How Feminism Uproots Misandry

Men have just as much to gain from feminism as women do--when used correctly, the word only refers to a consistent egalitarianism that includes the deconstruction of sexist ideas that affect both men and women.  Since genuine feminism is the ideology of gender equality, and since patriarchal ideas involve a great deal of sexism towards men, it should be obvious that it is not just women who need liberation from oppressive traditions.  Nevertheless, it is still jolting for some to even hear about male feminists, as feminism is something erroneously regarded as focusing on women at the expense of men, and men are often seen as not needing any kind of social change on their behalf.

When one looks at how men are and have been treated, of course, these myths are exposed as the follies they are.  Men have been treated as expendable sources of military and occupational utility across all of recorded history.  Domestic and everyday violence against men has often been trivialized, concealed, or ignored to the point where many people genuinely believe men are not victimized in the same ways women are, much less with a similar frequency or by women themselves.  The male body has been neglected and ridiculed across many patriarchal societies.  Men's emotional needs have been cast aside, the only emotions men are largely expected to experience being anger and sexual desire.

Then there are the many personal difficulties that could come with men being raised to think they must be equipped for leadership and social authority--some men, like some women, are simply not natural leaders, yet they have been thrust into societies that pretend as if all men are equipped to lead.  There are also the psychological tolls that can easily come with being taught that they must be financially independent and willing to allow women in general to leech onto their resources.  Furthermore, there are the frustrations that any thoughtful man might feel when suspicion is the default reaction of many strangers to him.

It does not take any rational, experienced person long to realize that human history tells not only of systematic discrimination against women, but also of systematic discrimination against men.  Indeed, the only way someone could fail to realize this is if they view men through the lens of sexist assumptions!  There are some forms of discrimination that some women may experience that many men do not--for instance, men seem to almost never be told to cover their bodies for the sake of staving off female eyes.  However, there are some forms of discrimination that men are very likely to experience that many women do not--one example is that women are not treated like human beasts of burden.

Men benefit from feminism because everyone benefits when no one is pressured or forced into societal, familial, and occupational roles based on stereotypes.  It is impossible for sound individualism, which genuine feminism reduces down to, to harm men or women!  If someone who identifies as an egalitarian is puzzled that male feminists exist, they do not understand feminism beyond the superficial and incomplete summaries of it that the typical, unthinking person is likely to use.

No one who has lived in a culture infested with some sort of religious or secular complementarianism should have to take longer than several minutes to grasp this.   It is not as if women have suffered to an indescribably greater extent under patriarchal societies, for every misogynistic idea is affiliated with a misandrist one.  Men have far more to gain from feminism than most people claim: men are always better off when they are acknowledged as the whole persons they are, not as violent, egoistic, unsexy, simplistic beings to be discarded when there is not a dangerous task that needs completion.