A Woman’s Message for Men

True feminism began when it was felt that the rights granted to women fell short on humanitarian grounds. On humanitarian grounds, they should have equal opportunity and equal command over their lives. Feminism strives to improve the situation of those women who are not given proper food to eat, are denied basic education, are denied justice, etc. This nowhere emphasised the need to hate men or wish to take away their right to speak up, even when they stand for the truth.

Being a supporter of female rights I never intend to make my idea of assisting women so focused on men that they are afraid to speak up for themselves. There’s a voice that everyone has, and to be able to use it is empowerment, which applies for both men and women because feminism, since the very beginning, has had very humanitarian grounds and never aimed at harming the self-esteem of the men we live around. The concept of assisting women became entangled and muddled with pseudo-feminism.

We’ve all heard of the parallel movements for men’s rights and feminism. MensGroup, a male advocacy organization, makes these claims.

“Activists (in this movement) argue that society has become biased and sexist against men. They also argue that men face discrimination from the media, government, and Supreme Court for being male. Men’s rights groups fight against custody laws that favour mothers over fathers, violence against men, false rape allegations, disproportionate male prison sentencing, and conscription. “These are some of the inequalities that men’s rights groups strive to address.”

We need to understand that there are a lot of men who are struggling to detach themselves from the general idea that men often harm women.

The discussion about women’s rights began when some biased humans with a deep hatred for females committed heinous crimes. As I previously stated, “humans” can understand that there are “some” females who have also acted as a catalyst in deteriorating the situation of females, but there were also males who, in their self-assumption of gender superiority, went so far as to make being a girl feel unsafe.

Still, as a feminist, I don’t want to go so far in my fight for women’s rights that a man standing next to me feels afraid I’ll make false accusations against him and he won’t be able to defend or explain himself.

So, if a woman falsely accused a reasonable man of abusing her while he was just minding his own business, how would he then defend himself?

He would simply struggle. especially in places where the image of men is already distorted. He would be thrown under the bus for this accusation and would not be given a chance to defend himself. He would struggle to maintain his self-respect, and that would affect his work and mental health.

I would go on to say that misuse happens on both ends. There exist males who enjoy asserting their superiority over females, and they abuse females. Speaking the truth, sometimes it might seem unreal to sympathise with men. But we need to understand not to generalise about everyone. This doesn’t deny the fact that women face abuse or struggle for their rights, but this emphasises the fact that, even if in lesser numbers, men also suffer this.

As feminists or as male activists, we need to take a step back and see that there are women struggling to find a voice and that there are men too. In the hoax of Men vs. Women, we as humans are not doing well lately, and the rights of some are getting overlooked.

As I write this, I feel such matters come with some sense of sympathy for each other and a sense of responsibility on our parts. The sensitivity of these matters is great, and even greater are their consequences. Be it feminism or male rights activism, it comes under the bigger umbrella of humanism. Your liberty should not pose a threat to the other person and should not hurt the sentiments or the self-respect of others, whether you are a man or a woman.

To the men who are reading this and who dread the shortcomings of the ideas that we as a generation still haven’t transcended, I want you to understand that you are appreciated and valued. I am sorry for the stands taken in our culture that aim to diminish your voice and caricature.

As a feminist today and in the future, I hope to extend my support to both male and female members of our society, with the goal of finding a common ground where we can both look at a common goal and help in uplifting each other and keeping our heads high.

With the hope that one day we can create a better society for both.