Yes, Patriarchy Is Dead; the Feminists Prove It

[thucythucy]

35. It IS an achievement, considering

that only a lifetime ago, say seventy-five years or so, the ratio was probably 10 to 1 favoring men, probably more like 100 to 1 in fields like medicine, mathematics, engineering. To see whether men have been substantial losers in this new reality you have to ask: has all else remained the same? That is: has the undergraduate/graduate student body not increased at all in the past 75 years? Are the actual numbers of men going to school, as opposed to the ratio of men to women, gone down substantially? It's like saying: the ratio of black voters in Mississippi compared to white voters has gone from 1 to 10,000 to more like 1 to 1. In fact, we may reach a point in the not too distant future where "minority" voters in places like Mississippi, Texas, South Carolina actually exceed the white voter rolls. Does this mean white people in Mississippi are now losing their right to vote? That there is an organized conspiracy to knock white people off the rolls unjustly? That some form of "reverse racism" ("race chivalry&quot is at work here? Personally, I doubt it.

I read your OP on the ACA, and some of the responses. Most of what I'd have to say was said in a number of the responding posts, which you evidently found not convincing. Why aren't men and men's health issues more prominant in the ACA? Well, why isn't Massachusetts mentioned more often in the Voting Rights Act? This required, among other things, that certain states--such as Texas, South Carolina, Misssissippi--had to clear any changes to their voting laws with the US Justice Dept. So--does this mean people of color have never been discriminated against in Massachusetts? Or simply that the overwhelming problem to be addressed by the law was that there was a history of institutionalized racial discimination in those states that simply wasn't as major an issue in Massachusetts and Oregon? There has been a long and dismal history of women's health issues being ignored or minimized by the health care system and the health insurance industry in this country. So the ACA attempts to address that. Not at all difficult to understand, and bravo to President Obama for recognizing the problems.

Thanks for the links on the various male survivor issues. You don't need to urge me to get involved--I've probably done more work on issues of rape and sexual assault--including male on male rape, female on male rape, female on female rape -- than ninety-nine percent of the people you or I are likely to meet on anything like a day to day basis. I'm not as involved as I used to be, and no doubt could have done more, but I'm quite proud of the work I've done, and think I've helped some folks, including some male survivors whose accounts I still can remember quite vividly.

Again, you seem to feel that male survivor issues aren't being addressed in nearly the same strength as women/girl issues, but miss entirely the point I was making. The reason rape has become a political issue at all has nothing to do with "chivalry"--however vaguely defined. It's because tens of thousands of women in the late 1960s and 1970s decided enough was enough, and began to get active. They formed volunteer rape crisis centers in every major city in the country. They organized forums, demonstrations, they began pushing for legislation. Nothing, NOTHING was handed to them on a silver platter. And to the extent that male issues are discussed at all today, it's almost entirely because of the work done by those pioneering and courageous women (and some few men).

So, why aren't more men involved? And why are you, specifically, waiting for women to do this work for you?

Find out about the laws in your state. Organize your own progressive men's group to stop rape in prison. Contact your lawmakers, start petitions, do some fundraising. If you really care about this issue, DO SOMETHING beyond posting on DU.

It's very easy to blame women for all the world's problems--people have been doing it since the myth of Adam and Eve. It's less easy to get involved, get engaged, not to mention to get exposed to the backlash anyone organizing or advocating for social change is bound to encounter.

People of color, along with some sympathetic whites, pushed until the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act were passed. People with disabilities, along with some sympathetic TABs (Temporarily Able Bodied) pushed until the ADA was passed. Women, along with (a very very few men) pushed until rape crisis centers were established and the VAWA was passed.

If male rape, specifically prison rape, is your issue, what are you waiting for?