Thursday, May 29, 2014

"Not All Men"

There is a feminist meme referred to as Not All Men.  It mocks men who don't want to be demonized and associated with rapists.  The idea is that when people are chastising all men as a demographic and calling them out as the source of almost all that is wrong in the world, "it's not helpful" for a man to suggest that not all men are evil.  In fact, it's asserted that such a defense is counter productive to the discussion.

That's exactly what it is- a defense.  A defense is needed because men are being attacked.  Whether a particular male involved in the discussion is part of the problem or not doesn't matter, all males are at fault.  Men are collectively called out as evil, as rapists, as misogynists, as being at fault for women making less, and a variety of other issues.  For sure, there are many men who are evil, rapists, misogynists and so on.  But lumping all men into a single category so they are easier to hate, rather than treating people like individuals, isn't helpful to advancing women's rights.  It puts men on the defensive.  It gives men the option of either being self-loathing or anti-feminism.  That's a terrible choice.