Dear MRAs, gender inequality is a very real issue. We all see it, experience it and debate it, but instead of the attention paid to these social injustices making strides toward improvement, feminists, who advocate for social equality, are under more fire and criticism than ever, especially from the growing presence of Men’s Rights Activists. The men’s rights movement began in the 1970s as a response to the feminist movement. Group members believe that feminism has gone too far in “taking away” rights from men and challenging traditional gender roles.
Don’t get me wrong, men have many problems that need to be addressed—they often don’t receive proper consideration in custody battles and statistically take more jobs that have higher casualty rates. However, many issues that the men’s rights movement concerns itself with are clouded by privilege blindness.
The “war on boys” in schools is one of the issues that MRAs need to re-examine. As a woman and future teacher, I was shocked to find out that MRAs are quick to blame the rising gender gap in academic achievement on the “feminization” of education. It is said that the predominance of female teachers who favor girls and discriminate against boys is the reason boys are statistically doing worse than girls in school.
With the number of students enrolled in collegiate teacher education programs declining, I’m surprised to find people critical of future teachers who will be criticized, underpaid and under-supported.
Low teacher pay causes teaching to be a profession in which it’s difficult to be the provider for a family. Many men still subscribe to the traditional mindset that they have to be providers, and that this absolutely is a reason why teaching demographics are consistently dominated by females.
In every college of education class I have been in, no matter the topic, the notion of “teacher dispositions” has come up in nearly every conversation. One of these dispositions is that, as a teacher, you cannot have attitudes that are discriminatory against any group. I’m sure unfit teachers slip through the cracks and manage to have careers, but I have been taught time and again that we have to be culturally inclusive in order be successful; we have no room for prejudices. I can only speak from my experience at NC State, but I cannot imagine other teacher education programs being much different.
Education is not oppressive or restrictive towards boys. Cristina Hoff Sommers, author of “The War on Boys,” expresses the opinion that boys who enjoy playing imaginary violent games and are suspended because of zero-tolerance rules are discriminated against as well because boys have a predisposition to enjoy action narratives that involve violence.
This crackdown on zero-tolerance policies toward violence in schools is said to be harming boys in schools because they are being suspended and expelled at higher rates. This is something that is more cultured in boys than biologically dispositional. Of course, each incident should be taken on a case-by-case basis and common sense should be utilized, but violence, especially gun violence, needs to be taken seriously, especially in light of all the mass school shootings and tragedies.
Additionally, MRA advocates say that boys don’t read because they aren’t given books that interest them. This probably is true, but this is not unique to males or females. I am a future English teacher; I loved reading growing up, and I still found most of the assigned books boring. I gritted my teeth and read them and ended up with a deeper appreciation for the readings.
Many social injustices exist that cause students of both sexes to perform poorly in school. The state of being a “normal” boy is not being targeted by the so called “feminization” of education. Boys being boys isn’t an excuse anymore, especially when this ideology has recently become an excuse in the media for campus rape and inhumane hazing rituals. Feminism has struggled to break down these gender distinctions for years. The phrases “whining like a girl,” “throwing like a girl” and “acting like a girl” are insulting to people who attempt to equalize gender. “Acting like a boy” should be a phrase made irrelevant as well.
My real problem with MRAs is that while advocating for true gender equality, the movement, in most cases, chooses to oppose and antagonize the people who are, fundamentally, fighting the same fight as them.
