As soon as I would begin to debate and argue, I could see immediately that my efforts were at best ineffective, and at worst more damaging. The feminist rhetoric is as powerful as an organized religion and contains a wide variety of deeply emotional justifications for much of the inherent misandry. Once powerful emotions are triggered, a fair and logical discussion grows increasingly difficult if not impossible.

Most recently, I’ve been drawn into Men’s Rights groups. These are, very much, a counter point to feminism. At the core, they have strong talking points. Many of which I recently posted about. In that post, I barely scratched the surface. I am, currently, a strong believer that – if men were privileged in the USA (and I think they were), they are no longer privileged above women. There now exists, as a direct result of the Feminist movement, a significant amount of gender biased law and gender biased government funding putting men at a distinct social disadvantage.

That is my current belief. I may learn more that could show me this is untrue. I invite such knowledge. However, the more time I spent reading content related to the Men’s Rights movement – the less happy I was becoming. I became angry, vengeful, and perhaps even a bit misogynistic. I’m just aware enough to watch the irony of this as it boils up inside of me. While my emotional response may be justified, my instictual response will not help.

I need an outlet for this huge energy. I need an intent to apply this energy to. I believe the Men’s Rights path will ultimately lead, if successful, to the exact same negative outcome created by Feminism. Emotionally, I want to join the fight and stop those that have created suffering for my brothers. Spiritually, I refuse to wage a war on my sisters.

After lots of exploring online tonight, I’ve finally found the term that best fits the intent I wish to adopt, Egalitarianism. I was asked once if I was a Feminist. I had to ask what that would truly mean. Upon hearing the verbage of “equality” in the dialog, I said that I must be a Feminist. Knowing what I know now, I am not a Feminist. Nor am I a masculinists. I am an egalitarian. This is core to who I am, not just regarding gender, but also race and sexuality.

I’m blogging about this as a bit of personal record as to how this word brought me a sense of peace tonight. I like it.

The Image attached with this post is a snapshot of my first Google search in preparation for this post. I find the context of the image to be both ironic and rather informative.

The Talking Points:

Wages

U.S. Census data from 2001 reveals childless women who have never married earn 117 percent of their childless male counterparts, when the comparison controls for education, hours worked and age. Furthermore, 2004 Census Bureau data shows that “a part-time working woman makes $1.10 for every dollar made by her male counterpart. (Wikipedia)

…a full 82 percent of the job losses have befallen men… (New York Times 2/5/09)

Four-fifths of the 2.74 million people who lost their jobs between November 2007 and November 2008 were men (Reuters)

Education

In recent years, girls in the United States are performing much better than boys in the same age group, in most schools and colleges^. In the United States, 57% of college students are women, and the number is growing. (Wikipedia)

Violence

…men and women act violently toward their partners in about equal percentages… (Wikipedia)

…male victims may be less likely to report abuse than female victims due to social stigmatization. (Wikipedia)

…further studies based on the CTS 2 scale continue to show that women initiate violence at least as often as men, and perpetrate serious violence as often as men. (Wikipedia)

… women initiate revenge behaviours more frequently than men. (Wikipedia)

Punishment

…blacks and males are … less likely to get no prison term when that option is available; less likely to receive downward departures [from the guidelines]; and more likely to receive upward adjustments and, conditioned on having a downward departure, receive smaller reductions than whites and females. (Wikipedia)

Parenthood

…after a woman has a baby, in Michigan and elsewhere, she has the right to give up that baby for adoption. If she exercises that right, she cuts off her own financial responsibility to the child, along with other parental rights and responsibilities. A man, by contrast, may not relinquish his financial responsibility for an unwanted child unless the biological mother shares his wish to give up the child for adoption. (Wikipedia)

Health

Awareness for breast cancer is very prevalent in society today, with October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the United States. There is no proportionate funding for male cancer awareness or treatment. (Wikipedia)

…73% of all suicide deaths in the United States are white males. (Wikipedia)

While Men’s Health Network site is maintained with the help of public contributions, The Federal Government Source for Women’s Health… (Current.com)

On average, men die almost 6 years younger than women and suffer higher mortality rates for the top causes of death. (Current.com)

Circumcision

Newborn male circumcision is the most common surgical procedure performed in the U.S. Many people believe that there are tangible health benefits to male circumcision but, the truth is no medical society in the world recommends it. In fact, the American Medical Association calls the surgery “non-therapeutic.” What’s worse, over 100 babies die as a result of complications from circumcision in the U.S. each year. (Intact America)

Male circumcision, the most commonly performed surgery in the USA, removes 33 – 50% of the penile skin, as well as nearly all of the penile fine touch neuroreceptors // …Just as female circumcision was advocated in some Muslim and African countries to control women’s sexuality, so too was male circumcision introduced into English-speaking countries in the late 1800s as a method of treating and preventing masturbation. (Crip.org)

O’Hara and O’Hara reported that women who had experienced coitus with both intact and circumcised men preferred intact partners by a ratio of 8.6 to one.4 Most women (85.5%) in that survey reported that they were more likely to experience orgasm with a genitally intact partner… (NZMA)

Rape

Politically correct feminists claim false rape accusations are rare and account for only 2 percent of all reports. Men’s rights sites point to research that places the rate as high as 41 percent. These are wildly disparate figures that cannot be reconciled. (Indepdendent.org)

Every year since 1989, in about 25 percent of the sexual assault cases referred to the FBI where results could be obtained, the primary suspect has been excluded by forensic DNA testing. (Indepdendent.org)

False allegations of rape … can also ruin the lives of those men who’ve been accused despite being innocent. (BBC)

Punishment for such a heinous crime [rape] can range from a few years to a life sentence … there seems to be an increase in a disturbing phenomenon of women making false rape accusations, with little to no repercussions. (Associated Content)

Most research suggests that 10 to 20 percent of all males will be sexually violated at some point in their lives and that one in every ten rape victims is male. // men are less likely to report rape // The adverse effects of commonly held gender stereotypes of males contribute to the stigma, shame, and embarrassment a male survivor goes through as they begin to cope with what has happened to them. (Go Ask Alice)

…sexual harassment policies are de facto directed against the male style of inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace, while ignoring the female style of inappropriate behavior in the workplace (Wikipedia)

Useful Video/Audio Media Links

Is Society Overly Suspicious Of Men?

Reactions To Female-on-Male Violence

Men Also Suffer From Domestic Violence

Men’s Rights Group File Domestic Violence Lawsuit

Note: I’ll update this entry from time to time.