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{{Discrimination sidebar|Related}} |
{{Discrimination sidebar|Related}} |
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'''Masculism''' |
'''Masculism''' is a socio-political movement that seeks gender [[egalitarianism]], to eliminate [[Discrimination against men|sexism against men]], equalize their rights with women,{{r|Chandler 2016}}<ref name="Young 1994">{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Reason magazine|Reason]] |title=Man Troubles: Making Sense of the Men's Movement |author=Cathy Young |author-link=Cathy Young |date=July 1994 |url=http://reason.com/archives/1994/07/01/man-troubles |quote=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.}}</ref> and increase adherence to or promotion of attributes regarded as typical of [[masculinity]].<ref name="Bunnin 2008">{{cite book |last1=Bunnin |first1=Nicholas |last2=Yu |first2=Jiyuan |title=The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy |page=411 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, Mass. |year=2004 |isbn=1-4051-0679-4}}</ref><ref name="Christensen 2005">{{cite book |last1=Christensen |first1=Ferrell |editor1-last=Honderich |editor1-first=Ted |editor1-link=Ted Honderich |title=[[The Oxford Companion to Philosophy]] |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-926479-1 |pages=562–563 |chapter=Masculism |edition=2nd |lccn=94-36914}}</ref><ref name="Young 1994"/> Masculism is sometimes termed '''meninism'''.<ref name="bbc">{{cite news |last1=Zand |first1=Benjamin |title=#BBCtrending: Feminism v Meninism |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25462758 |access-date=25 June 2015 |work=BBC News |date=20 December 2013}}</ref><ref name="telegraph">{{cite news |last1=Daubney |first1=Martin |author-link=Martin Daubney |title=Will 2015 be the year of meninism? |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11308455/Will-2015-be-the-year-of-meninism.html |access-date=25 June 2015 |work=The Telegraph |date=29 December 2014}}</ref><ref name="metro">{{cite news |last1=Lynch |first1=Alison |title=Women disillusioned with feminism are turning to meninism |url=http://metro.co.uk/2015/06/25/women-disillusioned-with-feminism-are-turning-to-meninism-5265103/ |access-date=25 June 2015 |publisher=Metro |date=25 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Sanghani |first1=Radhika |title=Feminists v Meninists: The labels we could all afford to ditch |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11380282/Feminists-v-Meninists-The-labels-we-could-all-afford-ditch.html |access-date=25 June 2015 |publisher=The Telegraph |date=1 February 2015}}</ref> It is most closely associated with [[men's movement]] activist [[Warren Farrell]].<ref name="Duerst-Lahti 2008">{{cite book |last=Duerst-Lahti |first=Georgia |chapter=Gender Ideology: masculinism and femininalism |pages=159–192 |editor1-last=Goertz |editor1-first=Gary |editor2-last=Mazur |editor2-first=Amy G. |title=Politics, gender, and concepts: theory and methodology |year=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-72342-8}}</ref> |
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==Terminology== |
==Terminology== |
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===Early history=== |
===Early history=== |
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According to the historian Judith Allen, [[Charlotte Perkins Gilman]] invented the term ''masculism'' in 1914,<ref name="Allen 2009">{{cite book |last=Allen |first=Judith A. |title=The Feminism of Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Sexualities, Histories, Progressivism |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |year=2009 |page=353}}</ref> 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 [[Misogyny|misogynist]] men to women's rights and, more broadly, to describe "men's collective political and cultural actions on behalf of their own sex",{{sfn|Allen|2009|p=152}} or what Allen calls the "sexual politics of [[Androcentrism|androcentric]] cultural discourses".{{sfn|Allen|2009|p=353}} 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"{{sfn|Allen|2009|pp=136–137}}—and described [[World War I]] as "masculism at its worst".{{sfn|Allen|2009|p=127}} |
According to the historian Judith Allen, [[Charlotte Perkins Gilman]] invented the term ''masculism'' in 1914,<ref name="Allen 2009">{{cite book |last=Allen |first=Judith A. |title=The Feminism of Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Sexualities, Histories, Progressivism |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |year=2009 |page=353}}</ref> 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 [[Misogyny|misogynist]] men to women's rights and, more broadly, to describe "men's collective political and cultural actions on behalf of their own sex",{{sfn|Allen|2009|p=152}} or what Allen calls the "sexual politics of [[Androcentrism|androcentric]] cultural discourses".{{sfn|Allen|2009|p=353}} 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"{{sfn|Allen|2009|pp=136–137}}—and described [[World War I]] as "masculism at its worst".{{sfn|Allen|2009|p=127}}{{Single Source-inline|reason=Other sources indicate the word existed prior to this date.|date=May 2019}} |
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In response to the lecture, W. H. Sampson wrote in a letter to the ''New York Times'' that women must share the blame for war: "It is perfectly useless to pretend that men have fought, struggled and labored for themselves, while women have stayed at home, wishing they wouldn't, praying before the shrines for peace, and using every atom of their influence to bring about a holy calm."<ref name="Sampson 1914">{{cite news |last1=Sampson |first1=W. H. |title=Not All Man's Fault |work=The New York Times |date=3 April 1914 |page=10}}</ref><ref name="Leary 2005">{{cite journal |last=Leary |first=Andrea M. |year=2005 |title=Charlotte Perkins Gilman as a Master of Audience: Newspaper Reviewers Expose a Radical Lecturer |journal=Resources for American Literary Study |volume=30 |pages=(216–235), 224 |doi=10.2307/26366994 |jstor=26366994 |s2cid=248931747}}</ref>{{relevance inline|date=May 2019}} |
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=== Definition and scope === |
=== Definition and scope === |
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The political scientist Dr. Georgia Duerst-Lahti, Ph.D., distinguishes between ''masculism'', which expresses the [[ethos]] of the early gender-egalitarian [[men's movement]], and [[#Masculinism|masculinism]], which refers to the ideology of [[patriarchy]].<ref name="Duerst-Lahti 2008"/>. In ''Gender Ideology: masculinism and femininalism'', she writes: |
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⚫ | The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' (2000) |
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{{Blockquote|The concept of masculism, a term common to the early days of second wave feminism and especially related to men’s movement activities, presents one interesting asymmetry that uses feminism as the positive pole. Most closely associated with men’s movement activist Warren Farrell, the concept initially promoted gender egalitarianism and the promise of mutual benefit.<ref name="Duerst-Lahti 2008">{{cite book |last=Duerst-Lahti |first=Georgia |chapter=Gender Ideology: masculinism and femininalism |pages=169 |editor1-last=Goertz |editor1-first=Gary |editor2-last=Mazur |editor2-first=Amy G. |title=Politics, gender, and concepts: theory and methodology |year=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-72342-8}}</ref>}} |
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⚫ | Sociologists Melissa Blais and Francis Dupuis-Déri attribute the alternative terms ''masculist'' and ''masculinist'' to author [[Warren Farrell]].<ref name="Blais 2012">{{cite journal |last1=Blais |first1=Melissa |last2=Dupuis-Déri |first2=Francis |title=Masculinism and the Antifeminist Countermovement |journal=Social Movement Studies |date=January 2012 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=21–39 |doi=10.1080/14742837.2012.640532 |s2cid=144983000}}</ref> The most common term, they argue, is the [[Men's Movement]]; they write that there is a growing consensus in the French-language media that the movement should be referred to as ''masculiniste''.{{sfn|Blais|Dupuis-Déri|2012|pp=22–23}} Dupuis-Déri writes that members of the men's movement refer to themselves as both ''masculinist'' and ''masculist''.<ref name="Dupuis-Déri 2009">{{cite journal |last1=Dupuis-Déri |first1=Francis |title=Le 'masculinisme': une histoire politique du mot (en Anglais et en Français) |trans-title='Masculinism': a political history of the term (in English and French) |language=fr |journal=Recherches Féministes |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=97–123 |date=2009 |doi=10.7202/039213ar |doi-access=free}}</ref> According to Whitlow, masculinist theory such as Farrell's and that of gender-studies scholar [[R.W. Connell]] developed alongside [[third-wave feminism]] and [[queer theory]], and was influenced by those theories' questioning of traditional [[gender role]]s and the meaning of terms such as ''man'' and ''woman''.{{refn|name=Whitlow 2010}} |
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⚫ | The gender-studies scholar [[Julia T. Wood|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".<ref name="Wood 2014">{{cite book |last1=Wood |first1=Julia T. |title=Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, & Culture |date=2014 |publisher=Cengage Learning |location=Stamford, Conn. |isbn=978-1-28-507593-8 |page=89}}</ref> Sociologists Arthur Brittan and Satoshi Ikeda describe masculinism as an ideology justifying male domination in society.{{efn|Brittan calls masculinism "the ideology that justifies and naturalizes male domination ... the ideology of patriarchy".{{r|Brittan 1989}}}}<ref name="Ikeda 2007">{{cite book |last1=Ikeda |first1=Satoshi |editor1-last=Griffin-Cohen |editor1-first=M. |editor2-last=Brodie |editor2-first=J. |title=Remapping Gender in the New Global Order |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=978-1-1359-8897-5 |page=112 |doi=10.4324/9780203099940-13 |chapter=Masculinity and masculinism under globalization: reflections on the Canadian case}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Brittan 1989">{{cite book |last=Brittan |first=Arthur |title=Masculinity and Power |url=https://archive.org/details/masculinitypower00arth/page/4/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration |date=1989 |publisher=Basil Blackwell |location=Oxford |page=4 |isbn=0-631-14167-7 |
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''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (1995)'' advocates for a reasonable definition of masculism and contrasts its definition with feminism here: |
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{{Blockquote|In its most general meaning, the word 'feminism' refers to promotion of the interests or rights of women, and a reasonable definition of 'masculism' would have it refer to promoting the interests or rights of men... A more precise definition of both would be something on this order: 'the belief that women/ men have been systematically discriminated against, and that that discrimination should be eliminated'. Evidently, such a definition for 'feminism' is commonly understood, and among the few who apply the term 'masculist' to themselves, such is also their intent. Of course, under these meanings there is no necessary conflict between them... both forms of ''contemporary masculism'' promote equality between men and women as its adherents envision it. Of course, whether they are mistaken about what moral equality would consist in, or even at some level dishonest about that being their goal, is another matter—as it also is for feminists. This leads us to the extremist versions of masculism and feminism, those that promote some degree of male or female supremacy, and are generally based on belief in the inferiority of the other sex...<ref name="Oxford 1995">{{cite book |last1=Honderich |first1=Ted |title=[[The Oxford Companion to Philosophy]] |date=1995 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-866132-0 |pages=528-529 |chapter=Masculism }}</ref> }} |
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Ferrel Christensen, a Canadian philosopher and president of the former Alberta-based Movement for the Establishment of Real Gender Equality,{{r|Menzies 2007}}<ref name="Thorne 2000">{{cite news |last1=Thorne |first1=Duncan |title=Gender bias in pamphlet, says human rights officer |url=https://www.fact.on.ca/news/news0006/ej000620.htm |work=The Edmonton Journal |date=20 June 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010228064228/https://www.fact.on.ca/news/news0006/ej000620.htm |archive-date=28 February 2001 |url-status=live}}</ref> writes that "Defining 'masculism' is made difficult by the fact that the term has been used by very few people, and by hardly any philosophers." He differentiates between "progressive masculists", who welcome many of the societal changes promoted by feminists, while believing that some measures to reduce sexism against women have increased it against men, and an "extremist version" of masculism that promotes [[male supremacy]]. He argued that if masculism and feminism refer to the belief that men/women are systematically discriminated against, and that this discrimination should be eliminated, there is not necessarily a conflict between feminism and masculism, and some assert that they are both. However, many believe that one sex is more discriminated against, and thus use one label and reject the other.<ref name="Christensen 2005"/> |
Ferrel Christensen, a Canadian philosopher and president of the former Alberta-based Movement for the Establishment of Real Gender Equality,{{r|Menzies 2007}}<ref name="Thorne 2000">{{cite news |last1=Thorne |first1=Duncan |title=Gender bias in pamphlet, says human rights officer |url=https://www.fact.on.ca/news/news0006/ej000620.htm |work=The Edmonton Journal |date=20 June 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010228064228/https://www.fact.on.ca/news/news0006/ej000620.htm |archive-date=28 February 2001 |url-status=live}}</ref> writes that "Defining 'masculism' is made difficult by the fact that the term has been used by very few people, and by hardly any philosophers." He differentiates between "progressive masculists", who welcome many of the societal changes promoted by feminists, while believing that some measures to reduce sexism against women have increased it against men, and an "extremist version" of masculism that promotes [[male supremacy]]. He argued that if masculism and feminism refer to the belief that men/women are systematically discriminated against, and that this discrimination should be eliminated, there is not necessarily a conflict between feminism and masculism, and some assert that they are both. However, many believe that one sex is more discriminated against, and thus use one label and reject the other.<ref name="Christensen 2005"/> |
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According to Bethany M. Coston and [[Michael Kimmel]], members of the [[mythopoetic men's movement]] identify as masculinist.<ref name=-"Coston 2013">{{cite journal |last1=Coston |first1=Bethany M. |last2=Kimmel |first2=Michael |author-link2=Michael Kimmel |title=White Men as the New Victims: Reverse Discrimination Cases and the Men's Rights Movement |journal=Nevada Law Journal |date=2013 |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=368–385, 371 |url=https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1465&context=nlj}}</ref> 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. ..."<ref name="Davidson 1988">{{cite book |last=Davidson |first=Nicholas |title=The Failure of Feminism |pages=274–275 |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Buffalo, NY |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-87975-408-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/failureoffeminis0000davi/page/274/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration}}</ref> Christensen calls virism "an extreme brand of masculism and masculinism".<ref name="Christensen 2005"/> |
According to Bethany M. Coston and [[Michael Kimmel]], members of the [[mythopoetic men's movement]] identify as masculinist.<ref name=-"Coston 2013">{{cite journal |last1=Coston |first1=Bethany M. |last2=Kimmel |first2=Michael |author-link2=Michael Kimmel |title=White Men as the New Victims: Reverse Discrimination Cases and the Men's Rights Movement |journal=Nevada Law Journal |date=2013 |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=368–385, 371 |url=https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1465&context=nlj}}</ref> 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. ..."<ref name="Davidson 1988">{{cite book |last=Davidson |first=Nicholas |title=The Failure of Feminism |pages=274–275 |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Buffalo, NY |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-87975-408-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/failureoffeminis0000davi/page/274/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration}}</ref> Christensen calls virism "an extreme brand of masculism and masculinism".<ref name="Christensen 2005"/> |
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== Masculinism == |
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Sociologist [[Andreas Kemper]] describes masculism as a variation of masculinism whose goal is to oppose what its adherents see as female domination, making it fundimentially anti-feminist.<ref name="beck">{{cite journal |first1=Dorothee |last1=Beck |title=A Bridge with Three Pillars: Soldierly Masculinity and Violence in Media Representation in Germany |url=https://moving-the-social.ub.rub.de/index.php/MTS/article/view/9047 |journal=Moving the Social |date=9 August 2021 |issn=2197-0394 |pages=17–35 |volume=65 |doi=10.46586/mts.65.2021.17-36}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=David |last1=Meiering |first2=Aziz |last2=Dziri |first3=Naika |last3=Foroutan |title=Connecting Structures: Resistance, Heroic Masculinity and Anti-Feminism as Bridging Narratives within Group Radicalization |url=https://www.ijcv.org/index.php/ijcv/article/view/3805 |journal=International Journal of Conflict and Violence (IJCV) |date=2020 |issn=1864-1385 |pages=1–19 |volume=14 |doi=10.4119/ijcv-3805}}</ref> |
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⚫ | The gender-studies scholar [[Julia T. Wood|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".<ref name="Wood 2014">{{cite book |last1=Wood |first1=Julia T. |title=Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, & Culture |date=2014 |publisher=Cengage Learning |location=Stamford, Conn. |isbn=978-1-28-507593-8 |page=89}}</ref> Sociologists Melissa Blais and Francis Dupuis-Déri describe ''masculinism'' as a form of [[antifeminism]].<ref name="Blais 2012"/>. Sociologists Arthur Brittan and Satoshi Ikeda describe masculinism as an ideology justifying male domination in society.{{efn|Brittan calls masculinism "the ideology that justifies and naturalizes male domination ... the ideology of patriarchy".{{r|Brittan 1989}}}}<ref name="Ikeda 2007">{{cite book |last1=Ikeda |first1=Satoshi |editor1-last=Griffin-Cohen |editor1-first=M. |editor2-last=Brodie |editor2-first=J. |title=Remapping Gender in the New Global Order |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=978-1-1359-8897-5 |page=112 |doi=10.4324/9780203099940-13 |chapter=Masculinity and masculinism under globalization: reflections on the Canadian case}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Brittan 1989">{{cite book |last=Brittan |first=Arthur |title=Masculinity and Power |url=https://archive.org/details/masculinitypower00arth/page/4/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration |date=1989 |publisher=Basil Blackwell |location=Oxford |page=4 |isbn=0-631-14167-7}}</ref> |
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⚫ | The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' (2000) mistakenly conflates ''masculinism'' as [[synonym]]ous with ''masculism''. It defines masculinism as: "A male counterpart to feminism. 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. 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."<ref>Masculism. ''Oxford Reference.'' Retrieved 3 Jan. 2023, from https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100138854.</ref> According to Susan Whitlow in ''The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory'' (2011), the terms are "used interchangeably across disciplines".<ref name="Whitlow 2010">{{cite book |last=Whitlow |first=Susan |chapter=Gender and Cultural Studies |title=The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory, Volume 3 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |location=Malden, Mass. |date=2011 |doi=10.1002/9781444337839.wbelctv3g003 |isbn=978-1-40-518312-3 |pages=1083–91}}</ref> Sociologist Robert Menzies wrote in 2007 that both terms are common in [[men's rights]] and [[Antifeminism|anti-feminist]] literature.<ref name="Menzies 2007">{{cite book |last1=Menzies |first1=Robert |editor1-last=Chunn |editor1-first=Dorothy E. |editor2-last=Boyd |editor2-first=Susan |editor3-last=Lessard |editor3-first=Hester |title=Reaction and Resistance: Feminism, Law, and Social Change |date=2007 |publisher=University of British Columbia Press |location=Vancouver |at=p. 65; note 2, p. 91 |chapter=Virtual Backlash: Representations of Men's 'Rights' and Feminist 'Wrongs' in Cyberspace |isbn=978-0-7748-4036-1}}</ref> |
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Masculism is sometimes termed '''meninism'''.<ref name="bbc">{{cite news |last1=Zand |first1=Benjamin |title=#BBCtrending: Feminism v Meninism |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25462758 |access-date=25 June 2015 |work=BBC News |date=20 December 2013}}</ref><ref name="telegraph">{{cite news |last1=Daubney |first1=Martin |author-link=Martin Daubney |title=Will 2015 be the year of meninism? |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11308455/Will-2015-be-the-year-of-meninism.html |access-date=25 June 2015 |work=The Telegraph |date=29 December 2014}}</ref><ref name="metro">{{cite news |last1=Lynch |first1=Alison |title=Women disillusioned with feminism are turning to meninism |url=http://metro.co.uk/2015/06/25/women-disillusioned-with-feminism-are-turning-to-meninism-5265103/ |access-date=25 June 2015 |publisher=Metro |date=25 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Sanghani |first1=Radhika |title=Feminists v Meninists: The labels we could all afford to ditch |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11380282/Feminists-v-Meninists-The-labels-we-could-all-afford-ditch.html |access-date=25 June 2015 |publisher=The Telegraph |date=1 February 2015}}</ref> |
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==Areas of interest== |
==Areas of interest== |
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{{See also|Men's studies|Black Male Studies}} |
{{See also|Men's studies|Black Male Studies}} |
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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.<ref name="Hoogensen 2006">{{cite book |last1=Hoogensen |first1=Gunhild |last2=Solheim |first2=Bruce O. |title=Women in Power: World Leaders Since 1960 |publisher=Praeger Publishers |year=2006 |isbn=0-275-98190-8 |page=21 |lccn=2006015398 |chapter=Women in Theory and Practice |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/womeninpowerworl0000hoog/page/21/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref> According to Oxford Reference, "Masculinists reject the idea of universal patriarchy, arguing that before feminism most men were as disempowered as most women."<ref name="Chandler 2016">{{cite book |last1=Chandler |first1=Daniel |last2=Munday |first2=Rod |title=A Dictionary of Media and Communication |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acref/9780191800986.001.0001 |date=2016 |edition=2nd |chapter-url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/ |
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.<ref name="Hoogensen 2006">{{cite book |last1=Hoogensen |first1=Gunhild |last2=Solheim |first2=Bruce O. |title=Women in Power: World Leaders Since 1960 |publisher=Praeger Publishers |year=2006 |isbn=0-275-98190-8 |page=21 |lccn=2006015398 |chapter=Women in Theory and Practice |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/womeninpowerworl0000hoog/page/21/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref> According to Oxford Reference, "Masculinists reject the idea of universal patriarchy, arguing that before feminism most men were as disempowered as most women."<ref name="Chandler 2016">{{cite book |last1=Chandler |first1=Daniel |last2=Munday |first2=Rod |title=A Dictionary of Media and Communication |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acref/9780191800986.001.0001 |date=2016 |edition=2nd |chapter-url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191800986.001.0001/acref-9780191800986-e-1615 |isbn=978-0-1918-0098-6 |chapter=masculinism (masculism)}}</ref> |
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== South African masculinist evangelical movements == |
== South African masculinist evangelical movements == |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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{{Div col|colwidth=30em}} |
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}} |
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* [[Father's rights movement]] |
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* [[Identity politics]] |
* [[Identity politics]] |
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* [[Manosphere]] |
* [[Manosphere]] |
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* [[Men's liberation]] |
* [[Men's liberation]] |
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* [[Men's movement]] |
* [[Men's movement]] |
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* [[Men's rights movement]]. |
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* [[Men's studies]] |
* [[Men's studies]] |
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Revision as of 19:27, 20 February 2024
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Masculism is a socio-political movement that seeks gender egalitarianism, to eliminate sexism against men, equalize their rights with women,[1][2] and increase adherence to or promotion of attributes regarded as typical of masculinity.[3][4][2] Masculism is sometimes termed meninism.[5][6][7][8] It is most closely associated with men's movement activist Warren Farrell.[9]
Terminology
Early history
According to the historian Judith Allen, Charlotte Perkins Gilman invented the term masculism in 1914,[10] 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",[11] or what Allen calls the "sexual politics of androcentric cultural discourses".[12] 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"[13]—and described World War I as "masculism at its worst".[14][additional citation(s) needed]
In response to the lecture, W. H. Sampson wrote in a letter to the New York Times that women must share the blame for war: "It is perfectly useless to pretend that men have fought, struggled and labored for themselves, while women have stayed at home, wishing they wouldn't, praying before the shrines for peace, and using every atom of their influence to bring about a holy calm."[15][16][relevant?]
Definition and scope
The political scientist Dr. Georgia Duerst-Lahti, Ph.D., distinguishes between masculism, which expresses the ethos of the early gender-egalitarian men's movement, and masculinism, which refers to the ideology of patriarchy.[9]. In Gender Ideology: masculinism and femininalism, she writes:
The concept of masculism, a term common to the early days of second wave feminism and especially related to men’s movement activities, presents one interesting asymmetry that uses feminism as the positive pole. Most closely associated with men’s movement activist Warren Farrell, the concept initially promoted gender egalitarianism and the promise of mutual benefit.[9]
Sociologists Melissa Blais and Francis Dupuis-Déri attribute the alternative terms masculist and masculinist to author Warren Farrell.[17] The most common term, they argue, is the Men's Movement; they write that there is a growing consensus in the French-language media that the movement should be referred to as masculiniste.[18] Dupuis-Déri writes that members of the men's movement refer to themselves as both masculinist and masculist.[19] According to Whitlow, masculinist theory such as Farrell's and that of gender-studies scholar R.W. Connell developed alongside third-wave feminism and queer theory, and was influenced by those theories' questioning of traditional gender roles and the meaning of terms such as man and woman.[20]
The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (1995) advocates for a reasonable definition of masculism and contrasts its definition with feminism here:
In its most general meaning, the word 'feminism' refers to promotion of the interests or rights of women, and a reasonable definition of 'masculism' would have it refer to promoting the interests or rights of men... A more precise definition of both would be something on this order: 'the belief that women/ men have been systematically discriminated against, and that that discrimination should be eliminated'. Evidently, such a definition for 'feminism' is commonly understood, and among the few who apply the term 'masculist' to themselves, such is also their intent. Of course, under these meanings there is no necessary conflict between them... both forms of contemporary masculism promote equality between men and women as its adherents envision it. Of course, whether they are mistaken about what moral equality would consist in, or even at some level dishonest about that being their goal, is another matter—as it also is for feminists. This leads us to the extremist versions of masculism and feminism, those that promote some degree of male or female supremacy, and are generally based on belief in the inferiority of the other sex...[21]
Ferrel Christensen, a Canadian philosopher and president of the former Alberta-based Movement for the Establishment of Real Gender Equality,[22][23] writes that "Defining 'masculism' is made difficult by the fact that the term has been used by very few people, and by hardly any philosophers." He differentiates between "progressive masculists", who welcome many of the societal changes promoted by feminists, while believing that some measures to reduce sexism against women have increased it against men, and an "extremist version" of masculism that promotes male supremacy. He argued that if masculism and feminism refer to the belief that men/women are systematically discriminated against, and that this discrimination should be eliminated, there is not necessarily a conflict between feminism and masculism, and some assert that they are both. However, many believe that one sex is more discriminated against, and thus use one label and reject the other.[4]
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".[4]
Masculinism
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".[26] Sociologists Melissa Blais and Francis Dupuis-Déri describe masculinism as a form of antifeminism.[17]. Sociologists Arthur Brittan and Satoshi Ikeda describe masculinism as an ideology justifying male domination in society.[a][28] 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.[27]
The Oxford English Dictionary (2000) mistakenly conflates masculinism as synonymous with masculism. It defines masculinism as: "A male counterpart to feminism. 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. 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."[29] According to Susan Whitlow in The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory (2011), the terms are "used interchangeably across disciplines".[20] Sociologist Robert Menzies wrote in 2007 that both terms are common in men's rights and anti-feminist literature.[22]
Areas of interest
Education and employment
Many masculists oppose co-educational schooling, believing that single-sex schools better promote the well-being of boys.[30]
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.[2]
Violence and suicide
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Masculists cite higher rates of suicide in men than women.[30] Farrell expresses concern about violence against men being depicted as humorous, in the media and elsewhere.[31][third-party source needed]
They also express concern about violence against men being ignored or minimized in comparison to violence against women,[30][32] asserting gender symmetry in domestic violence.[30] Another of Farrell's concerns is that traditional assumptions of female innocence or sympathy for women, termed benevolent sexism, do lead to unequal penalties for women and men who commit similar crimes,[31]: 240–253 [third-party source needed] to lack of sympathy for male victims in domestic violence cases when the perpetrator is female, and to dismissal of female-on-male sexual assault and sexual harassment cases.[citation needed]
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.[33] According to Oxford Reference, "Masculinists reject the idea of universal patriarchy, arguing that before feminism most men were as disempowered as most women."[1]
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].[34]: 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.[35][36] 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.[37]
The Worthy Women Conference is an auxiliary to the MMC in advocating a belief in the inherent superiority of men over women.[34]: 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.[38] Her success is attributed to her balancing claims that God created the gender hierarchy, but that women are no less valuable than men,[39] and that restoration of traditional gender roles relieves existential anxiety in post-apartheid South Africa.[34]: 148
See also
- Men's organizations
- International Men's Day (19 November)
UK:
Canada:
France:
- Notable people associated with masculism
Explanatory notes
References
- ^ a b Chandler, Daniel; Munday, Rod (2016). "masculinism (masculism)". A Dictionary of Media and Communication (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780191800986.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-1918-0098-6.
- ^ a b c Cathy Young (July 1994). "Man Troubles: Making Sense of the Men's Movement". 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.
- ^ Bunnin, Nicholas; Yu, Jiyuan (2004). The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishing. p. 411. ISBN 1-4051-0679-4.
- ^ a b c Christensen, Ferrell (2005). "Masculism". In Honderich, Ted (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 562–563. ISBN 0-19-926479-1. LCCN 94-36914.
- ^ 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 Duerst-Lahti, Georgia (2008). "Gender Ideology: masculinism and femininalism". In Goertz, Gary; Mazur, Amy G. (eds.). Politics, gender, and concepts: theory and methodology. Cambridge University Press. pp. 159–192. ISBN 978-0-521-72342-8. Cite error: The named reference "Duerst-Lahti 2008" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ 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.
- ^ Sampson, W. H. (3 April 1914). "Not All Man's Fault". The New York Times. p. 10.
- ^ Leary, Andrea M. (2005). "Charlotte Perkins Gilman as a Master of Audience: Newspaper Reviewers Expose a Radical Lecturer". Resources for American Literary Study. 30: (216–235), 224. doi:10.2307/26366994. JSTOR 26366994. S2CID 248931747.
- ^ a b Blais, Melissa; Dupuis-Déri, Francis (January 2012). "Masculinism and the Antifeminist Countermovement". Social Movement Studies. 11 (1): 21–39. doi:10.1080/14742837.2012.640532. S2CID 144983000.
- ^ Blais & Dupuis-Déri 2012, pp. 22–23.
- ^ Dupuis-Déri, Francis (2009). "Le 'masculinisme': une histoire politique du mot (en Anglais et en Français)" ['Masculinism': a political history of the term (in English and French)]. Recherches Féministes (in French). 22 (2): 97–123. doi:10.7202/039213ar.
- ^ a b Whitlow, Susan (2011). "Gender and Cultural Studies". The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory, Volume 3. Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 1083–91. doi:10.1002/9781444337839.wbelctv3g003. ISBN 978-1-40-518312-3.
- ^ Honderich, Ted (1995). "Masculism". The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford University Press. pp. 528–529. ISBN 0-19-866132-0.
- ^ a b Menzies, Robert (2007). "Virtual Backlash: Representations of Men's 'Rights' and Feminist 'Wrongs' in Cyberspace". In Chunn, Dorothy E.; Boyd, Susan; Lessard, Hester (eds.). Reaction and Resistance: Feminism, Law, and Social Change. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. p. 65; note 2, p. 91. ISBN 978-0-7748-4036-1.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Davidson, Nicholas (1988). The Failure of Feminism. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books. pp. 274–275. ISBN 978-0-87975-408-2.
- ^ Wood, Julia T. (2014). Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, & Culture. Stamford, Conn.: Cengage Learning. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-28-507593-8.
- ^ a b Brittan, Arthur (1989). Masculinity and Power. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 4. ISBN 0-631-14167-7.
- ^ Ikeda, Satoshi (2007). "Masculinity and masculinism under globalization: reflections on the Canadian case". In Griffin-Cohen, M.; Brodie, J. (eds.). Remapping Gender in the New Global Order. New York: Routledge. p. 112. doi:10.4324/9780203099940-13. ISBN 978-1-1359-8897-5.
- ^ Masculism. Oxford Reference. Retrieved 3 Jan. 2023, from https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100138854.
- ^ a b c d Blais & Dupuis-Déri 2012, p. 23.
- ^ a b Farrell, Warren (1993). The Myth of Male Power: Why Men Are the Disposable Sex (1st ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-79349-4.[page needed]
- ^ Mvulane, Zama (November 25, 2008). "Do men suffer spousal abuse?". Cape Times. South Africa. p. 12. Archived from the original on February 21, 2009 – via IOL.
- ^ Hoogensen, Gunhild; Solheim, Bruce O. (2006). "Women in Theory and Practice". Women in Power: World Leaders Since 1960. Praeger Publishers. p. 21. ISBN 0-275-98190-8. LCCN 2006015398.
- ^ a b c Nadar, Sarojini; Potgieter, Cheryl (Fall 2010). "Liberated through submission?: The Worthy Woman's Conference as a case study of formenism" (PDF). Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. 26 (2): 141–151. doi:10.2979/fsr.2010.26.2.141. JSTOR 10.2979/fsr.2010.26.2.141 – 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.
- ^ Pillay, Miranda (2015). "Mighty Men, Mighty Families: A pro-family Christian movement to (re)enforce patriarchal control?". In Conradie, Ernst M.; Pillay, Miranda (eds.). Ecclesial reform and deform movements in the South African context. Stellenbosch, South Africa: Sun Press. pp. 61–77. ISBN 978-1-920689-76-6.
- ^ Nortjé-Meyer, Lilly (2015). "A movement seeking to embody support of patriarchal structures and patterns in church and society: Gertha Wiid's Worthy Women movement". In Conradie, Ernst M.; Pillay, Miranda (eds.). Ecclesial reform and deform movements in the South African context. Stellenbosch, South Africa: Sun Press. pp. 86–93. ISBN 978-1-920689-76-6.
- ^ Nortjé-Meyer, Lilly (November 2011). "A critical analysis of Gretha Wiid's sex ideology and her biblical hermeneutics". Verbum et Ecclesia. 32 (1). AOSIS OpenJournals: 1–7. doi:10.4102/ve.v32i1.472.
Further reading
- 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. ISBN 978-952-484-279-2. ISSN 0788-7604. LCCN 2009447401.
- "Masculinism - an overview". ScienceDirect. Elsevier. n.d.
External links
The dictionary definition of masculism at Wiktionary