North South University

Fall 2019
Contemporary Issues in Gender Relationships (SOC 201)
Faculty: Dr. Naseem Akhter Hussain (NAHI)

Lecture- 14: Men’s Response to Feminism: Meninism and Men’s Feminism

Meninism 
Meninism  has been used to describe various groups, including the men’s rights
movement and male feminists. The term is sometimes used to challenge social issues facing
men, and sometimes satirically or semi-satirically as a word-play on feminism. Members of
these groups are known as meninists.

Sexism
Sexism, prejudice or discrimination based on sex or gender, especially against women and
girls. Although its origin is unclear, the term sexism emerged from the “second-wave”
feminism of the 1960s through the ‘80s and was most likely modeled on the civil
rights movement’s term racism(prejudice or discrimination based on race). Sexism can be
a belief that one sex is superior to or more valuable than another sex. It imposes limits on
what men and boys can and should do and what women and girls can and should do. The
concept of sexism was originally formulated to raise consciousness about the oppression of
girls and women. By the early 21st century it had sometimes been expanded to include the
oppression of any sex, including men and boys, intersexual people, and transgender people.

Sexism And The Men’s Movement

As the term sexism gained vernacular popularity, its usage evolved to include men as victims
of discrimination and social gender expectations. In a cultural backlash, the term reverse
sexismemerged to refocus on men and boys, especially on any disadvantages they might
experience under affirmative action. Opponents of affirmative action argued that men and
boys had become the ones discriminated against for jobs and school admission because of
their sex. The appropriation of the term sexism was frustrating to many feminists, who
stressed the systemic nature of women’s oppression through structural and historical
inequalities. Proponents of men’s rights conjured the notion of misandry, or hatred of men, as
they warned against a hypothesized approach of a female-dominated society.

As the academic discipline of women’s studies helped document women’s oppression

andresilience, the men’s movement reasoned that it was time to document men’s oppression.
Proponents called for research to address the limitations of gender roles on both sexes.
Critical work on men began to examine how gender-role expectations differentially affect
men and women. They focused on the concepts of hegemonic masculinity and hegemonic
femininity to address the oppressive aspect as well as the agency aspect of gender conformity
and resistance.

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What does meninist mean?
A meninist is someone who—believes men are victimized by feminism and that attention
needs to be called to what they believe are the struggles of being a man in the 21st century.

Where does meninist come from?

The original meninist surfaced on the website feminist.com in a 2001 manifesto announcing
meninist to be a “new global organization of men that believes in a woman’s right for
equality in society including political, social and especially in the workplace.” The group was
founded by feminist.com founder Marianne Schnall’s husband, Tom Zatar Kay. This was an
online space where men who were feminists (hence meninists) could share ideas and
experiences, and as part of that, members were invited to send letters to be posted on the site.

Kay’s conception of meninism, never quite took off. In 2013, a 28-year-old Ti Balogun
started the “#MeninistTwitter” hashtag on Twitter to satirize. He put it, “the way feminists
express themselves, which is a turn-off.” While Balogun remorsefully admitted that
“feminism has it’s place in society” and that “there are clearly women that are oppressed”. In
2013 the term meninism was quickly adopted by men who believed that they were victims of
feminism.

Meninism doesn’t have an official manifesto, but generally speaking, there is significant

overlap in beliefs many meninists hold and the views of other groups. Meninists don’t
necessarily go to the extreme that Men Go Their Own Way and that men should completely
avoid contact with women. However, they do argue there are double standards against men,
particularly when it comes to physical appearance and social etiquette.

While the term meninism may be realtively new, many of the ideas it stands for are not. In
fact, starting in the 1970s, many men’s groups were created such as the National Coalition for
Men, a large portion of which were established in response to second-wave feminism.

Meaning
The term meninism was used in the early 2000s to describe male feminists who
opposed sexism and supported women’s right for equality in society, politics and at work. By
the next decade, the term was used on social media to make jokes which mocked and
criticized radical feminism. In 2013 the BBC reported that the hashtag #Meninist Twitter was
being used on Twitter, first to share jokes about feminism, but later to share more serious
difficulties facing modern men. In 2015, it was reported that those who used meninist
hashtags “generally fall in two camps: 1) people who use the term to call out ways they
believe they’ve been victimized by feminism, 2) people who make fun of the first group for
not understanding what feminism means in the first place”.

There were men’s responses to feminism in late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century

United States through texts that addressed the claims raised by the turn-of-the-century
women’s movements. Antifeminist texts relied on traditional arguments, as well as Social

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Darwinist and natural law notions. They wanted to reassert the patriarchal family and to
oppose women’s suffrage and participation in the public sphere. Masculinist texts sought to
combat the purported feminization of American manhood by proposing islands of
masculinity, untainted by feminizing forces; proscribed homosociality was also cast as an
effective antidote to homosexuality. Profeminist texts openly embraced women’s claims for
changes in public participation and private and family life. It emerged out of a sense of
justice and the conviction that such changes would benefit men and challenge the emerging
industrial capitalist order. Parallels to contemporary men’s responses to the women’s
movement are suggested.

Movement
The true meaning of meninism is to advocate for the rights of men and to shield the male
gender from its destruction point. Correspondingly, the term menists should be a label for the
men who speak for the welfare of men. The term has partially evolved into a movement
promoting awareness of the issues affecting men. Movements were led in opposition to the
perceived oppression men face in the 21st century, opposition to the way some perceive that
men are victimised by modern-day feminism, and violence against men. Women who also
joined the movement were identified as meninists.

Some meninists have used the term to discuss serious issues affecting men. These
are domestic violence against men; fathers’ rights and divorce issues; and disproportionate
male prison sentences, suicide rates, and rates of homelessness. The hashtag is most
commonly used on Twitter to mock feminism, but has also been used as a way to draw
attention to men’s issues. The movement’s reaction to feminism is based more on the label
than feminism’s views. While meninism raises legitimate issues which should be taken
seriously, its heart is based on a misinterpretation of the meaning of feminism. Antifeminism
is also associated with the Meninist movement.

Some Issues of Meninist Movement

Meninists used child custody hearings as an example and said judges unfairly rule in favor of
the mother. They also pointed out that universities offer degrees in women’s studies but not
men’s studies. The White House lacks a designated council for men and boys. They said
modern feminism shifted its focus from helping both women and men to privileging women.

Meninists had misconception about feminism and feminist movement the goal of which is
gender equality. Feminism is “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and
opportunities.” The current goal of feminism is gender equality and modern feminist theory
recognizes that sexism and the patriarchy are not only greatly harmful to women, but also to
men. 

Men and women who identify as meninists miss the point of feminism and, haven’t bothered
to research the movement. Women do not win custody battles because feminism thinks they
should. Rather, judges appoint women because our patriarchal society considers them

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inherently more suited to parenthood than men. Universities don’t offer degrees in men’s
studies because men are already included in history. There are also subaltern studies which
includes the history of both men and women outside power structure. The White House
doesn’t have a council on men and boys because thegovernment is already a council filled
with men.

The fight against feminism is redundant because feminism already addresses its concerns.
Feminism fights for everyone’s equality, not just women’s interests. Though they believe
their cause is just, meninsts are fighting a battle that frankly does not exist.

Men’s Feminism
Men’s feminism is a field of study that applies feminist theories to the study of men and
masculinity. A prime goal has been to develop a theory, not of masculinity, but of
masculinities, because of the diversity among men. There are no universal masculine
characteristics that are the same in every society. The main theory developed in men’s
feminism, which has been used to dissect the differences between and within groups of
middle-class and working-class men of different ethnic groups and sexual orientations.
Hegemonic or dominant men are those who are economically successful, ethnically superior,
and visibly heterosexual.

Genders -- men’s and women’s are relational and embedded in the structure of the social
order. The object of analysis is thus not masculinity or femininity but their oppositional
relationship. Neither men nor woman can be studied separately; The whole question of
gender inequality involves a relationship of haves and have-nots, of dominance and
subordination, of advantage and disadvantage. Men’s feminism argues that gender inequality
includes men’s denigration of other men as well as their exploitation of women. Low-level
men workers around the world are oppressed by the inequalities of the global economy.

Men’s feminism blames sports, the military, fraternities, and other arenas of male bonding for
encouraging physical and sexual violence and misogyny. The sources of gender inequality
that men’s feminism concentrates on are embedded in the stratification systems of Western
societies as well as in the homophobia of heterosexual men, who construct their masculinity
as clearly opposite to that of homosexual men. Thus, it is necessary for prominent men of all
ethnic groups in politics, sports, and the mass media to appear heterosexual.

Examining homosexuality from a gender perspective shows that homosexual men are men,
not a third gender. They partake of the privileges and disadvantages and life style of men of
the same ethnic group and social class. Nonetheless, because homosexual men do not have
sexual relationships with women -- an important marker of manhood – they are considered
not-quitemen. Homosexual men are lower on the scale of privilege and power. Homosexual
men, however, do not subvert the gender order because they retain some of the “patriarchal

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dividend” of male advantage. Men’s feminism provides a needed corrective in bringing men
into gender research as a specific subject of study, but it does not offer new theoretical
perspectives.

Men’s Feminism: Sources of gender inequality

- Dominance of economic and educational resources and political power by one group of
men
- Institutionalized privileges that benefit all men
- Social values that encourage men’s violence and sexual exploitation of women

 Remedies
- Share resources and power
- Enhance women’s status and also that of disadvantaged men including homosexuals
- Make man responsible for controlling their own violent behavior.

 Contribution
- Analysis of men’s gender as part of a set of institutionalized relationships of dominance
and subordination
- Recognition of men’s dominance of other men as well as of women
- Critique of the culture of violence in sports

Major Characteristics
- Men’s feminism applies feminist theories to the study of men and masculinity.
- Gender inequality involves all men’s superiority to women and some men’s superiority to
other men. Economically successful – racially ethnically privileged – heterosexuals are at
the top of the ladder.
- Gender inequality includes men’s exploitation of other men as well as exploitation of
women.
- Men’s feminism blames sports – military – fraternities – male bonding for encouraging
physical and sexual violence and misogyny.
- It is critical of men’s primitive inner desire to be ‘wild man’. It is critical of languages of
competition – sports which demonstrate masculine strength and beauty. Sports stratifies
men and contributes towards social construction of masculinity.
- It examines homosexuality. Homosexuals are men, not third gender. Because
homosexuals do not have sexual relationship with women (marker of manhood) they are
considered not quite men. Homosexuals also preserve patriarchal values.
- Men’s feminism wants to see men women sharing family work and economic support as
equal partners.
- Men’s feminism has active program of anti – rape and anti – battering education.