Masculism

Masculism is a neologism that describes the belief that the male and female genders should be considered complementary and interdependent by necessity. It is also the name of a political and social movement, sometimes known as masculinism or the men's rights movement. Masculist ideology is built around the general belief that the expression of differentiated gender roles is "natural" and should be exempt from government interference. This contrasts with how these masculists view feminist ideology. Some proponents claim masculism is the ideological flip side of feminism, as capitalism was to communism in economics.

History of Masculism

The first of this kind of secular, ideological response to feminism came from Ernest Belfort Bax, a socialist theoretician in the height of socialism at the beginning of the 20th century, and an associate of Karl Marx. Bax wrote The Fraud of Feminism in 1913, which was in essence the first masculist text. However, the term masculism did not gain usage until the end of the 20th century.

According to masculists, while some feminists consider the genders as having the same capacities in virtually every respect, they denounce differentiated gender roles as an oppressive artificial construct. Many masculists believe, to the contrary, that profound gender differences are inherent in human nature, and claim that feminists who have attempted to negate these differences by legislation and social engineering are dragging civilization through a fallacious experiment. Many masculists blame this for the high rates of divorce, alienation of the genders, disintegrating communities, fatherless children, high school dropout, drug addiction, consumerism, teenage pregnancy, suicide, violent crime, and overfilled prisons.

Some masculists further state that sexual equality laws (beginning with the Civil Rights Act of 1964) have resulted in making feminist ideology, as they see it, as mainstream - that such laws serve primarily women and have created significant unconstitutional discrimination against men. While, in their view, most feminists rail against an "all-powerful patriarchy," many masculists consider patriarchy "inevitable." Many masculists accuse feminists of characterizing women as powerless victims of patriarchal oppression, and of using this as a device to justify the vilification of men and the curtailing of men's rights. Some masculists claim that so-called "fascist feminism" has achieved a covert matriarchy by means of such devices.

Masculist Ideology

Masculists, in general, cite many examples of anti-male discrimination. Their claims include one-sided legislation, selective enforcement, and neglected civil rights including:

• Child custody strongly favoring mothers
• Men incarcerated for inability to pay unrealistic child support payments
• Children aborted or given up for adoption without fathers' consent
• Men risking their lives in military service
• High-risk employment, but receiving no special honor for doing so
• Men charged in domestic violence cases, even when victims
• Men charged in rape and sexual harassment cases with no evidence beyond the plaintiff's claim, where the accusation frequently destroys a man's life
• Research and free speech repressed unless pro-feminist
• Men fired from their jobs for dissenting with feminist ideology in the workplace
• Hate crimes against men
• Relative lack of funding for men's health
• Lack of advocacy for men's rights and entitlement programs for women only
• Special government agencies for women's affairs with no corresponding agencies for men's affairs

Some masculists also complain that this feminist ideology is taught in universities, where it is misleadingly labeled as "Women's Studies." The greatest area of disagreement among masculists has to do with religious proscriptions for gender roles. This is largely a matter of degree. Some masculists claim a general leadership role for men and greater contributions to society, while others argue for relative equality between the genders. The term masculism may be used interchangeably with men's rights movement, but conservatives in the men's rights movement often reserve the term masculism for the liberal branch of the movement (as epitomized by author Warren Farrell). The essence of the division between the liberal and conservative branches is secularism versus religion, with the liberals more prone to take an ideological stance, as pioneered by Farrell, or a religious approach as represented in The Inevitability of Patriarchy by Steven Goldberg. Liberal masculists point out, in this regard, that the same conflict existed in feminism until the past few decades when the women of the political right that were in favor of patriarchy were converted to feminism. Masculism claims to be an attempt to counter ideology with ideology and in that manner create a "New Patriarchy." Some claim that, despite these differences, there is seemingly no conflict in goals within the majority of their movement, only in liberal-conservative dynamics.

Masculists, in general, envision a greater role for men in both the family and society. Most masculists note that child custody is assigned to fathers less often than to mothers. They argue that this should be made equal or even reversed, citing a lower incidence for all child development risk factors in single-parent households with only a father as compared to those with only a mother. They also claim that women initiate the majority of family breakups, that this is exacerbated by women's expectation of full custody, and that the expectation of custody by the father would therefore reduce the divorce rate. However, opponents of this viewpoint, claim that this idea would attempt to coerce women into staying in marriages against their wishes in order to maintain contact with their children. Others, such as the Sex Discrimination Commission of Australia, have stated that equality in child custody should begin with "equal parenting time while the marriage is intact." Proponents of this view claim that if a father has not done an equal share in raising a child, he should not be considered an equal parent. Some masculists dispute this claim by pointing to the traditional role of a father as a "breadwinner," necessitating longer working hours and other practical considerations than just childcare.

Masculists state that one of their goals is to overturn what they see as the "covert matriarchy" and elect masculist politicians, whom they would consider more altruistically motivated. Most masculists support opportunity for women, though some envision structural changes in taxation or other areas to compensate for what they see as natural differences and expectations between genders.

An Alternate View of Masculism

There exists an alternate view of masculism as a complementary movement to feminism, the so-called "New Masculinity." In this viewpoint, both feminism and masculism are attempts to correct disadvantages induced by gender roles. While feminism addresses areas where women are seen to be disadvantaged such as equal pay and promotion, masculism addresses areas where men are seen to be disadvantaged (such as criminal prosecution and sentencing, according to masculists of this view. These masculists may object to specific aspects of feminism or to the expressed views of specific self-defined feminist groups, but do not reject feminism as a concept, or believe that the feminist movement as a whole is hostile to masculism. For example, Warren Farrell states in The Myth of Male Power (ISBN 0425181448) that both genders are hampered by the gender roles of the past, which he said was "bi-sexism," sexism which oppresses both genders. On his Web page[1], he further expands on this compatibility, stating: "I use two podiums: Dr. Farrell, Masculist; and Dr. Farrell, Feminist." Another example is found in Fred Hayward's speech to the National Congress for Men in 1981: "We must not reverse the women's movement; we must accelerate it... [Men's liberation] is not a backlash, for there is nothing about traditional sex roles that I want to go back to."

Many masculists, however, vehemently decry this idea, and do not believe that masculism and feminism can possibly co-exist culturally. Most masculists agree on the political incompatibility of masculism and feminism.

The Current State of Masculism

Recent opposition to masculism includes statements in a government-funded $75,000 report requested by Status of Women Canada, a department of the Canadian federal government. "School Success by Gender: A Catalyst for the Masculinist Discourse" examines a wide variety of masculinist web sites and states: "these groups are largely composed of white, heterosexual, middle-class men who have not been successful in coping with the challenge to masculinity posed by feminism."