A UK Member of Parliament recently suggested that there should be a Government minister for men which would presumably do similar things to the existsing minister for Women.
This has thrown up a series of heated discussions on social media about whether this is part of the ‘backlash’ against feminsm, or whether there is a legitimate need for wider support of men’s issues.
As a man who believes that there are legitimate issues disproportionately affecting men which should be addressed, what I really want help in understanding is the opinion that men don’t need any targetted support.
I don’t want to start a big argument, but I do want to understand this perspective, because I have struggled to understand it before and I don’t like feeling like I’m missing something.
I mean that may well be that I havent heard of “those” feminists, altho I hear about many things feminists here (in Switzerland) push for. I read the demands of every feministic protest for example and never was there one of the points I mentioned.
I think your comment sounded like victim blaming to me. For example:
Men die (more) in suicides. Feminists (mostly women) fight against the patriarchy, which is a product by men. If the higher suicide numbers is because of the patriarchy, then “its their own fault”.
Thats why I see things like “the patriarchy” or categories like “the men” or “the feminists” very critically as it generalizes too much.
And back to the OP: I dont think that a dedicated “minister for women” can or will help in men-issues, because I don’t believe the logical detour via the patriarchy makes sense. One would have to fight the misandrist laws like the army draft (here in switzerland its mandatory for men but voluntary for women) directly and not shadow-box ““the patriarchy””.
