of rape, women’s involvement in the army, family law, men’s higher rates of suicide, modern day dating and the various burdens on men in dating. They accuse feminism of either ignoring or creating these issues. While I was well aware of feminism before I joined various online forums, I did not know about MRA's and other groups that backlash against feminism (e.g. Red Pill - another Reddit group) many say that they are growing or at least have grown in recent years. This Take will explain why I believe the movement has grown and why it appeals to so many, much to the dismay/disgust of feminists.
1. The growth of Online Media
One of the consequences of all of the online forums and types of online media is that it allows small and disparate groups of people to connect with each other; and develop their own ideas. The majority of modern media takes the side of feminism and many newspapers have regular feminist commentators.
Also, feminists can be very aggressive at criticising those who disagree with it. This means that those who do disagree, turn to online sources of information and socialising, away from mainstream society, leading to groups like the Red Pill and MRA groups growing.
Also, some feminists can be extreme and the Internet often helps show us the more extreme examples of different groups, with the silent majority; being ignored in favour of the more outrageous (and interesting) examples.
2. Changes in Society... and what hasn't changed
Society has changed over the last few decades. Traditional gender roles have been blurred and there is confusion about what to do and when. In the dating world, many men resent what they see as a hypocritical expectation of women on men to pay for dates, make the first move etc. While at the same time, wanting equality. This confusion leads to people, especially the young and confused, looking for answers. Many online sites aim to teach these men a more simplified way of dating (PUA tactics, Red Pill); but to some, this is misogynistic. Many of these groups claim that not women, have been disadvantaged by modern society and preach a more effective/pragmatic/cynical/misogynistic (delete as you think best) approac to dating. This quote is an example:
Women are, by nature, manipulative, attention-seeking, inconsistent, emotional, and hypergamous. Accept this truth. Once you do, you can game women for what they are ... not what you want them to be.
Even if these groups don’t directly link to MRAs, they often lead to claims of hypocrisy on the part of feminists leading to a backlash.
Also, men have lost a great deal of power. We can argue whether it’s justifiable or not but a central part of feminism’s goals is the reduction of male power and the increase in female power. When feminists want more women to run companies in the Fortune 500 or sit in Congress, it follows that they want women to take the place of male CEO s and Congressmen. This consistent campaigning by feminists leads to a backlash that is fostered by online media and spurred on by social problems that seem to affect men disproportionately like the high divorce rate (and the huge cost to men), the gender imbalance in the awarding of alimony and custody in divorce, the gender gap in education and the high male suicide rate. Also, as women gain the power to make certain choices (e.g. Abortion), many men want an equivalent power (e.g. ‘financial abortions’) which feminism almost always oppose.
3. Men’s reluctance to be the victim
Many men feel the expectation to be the Hero and dislike the idea of crying for help. This is often seen as one of the reasons for the high male suicide rate. But I also think it causes the MRA movement to go online. Men that succeed are reluctant to campaign for change as they don’t want to be seen as complaining or being weak. This leaves the job of leading movements that support men to guys online, that are often bitter or misogynistic, regardless of whether or not their goals are noble.
4. The Success of feminism...
Feminism has caused massive social changes and has grown into a major influence on Hollywood, politics and the media. Few news outlets take a genuinely anti-feminist viewpoint (at least AFAIK). This leads to a feeling of persecution or resentment among men that contest some of feminisms claims. They then try and ‘fight back’ by going online. The massive social changes have led to confusion and in a rapidly changing society, this means a backlash is inevitable.
5. And the failures of feminism
Despite it’s long history and many successes, feminism has many failures that continue to undermine it today, leading to opposition movements gaining support.
Firstly, feminism has an awkward relationship with men. Feminist groups almost exclusively campaign on issues where women are the victims and men are the perceived villains. This combined with their relative silence on issues affecting men (see divorce, suicide, alimony, work place deaths, men who are raped), can easily lead to a belief that feminism does not want equality, just to benefit women at the expense of men. This situation is not helped by the fact that feminism often sees itself as a ‘safe space’ for women meaning that men may be disruptive to the movement and are kept at arms length from it (see: male ‘feminist’ being called allies, rather than fully-fledged feminists). In my opinion, this leads to men feeling rejected by feminism and often misunderstanding feminism. They then turn to a movement that addresses the changing role of men in today’s society in a way that clearly does not blame them - MRA groups. Also, the lack of male involvement in feminism (t-shirts notwithsanding) means that feminists rarely discuss men’s roles from men’s pov. Only telling men what they shouldn’t do, not what they should do. This leads to confusion and uncertainty, creating the perfect environment for groups dedicated to reversing those changes.
Secondly, feminism is incredibly bad at managing it’s image and seems incapable of changing it’s negative reputation. In the UK, “Only 19% of the public identify themselves as feminists, but 81% believe women should be treated as equal in every way” a position shared by the Prime Minister. While in America, “only 18 percent of Americans consider themselves feminists. However, 85 percent claimed they believe in “equality for women.” Despite the popular belief in equal rights, 52 percent did not identify as feminist, 26 percent were unsure, and four percent passed on the question.” Feminism claims to be for equal rights regardless of gender but while the public supports that goal, they have little desire to join the movement. Whether this is because feminism is just bad at PR or because it does in fact hate men and does not want gender equality, only promoting women at the expense of men is a different discussion that I am still uncertain about so we won’t focus on that. What is interesting is that a group that can claim to be solely responsible for giving half of the western population many basic rights, barely manages to get a fifth of the population to join. From the outside, feminism frequently seems condescending (dismissing any criticism as being 'misinformed'), ignorant (mostly women telling men how to act while also blaming men for a lot of issues and excluding them from the conversation) and insular (a strange culture that seems detached from mainstream society. An example would be “ironic misandry”).
Conclusion
While feminism has always faced resistance, the changes young people face (e.g. Gender roles in dating and education) and online media has led to many new anti-feminist groups online and, what some sources call, the “New face of sexism”. I believe these groups may continue to grow and be a counter argument to many feminists online and, perhaps, in real life too. That said, the movement seems to be, at least in my eyes, a movement characterised by bitterness and resentment and my best hope is that this movement will force feminism to grow and adapt to modern sociey and build more public support and address many issues better. In the past, feminism was criticised as being overly focused on the problems of middle class, white women. It has evolved since (mostly) and hopefully will do so again. As flawed as I think it is and as frustrating and insulting it can be sometimes, I do think it is the best (read: least crazy) voice in the ongoing discussion about gender roles.
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I gotta say I was about to write a take that was pretty much word for word like this one but I'm not going to anymore - maybe I'll change it in one way or another. But a job well done, dude.
And now let the hate from feminists come. Because even unbiased and unemotional facts seem to offend them.
Thanks mate. :)
I keep thinking about feminism and MRAs for some reason. This Take was an attempt to get it all out of my head.
I imagine there will be some criticism from feminists. Feminism is almost like a religion. It sees itself as the only answer and only those that agree with them can argue with them. lol
Nicely written, I especially agree with the fifth point image, but I find it confusing that so many people want such a thing but there is still no such organized movement.
I think that comes from point 3. I was annoyed I couldn't explain it better but I think that most reasonable men avoid complaining even when it's valid, at least about gender issues. This new breed of MRA just poisons the whole idea further. As for the MRAs, they're opposed to feminism, nothing else.
Feminists on the other hand believe that they are this movement for some reason.
It is also worth noting that people are socialized to accept the status quo as the only possible way it can be. Just like any other religion, really.
'Secondly, feminism is incredibly bad at managing it’s image and seems incapable of changing it’s negative reputation.''
The nazis have the same problem.
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