Spring Break
Misandry and why men have a right to complain
Issue date: 3/6/03 Section: Commentary
All this discrimination is coming to the attention of a few people. A new book by Paul Nathanson and Katherine Young, "Spreading Misandry: The Teaching of Contempt for Men in Popular Culture," explores the rising level of misandry in our culture and the impact it has on young males. The latter is something generally unexplored and a potentially dangerous situation. If we infuse our boys with media that says their sex is inferior and violent, they will, no doubt, grow up to be exactly that. Other groups catching on to this trend are two Web sites, www.mensactivism.org and www.ifeminists.com. The former is merely a forum for users to discuss men's rights, while the latter is what the website calls, "The home for individualist feminism on the net." Both call for the equal treatment of men and women and both recognize that, as a result of the rise of feminism in America, much damage has been done to men.
But misandry is still unexplored grounds to many. The U.S. Library of Congress has three books under misandry, but thousands under misogyny. My Microsoft Word Processor doesn't recognize it as a word. Nathanson and Young aren't even exactly sure how to pronounce it (I think it's mi-san-dre).
Some of you may have thought that, in reading an article about misandry, you would encounter the bitter reprisals of a man who recently had a rough experience with a woman. Sorry to disappoint you. My experience with women has been positive; I have no complaints and am glad to say that I know few misogynists or misandrists. Also, if you were looking for numbers about misandry, too bad, because these numbers do not exist. When I say misandry is a rising threat to our society, I say that from personal observation and am not passing it off as a fact you must agree with. It is unfortunate I have to devote so much space to defending the principles of columns, but c'est la vie.
In response to the guilt of having wronged women in the past, much has been done to alleviate these damages. However, in our zeal to right what was wrong, we have gone the other way. The pendulum has swung to the other side. Men are now being portrayed negatively just like women were in the 50s. We focus our attention on women's issues while ignoring men's. If it is wrong to make fun of women, then it should be wrong to make fun of men. If we're going to pretend to fix society by bringing women up, let's not bring men down at the same time.
But misandry is still unexplored grounds to many. The U.S. Library of Congress has three books under misandry, but thousands under misogyny. My Microsoft Word Processor doesn't recognize it as a word. Nathanson and Young aren't even exactly sure how to pronounce it (I think it's mi-san-dre).
Some of you may have thought that, in reading an article about misandry, you would encounter the bitter reprisals of a man who recently had a rough experience with a woman. Sorry to disappoint you. My experience with women has been positive; I have no complaints and am glad to say that I know few misogynists or misandrists. Also, if you were looking for numbers about misandry, too bad, because these numbers do not exist. When I say misandry is a rising threat to our society, I say that from personal observation and am not passing it off as a fact you must agree with. It is unfortunate I have to devote so much space to defending the principles of columns, but c'est la vie.
In response to the guilt of having wronged women in the past, much has been done to alleviate these damages. However, in our zeal to right what was wrong, we have gone the other way. The pendulum has swung to the other side. Men are now being portrayed negatively just like women were in the 50s. We focus our attention on women's issues while ignoring men's. If it is wrong to make fun of women, then it should be wrong to make fun of men. If we're going to pretend to fix society by bringing women up, let's not bring men down at the same time.