Masculism
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Masculism or masculinism[a] may variously refer to ideologies and socio-political movements that seek to eliminate sexism against men,[6][7] or increase adherence to or promotion of attributes regarded as typical of males.[8][9][7] The terms may also refer to the men's rights movement or men's movement,[b] as well as a type of antifeminism.[11][4][12]
Terminology
Early history
According to the historian Judith Allen, Charlotte Perkins Gilman invented the term masculism in 1914,[13] when she gave a public lecture series in New York entitled "Studies in Masculism". Apparently the printer did not like the term and tried to change it. Allen writes that Gilman used masculism to refer to the opposition of misogynist men to women's rights and, more broadly, to describe "men's collective political and cultural actions on behalf of their own sex",[14] or what Allen calls the "sexual politics of androcentric cultural discourses".[15] Gilman referred to men and women who opposed women's suffrage as masculists—women who collaborated with these men were "Women Who Won't Move Forward"[16]—and described World War I as "masculism at its worst".[17]
Definition and scope
A Dictionary of Media and Communication (2011) defines masculinism (or masculism) as "[a] male counterpart to feminism. [...] Like feminism, masculism reflects a number of positions, from the desire for equal rights for men (for example, in cases of child access after divorce), to more militant calls for the total abolition of women's rights."
The gender-studies scholar Julia Wood describes masculinism as an ideology asserting that women and men should have different roles and rights owing to fundamental differences between them, and that men suffer from discrimination and "need to reclaim their rightful status as men".[18] Sociologists Arthur Brittan and Satoshi Ikeda describe masculinism as an ideology justifying male domination in society.[c][20] Masculinism, according to Brittan, maintains that there is "a fundamental difference" between men and women and rejects feminist arguments that male–female relationships are political constructs.[19][1]
The political scientist Georgia Duerst-Lahti distinguishes between masculism, which expresses the
Ferrel Christensen, a Canadian philosopher and president of the former Alberta-based Movement for the Establishment of Real Gender Equality,
According to Bethany M. Coston and Michael Kimmel, members of the mythopoetic men's movement identify as masculinist.[24] Nicholas Davidson, in The Failure of Feminism (1988), calls masculism "virism": "Where the feminist perspective is that social ills are caused by the dominance of masculine values, the virist perspective is that they are caused by a decline of those values. ..."[25] Christensen calls virism "an extreme brand of masculism and masculinism".[9]
Sociologist Andreas Kemper describes masculism as a variation of masculinism whose goal is to oppose what its adherents see as female domination, making it fundamentally anti-feminist.[4][26]
Masculism is sometimes termed meninism.[27][28][29][30]
Areas of interest
Education and employment
Many masculists oppose co-educational schooling, believing that single-sex schools better promote the well-being of boys.[31]
Data from the U.S. in 1994 reported that men suffer 94% of workplace fatalities. Farrell has argued that men do a disproportionate share of dirty, physically demanding, and hazardous jobs.[7]
Violence and suicide
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Masculists cite higher rates of suicide in men than women.[31] Farrell expresses concern about violence against men being depicted as humorous, in the media and elsewhere.[32][third-party source needed]
They also express concern about violence against men being ignored or minimized in comparison to violence against women,
Gender studies
A masculist approach to gender studies, which have frequently focused on woman-based or feminist approaches, examines oppression within a masculinist, patriarchal society from a male standpoint.[34] According to A Dictionary of Media and Communication (2011), "Masculists reject the idea of universal patriarchy, arguing that before feminism most men were as disempowered as most women. However, in the post-feminist era they argue that men are in a worse position because of the emphasis on women's rights."[6]
South African masculinist evangelical movements
In the wake of the abolition of apartheid, South Africa saw a resurgence of masculinist Christian evangelical groups, led by the Mighty Men Conference (MMC) and the complementary Worthy Women Conference (WWC). The latter saw the development of what theologian Sarojini Nadar and psychologist Cheryl Potgeier call formenism: "Formenism, like masculinism, subscribes to a belief in the inherent superiority of men over women (in other words, only men can be leaders), but unlike masculinism, it is not an ideology developed and sustained by men, but one constructed, endorsed and sustained by women" [emphasis in original].[35]: 143 The Mighty Men movement harkens back to the Victorian idea of Muscular Christianity. Feminist scholars argue that the movement's lack of attention to women's rights and the struggle for racial equality makes it a threat to women and to the stability of the country.[36][37] Scholar Miranda Pillay argues that the Mighty Men movement's appeal lies in its resistance to gender equality as incompatible with Christian values, and in raising patriarchy to a "hyper-normative status", beyond challenge by other claims to power.[38]
The Worthy Women Conference is an auxiliary to the MMC in advocating a belief in the inherent superiority of men over women.[35]: 142–143 Its leader, Gretha Wiid, blames South Africa's disorder on the liberation of women, and aims to restore the nation through its families, making women again subservient to men.[39] Her success is attributed to her balancing claims that God created the gender hierarchy, but that women are no less valuable than men,[40] and that restoration of traditional gender roles relieves existential anxiety in post-apartheid South Africa.[35]: 148
See also
- Identity politics
- Manosphere
- Men's liberation
- Men's movement
- Men's studies
- Men's organizations
- International Men's Day (19 November)
- Save Indian Family
UK:
Canada:
France:
- Notable people associated with masculism
- Robert E. Bly
Explanatory notes
- ^ Some scholars treat the term masculinism as interchangeable with masculism,[1][2][3] while others treat it as a subset or variation on it[4] or as a separate topic.[5]
- ^ Melissa Blais and Francis Dupuis-Déri write: "In English, they [masculinist and masculinism] generally designate either a way of thinking whose referent is the masculine or simply a patriarchal ideology (Watson, 1996), rather than a component of the antifeminist social movement. In English, 'men's movement' is the most common term, though some, like Warren Farrell, use 'masculist' or the more restrictive 'fathers' rights movement'."[10]
- ^ Brittan calls masculinism "the ideology that justifies and naturalizes male domination ... the ideology of patriarchy".[19]
References
- ^ ISSN 0037-7651.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-40-518312-3.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7748-4036-1.
- ^ ISSN 2197-0394.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-72342-8.
- ^ OL 24851719M.
- ^ Reason.
Masculism (mas'kye liz*'em), n. 1. the belief that equality between the sexes requires the recognition and redress of prejudice and discrimination against men as well as women. 2. the movement organized around this belief.
- ISBN 1-4051-0679-4.
- ^ LCCN 94-36914.
- ^ a b Blais & Dupuis-Déri 2012, pp. 22–23.
- ^ "masculinism". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
Advocacy of the rights of men; adherence to or promotion of opinions, values, etc., regarded as typical of men; (more generally) anti-feminism, machismo.
(Subscription or participating institution membership required.) - ISBN 978-1-003-38897-5.
- ^ Allen, Judith A. (2009). The Feminism of Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Sexualities, Histories, Progressivism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 353.
- ^ Allen 2009, p. 152.
- ^ Allen 2009, p. 353.
- ^ Allen 2009, pp. 136–137.
- ^ Allen 2009, p. 127.
- ISBN 978-1-28-507593-8.
- ^ ISBN 0-631-14167-7.
- ISBN 978-1-1359-8897-5.
- S2CID 144983000.
- doi:10.7202/039213ar.
- ^ Thorne, Duncan (20 June 2000). "Gender bias in pamphlet, says human rights officer". The Edmonton Journal. Archived from the original on 28 February 2001.
- ^ Coston, Bethany M.; Kimmel, Michael (2013). "White Men as the New Victims: Reverse Discrimination Cases and the Men's Rights Movement". Nevada Law Journal. 13 (2): 368–385, 371.
- ISBN 978-0-87975-408-2.
- ISSN 1864-1385.
- ^ Zand, Benjamin (20 December 2013). "#BBCtrending: Feminism v Meninism". BBC News. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
- ^ Daubney, Martin (29 December 2014). "Will 2015 be the year of meninism?". The Telegraph. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
- ^ Lynch, Alison (25 June 2015). "Women disillusioned with feminism are turning to meninism". Metro. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
- ^ Sanghani, Radhika (1 February 2015). "Feminists v Meninists: The labels we could all afford to ditch". The Telegraph. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
- ^ a b c d Blais & Dupuis-Déri 2012, p. 23.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-671-79349-4.[page needed]
- IOL.
- LCCN 2006015398.
- ^ – via ResearchGate.
- ^ Dube, Siphiwe (July 2015). "Muscular Christianity in contemporary South Africa: The case of the Mighty Men Conference". HTS Theological Studies/Teologiese Studies. 71 (3). AOSIS OpenJournals: 1–9.
- ^ Dube, Siphiwe (November 2016). "Race, whiteness and transformation in the Promise Keepers America and the Mighty Men Conference: A comparative analysis". HTS Theological Studies/Teologiese Studies. 72 (1). AOSIS OpenJournals: 1–8.
- ISBN 978-1-920689-76-6.
- ISBN 978-1-920689-76-6.
- .
Further reading
- Bard, Christine. "Masculinism in Europe". Digital Encyclopedia of European History- Sorbonne Université. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
- Chandler, Daniel; Munday, Rod (2020). "masculinism (masculism)". A Dictionary of Media and Communication (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-1988-4183-8.
- Malmi, Pasi (6 February 2009). Discrimination Against Men: Appearance and Causes in the Context of a Modern Welfare State (PDF) (doctoral thesis). University of Lapland. LCCN 2009447401.
- Bain, A.L.; Arun-Pina, C. (2020), "Masculinism in Geography", International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, Elsevier, pp. 425–431, ISBN 978-0-08-102296-2, retrieved 2024-02-23
External links
- The dictionary definition of masculism at Wiktionary