I'm always open to these discussions. I don't see women as my enemy, I love women lol.
Okay, so now I have a few questions for you before I answer yours.
- What is your relationship like with your Father? Or, if none, what was your relationship like with the leading men in your life?
- Do you have a son?
Female privileges? Hmm. Let me think of a few. I'll do this speaking as if I am a woman:
- I can shout Rape and people will take me seriously
- I can get into clubs and bars for free
- Men rush around to help me when I'm in distress
- When I'm in distress I'm (usually) taken way more seriously than my male counterparts.
- I can have sex with someone, get pregnant, and then the sole decision on whether it lives or dies rests on my shoulders.
- I can also choose to fully birth number 5, and regardless of how the man feels about it, make him financially responsible for 18 years.
- I can terminate number 5, regardless of what the male chooses.
- People take violence against my gender WAY more seriously than any other - ie Where are the battered men shelters? Why aren't we talking about men are just as scared to go out in the dark at night as women?
- Violence against men charities don't exist, even although violence against men is way higher, and partner-relationship violence between genders is in similar numbers.
- Child rape in schools is taken far more seriously when the victim is my gender, rather than a male counterpart, and the person that did the crime given way more serious jail time if he is a man.
- People consider my problems, and is largely documented in schools, colleges, universities and in the private sector. I couldn't list many problems men have because we don't talk or consider it much - men don't have problems anyway? Do they?
Just a few I can think of off the top of my head and what I've witnessed over my 42 years of life. But like I say I'm a realist and I can probably list just as much privileges men have over women if you asked me -- if not more because I am a man and I have acute experience over my advantages, disadvantages because we all have them!
My thoughts of your post is this: There's a war going on alright, but it's not outside, it seems to be from the inside, hence my question on the leading men in your life. Here's why:
I was in this movement when I left the Charity sector and went to write my blog. It seemed a good cause, and a good way to help with good clean mental health tips filtrated through the system. I even went as far as to jump on the metoo movement back in the day.
It all fell apart when I stood up and started talking about when I was raped as a kid by an older girl and started speaking on what a devastating impact it had on me as a young man, and an adult. Took years to work through that, and I mean yeeeears.
But then suddenly I was told to sit down and shut up because this was a female empowerment moment, and you know, yes, that was only one or two women that told me this and it wasn't the collective but it did give me cause to investigate, so I did.
I read all about Bill Clinton being a serial rapist and it never once being investigated.
I read all about the massive disparities in emergency support for domestic abuse survivors with Men v Women
I talked to hundreds of men (and women), and read thousands more on the family court system and how it strangleholds men into using their kids as weapons to financially abuse them
And you know what? Anytime I tried to talk about any of this I was laughed at, scoffed, was told that I hated women, I was racist, sexist, and whatever else under the sun.
So it seems to be quite Political and not derived from any social good - I've always been taught "do no harm" in whatever I've put my hand to, so I can't quite get behind this whole kick men out to let women in. I've always been of the mind that if you help one, there's nothing stopping you from helping the other also.
Quick story. When I was doing a training course in the mental health sector, the teacher was telling us that the disparities in abuse between the genders for vulnerable people were quite neck and neck, and me being the young naive boy that I was, I scoffed, and laughed, and shouted - "how does a woman abuse a man? hahahaha"
Lady walked right up to me, standing tall above my table, looked me in the eye, and said, "Raymond, I want to fuck you. Come meet me after class"
Well, I must have felt the size of a peanut as I looked around, everyone's eyes on me, beetroot red, didn't know what to say. I was not only quiet, but wished the ground would swallow me up.
"That! Is only one of the ways in which you can abuse a man" -- she turned back to the class and smiled at me calmly as if to say it was over now.
So I digress. I've been through enough in this life to know it's a struggle for us all.
I could go into the ways on how our history has been revised in such a way that makes men look horrific when in reality it was brutal for us all. But that would be more of a dissertation than anything else. So I'll save you from it lol.
Equality is a pipe dream. All men and women are not born equal, making them equal is forcing some people into doing what they don't want to do.
In your equality vision - what do you do with those that simply do not want equality and just want to be left to their own devices? And resist it at all costs?
I'm more of a person that wants to help people compete with one another on fair terms. That's me :)