Men's Rights

[jessica r]

(without any idea of how I got there) I recently read about Men's Rights and some of the issues for which men fight. I will be honest, as a woman I was shocked and then somewhat amused and slightly annoyed that some men felt the need to define their rights, when "rights"-particularly in the US, were written for men and then women and other minorities had to step up and define and claim those rights. But after I opened my mind to these issues I found that some are very interesting and relevant. So I wanted to post to see what other people think. Here are some of the issues, in no particular order. Men, feel free to correct me if I state something the wrong way or to add something to the list:

1) Men have responsibility to children they father without a choice in the matter of abortion
2) Men make the same amount of money for physical labor as a woman who cannot perform the same physical tasks
3) Men are still expected to "court" women and pay for items on dates, etc
4)Men are required to register for the draft while women are not
5)Men often lose custody of children in divorce and rarely receive child support when they do win custody
6)Violence against men committed by women isnt taken seriously (rape, spousal abuse)
7) Men dont have the creative freedom in their dress codes that women do
8)Men often do not get paid paternity leave
9) The preference of women and children over men in emergency situations
10) Men receive harsher punishments for crime

All of these issues are based on trending data. There are also some issues about men dying sooner than women, girls performing better than boys in school, more money and attention being given to breast cancer research than prostate cancer research.......

[Übereil]

"irls perform better than boys in school because - and this is a generalisation, just like the 'girls perform better than boys in school' generalisation - we work harder. Deal with it."

You work harder because you're more mature. When boys grow older (around 18ish) they start getting as good results as girls.

It's due to biology, not injustice in society.

[Adam J. M. Eagleton]

"Do they care? Seriously, it's a question. I don't know."

I don't know about most men, but I certainly do. As Eddie Izzard said, women have total clothing rights, and so should men. We should be allowed to wear whatever we wish without people judging us for it. If I want to put on a dress just for the sake of it, why should that be treated as something bizarre when women are allowed to wear jeans?

[Megan]

"why should that be treated as something bizarre when women are allowed to wear jeans?" I've no idea, actually. At my old school some guys would wear skirts in summer, and we were fine. This is the issue with society, of course, that women can be feminine or not and wear anything that they want, whereas men still have to stick to that masculine stereotype.

[Leanne]

I think it's because nobody has put forth any practical reason why men should wear skirts. Women didn't wear pants until they started working in jobs that were traditionally held by men, so I suppose when men take on traditionally female roles in which skirts would be convenient, skirts will become more acceptable, although I really can't think of any reason why skirts are necessary.
There are movements that are encouraging men to wear skirts, though, as they are showing up in collections from designers like Marc Jacobs and Comme de Garcons.

[feathers]

A skirt or dress is generally much more comfortable in the summer than a suit. Ever been to a wedding in an old un air conditioned church in july? All the guys are sweating in suits, about to expire of heat stroke:)

[Leviathan]

If girls indeed work harder, then why are they not more successful? Women only make up up to 18.6% of world parliaments. Since you indeed 'work harder' shouldn't that average at least be at 50%? Especially seeing as how 57% of US college students are female. I'd think that you work less hard, seeing as to how the statistics are so off.

http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/world.htm

[sabelmouse]

i believe it's harder to get into these positions for women.

[Leviathan]

although it shouldn't be

[Gabrielle]

(Once again, the site is being funky, so I hope this doesn't double-post...)

But it is. The realm of politics has historically been cut off from women by the system, inherently, because of the originally gendered nature of monarchy. Similarly, the corporate sector has always been dominated by men because men were the original owners of property.

[Übereil]

Have you heard of this thing called "gender roles"?

[Ai]

Of course I've heard of gender roles. Why are they necessary? It seems to me that they're made just to be broken, or bent at least. Fifty years ago, gender roles dictated that women couldn't really have jobs or hold positions of power. Fifty years from now, maybe, men will be wearing dresses and skirts in public with pride (and/or relief). Gender roles isn't an excuse for something to be allowed or not be allowed.

[Gabrielle]

He didn't mean them to be an excuse- they're the reason. There is a very distinct difference.