Should men be silent on International Women’s Day?
Sophie Trudeau, the wife of the Canadian Prime Minister committed a cardinal sin. On eve of International Women’s Day, she mentioned men in an instagram post. She said:
This week, as we mark International Women’s Day, let’s celebrate the boys and men in our lives who encourage us to be who we truly are, who treat girls & women with respect…
After stirring a debate which saw her her post go viral, she followed up with a second post. In it, she stated:
Our goal is gender equality, and fighting for it is going to require men and women working together — raising our boys and girls to make a difference, hand-in-hand. This is about recognizing that we should be allies on this journey
She’s absolutely right!
The fight for equality must itself be egalitarian to succeed. Where women fall short of men, we should unite as a society, men and women alike, to mend those wrongs — and where men fall short of women, I would expect those same women to stand shoulder to shoulder with men.
But they don’t. While the first half of the formula is broadly observed, the second half of the equation is notably absent. Indeed, any discussion on men’s issues is taboo is many circles.
It is so taboo that the film The Red Pill, a documentary made by feminist Cassie Jaye about the men’s rights movement and its maker’s challenged worldview had its screening canceled. Two years ago, York University cancelled an International Mens Day event after receiving a petition against it. The university stated:
We have withdrawn the original statement about International Men’s Day, and do not propose to mark this event formally. In gender equality, our main focus has been, and will continue to be, on the inequalities faced by women…
But gender inequality is not gender biased. It manifests in different ways between the sexes, and the claim of one group for rights should not detract the claims of the other. In this context, by denying the claims of one group to rights, political Correctness has become a tool of oppression.
Every year, on March 8, Richard K Herring, a “leading hidden” comedian (who may be hidden for good reason) wakes up early, has his morning crap, brushes his teeth and gets ready to troll. Like a twitter-addicted president, he tweets tweet after tweet in schoolboy bully fashion to all those wondering ‘when is international men’s day?’ and reminds them that is has already taken place on November 19.
But ask yourself, honestly, have you ever heard of International Men’s Day?
The truth is that International Men’s Day lives in the shadow of International Women’s Day. An analysis of Google searches reveals the terms has more searches on March 8 (International Women’s Day) than on November 19 (International Men’s Day). The most common term is: “When is international men’s day?”
No one needs to search “When is International Women’s Day?” because on that day they were bombarded by that fact by every media outlet, whether offline or online. The landing pages of Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram to name but a small sampling all directed their billions of users to this fact. Google ran with the #womenwill campaign decrying the fact that “More than half of all women still lack access to the online world” (Evidently, the fact that the offline world is split 52:48 between women and men is sufficient enough a gap to make this a women’s issue). YouTube had the slogan “her voice is my voice” plastered on every page.
If ‘her voice is my voice,’ who is left to speak for me if I am not ‘her’?
There are many reasons to celebrate women and remember their struggle for rights over the past century and their hard-earned freedom and the gaps that still need bridging — but there are equally as many reasons to celebrate men and remember that their struggle for rights is an equally worthy cause.
Dismissing men’s rights does nothing positive for women’s rights and a whole lot of bad for the men who suffer by dying earlier; by being killed in battle or in workplace accidents; by being murdered or committing suicide; by being unsupported through rape or violence; by having paternity obligations with no rights attached; by being less likely to graduate from university; gain employment in academia or in the workforce (upon graduation); by working the lowest paid and hardest jobs in any economy; and most of all, by having their quest for rights ridiculed rather than glorified.
I agree that it is far from ideal that women’s day is being hijacked to discuss men’s issues, but in the absence of any real attention of men’s issues on international men’s day, it is inevitable. We can keep our head in the sand and pretend that men do not suffer any disadvantages and that suffering is the exclusive domain of women. Doing so will mean that men will keep venting their frustration on International Women’s Day — or better still, in the ballot box, ensuring the likes of Trump are elected time and again.
Or — we can stop pretending we are in kindergarten. We drop this ‘boy germs’ and ‘girl germs’ nonsense and work together to eradicate human rights violations, wherever they may fall. When women suffer from violence or discrimination, men should shed tears and when men suffer blows to their freedom, women should fight alongside them (and there are some that already do). Freedom, like love, is not a finite resource and is not subject to a zero-sum game.
No woman nor man should be silenced, particularly not when voicing their quest for their just rights, save perhaps for a dimwit like Richard K Herring.
