“Virtual Victims in Search of Equality” is the Most Insidious MRA Strategy
Men’s victimhood is how male supremacists fly under the radar.
This paper, authored in 2016, tells us about TWO DISTINCTIVE branches of MRA voices online, “Cyber Lads” and “Virtual Victims” —The paper, “Masculinities in Cyberspace: An Analysis of Portrayals of Manhood in Men’s Rights Activist Websites” can be downloaded here.
The second category, “virtual victims” is the more subtle recruitment tool for MRAs which leads to young men’s radicalization into male and white supremacy.
Quotes from the paper. (Quotes not contiguous):
Despite men’s privileged societal status, MRAs seek to establish resources for men to utilize in elevating their perceived subordinated position in society in relation to women and social minorities.
Two primary categories of MRAs with distinctive ideological strategies emerged from this analysis: Cyber Lads in Search of Masculinity and Virtual Victims in Search of Equality.
The men’s rights movement continues to gain leverage among contemporary men who feel oppressed by society and blame women for usurping their power.
The most common type of MRA website that emerged from this analysis includes online communities that offer a breadth of lifestyle advice aimed at empowering men and encouraging them to unapologetically embrace their masculinity.
Similarly, these websites act as spaces where men actively derogate women as a collective group and blame “the far left” for stripping the modern man of power.
The majority of websites from this content analysis fell into the category of ‘Cyber Lads in Search of Masculinity,’ … that emphasizes men’s independence from the constraints social institutions, such as the family, and critiques the ‘new man’ as feminized and disingenuous.
So, we all know of this first group. Those MRAs openly promote hate speech against women. But the second group is the more insidious. What the study calls “Virtual Victims in Search of Equality.” This is the group we need to notice as being well organized and growing.
When I call for men to be wary of so-called men’s advocates who declare men’s suffering while studiously avoiding any mention of men’s significant power to influence and change society, this is the group I’m talking about, these “Virtual Victims in Search of Equality.”
More direct quotes from the study. (Quotes not contiguous.)
These MRAs [Virtual victims] are unique, however, from Cyber Lads in that they strive for social legitimacy by using language typically associated with feminism that is designed to be tactful and nondiscriminatory, such as ‘equality’, ‘fairness’ and ‘justice’.
Virtual Victims at times address how men suffer because of unrealistic societal stereotypes, which aligns with feminist analyses of these same issues. Despite this common focus on issues that feminists agree are harmful to men, Virtual Victim MRAs ultimately blame feminism for this suffering… Indeed, they lack a rhetoric of violence against women that is prevalent in Cyber Lad websites, however, Virtual Victims also blame feminism for giving women too much power that has, in effect, subordinated men.
Virtual Victim MRAs also claim to be inclusive of views and ideas and assert that they ‘want to help foster a dialogue between those with differing views on men’s rights issues.
Further, the minimal use of images among Virtual Victims Men’s groups places the emphasis on their textual messages, and the images present are used to call attention to men’s lack of rights (i.e., a physically abused man).
This strategy of constructing men not only as being in crisis in terms of health but also as being ignored by mainstream society lays the foundation for the additional tactics Virtual Victims implement in exposing what they view to be a societal-wide prejudice against men.
Folks like Cynthia Miller-Idriss and the good people at The Southern Poverty Law Center will recognize both these branches of the MRA movement as ways to recruit disaffected young men into radicalized white and male supremacist movements. The clearest marker of Virtual Victim MRA ideology is their focus on “unfair rulings in the areas of child custody, alimony, child support, paternity, and abuse.”
These are all valid issues, but Virtual Victim MRA ideology “…establishes an effective framework of blaming social institutions for men’s oppression by strategically framing political issues through a narrow lens that only focuses on ‘men’s issues’ seemingly in a contextual vacuum.”
Yes, men are suffering. But we are the victims of a “Man Box” culture of masculinity that strips us of emotional expression and connection early in life and then slots us into a dominance-based masculine hierarchy where we must compete for survival by dominating those around us. The result? Epidemic levels of disconnection, anxiety, and violence.
Want to spot Virtual Victim ideology? Look for men’s victimhood narratives set in a “contextual vacuum.” A context that refuses to acknowledge men’s collective power in and choice to maintain dominance-based Man Box masculine culture, the primary source for many of the challenges men and women face.
The disconnection inherent in dominance-based masculinity is the source of the anger, grief, loss and confusion that makes anti-feminist MRA narratives so attractive to disaffected young men. What we must create instead is a masculine culture of connection and expression for men. We need a healthy culture of masculinity that invite boys and men into masculine communities of connection, purpose and friendship.
This work is being done by a wide range of organizations and groups doing men’s work. Global movements are focusing on men’s mental health. The work is happening. If you want to break out of the man box, find a men’s group like The ManKind Project or Evryman. Find a therapist that focuses on men’s issues. Seek out books for podcasts. We have a podcast titled Remaking Manhood.
The simple fact is men have a choice. We can choose healthy masculinity or we can choose male supremacy. But we must pick a side. The two are mutually exclusive. To stem the tide of violent male supremacy we must create cultures of healthy masculine connection in communities of men who are ready to do our work. You can begin this work today.
Want to learn more about Man Box culture and the harm done to men and women by dominance-based masculinity? Get your copy of The Little #MeToo Book for Men. It’s here: https://amazon.com/Little-MeToo-Book-Men/dp/0983466963 And thanks for supporting our work.
