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Revision as of 04:15, 29 September 2004
Men's rights began as a recognisable movement in the 1980s, largely in response to the women's rights or feminist movement. It aims to address issues of concern to men and to remove institutional and societal discrimination against males.
Those in the men's rights movement often do not consider themselves to be masculist, and quite often do not subscribe to a recognisable orthodoxy or gender ideology. One conventional strand of opinion recognises the need for parity between people irrespective of their gender. To achieve this inevitably requires some measures that improve the position of men. This can lead to the mistaken perception that such measures are anti-women.
Amongst men's rights advocates there are a number of women, including those in significant positions in the movement. For example, Sue Price in the Men's Rights Agency has been at the forefront of activism to eliminate discrimination against men in Australia. Men's rights advocates are not a uniform group: they include both singularly religious and atheistic individuals, as well as those from the left and right of politics. Most supporters of men's rights are from western nations, where gender equity has for some time been advocated mainly from a woman's perspective. At present the main engine for change for men's rights derives from men's role as fathers.
Some typical discrimination against men which the men's rights movement has identified are:
- Family law
- Employment
- parental leave
- retirement age
- pension entitlement
- sexual harassment policies
- Education
- Practices which discriminate against boys
- Legal and judicial biases and discrimination
- Males are more likely to be charged and convicted on the basis of false allegations of violent or sexual abuses
- Military
- Conscription for males only (though women are also conscripted to military service in Israel)
- Domestic Violence
- Lack of help for male victims and female perpetrators
- Female spousal abuse of husbands and male partners
- Biased information
- Media
In the US, high rates of circumcision by the medical profession continue in many areas. Many circumcised men are subjects of victim blaming by those who strive to maintain the status quo concerning alteration of male genitalia.
The men's rights movement has grown and changed in character since the 1980s. Just as the women's rights movement was small and lacked political power during its early beginnings in the 1800s, so the much younger men's rights movement is small and lacking in significant organisation or influence.
See also: Fathers' rights , Shared parenting