The Twitter timeline of Men's Voices Ireland reveals a piece that declares lesbian women are more likely to beat and sexually abuse women than heterosexual men, a post suggesting women who withhold access to children and whose ex-partners take their own lives should be arrested for manslaughter and a slew of MRA (men's rights activist) type posts.
Michael Kimmel is one of the world's leading experts on men and masculinities. Kimmel says,
"There is a deep contradiction at the heart of Men’s Rights movement: women, especially feminist women, must be seen as to blame for every problem men seem to be having. The Men’s Rights movement became a movement of – and for - angry white men."Professor of Sociology and author Linda Connolly has taught gender and family sociology courses in Ireland for 20 years. Her speciality areas are on the crisis in masculinity literature and pro-feminist masculinities literature. Professor Connolly suggests that a misguided belief in misandry can be harmful to the actual issues that do negatively affect men's lives.
"Believing it can only obstruct appropriate action on really important issues like men's mental health, prisoners, violence etc."Sexism has a large part to play in the continuing myth of misandry Professor Connolly says,
"Campaigning for ‘men’s rights’ in Ireland is a bit like saying we don’t get enough rain, but this isn't the first time we have seen such meetings here. Efforts to preserve male dominance have always been present of course, not least in the Irish Constitution itself but 'men's rights' activism of this sort incubates online and shares significant ideological overlap, personnel and tactical disregard for truth with alt-right and anti-choice movements."
"It appeals to a man's sense of entitlement and wounded pride. It offers simplistic answers and scapegoats for men unhappy with their own place in what is obviously still a man's world. They denounce the identity politics of others while fighting to protect their own." "Highly misleading interpretations of mental health, domestic violence and childcare issues are twisted into campaigning causes, deliberately and stubbornly overlooking that is feminism more any other movement that has brought these issues to the fore. As such, the two or three people behind a website and couple of media accounts posing as ‘Men’s Voices Ireland’ would be better served listening to others before arranging conferences for themselves."Professor Connolly says she finds the attack on feminism by Irish men to be bizarre, as Irish feminists are working towards a more equal and fair society for all.
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