Did you see the link I gave? It’s an international day that is celebrated in 70 countries and supported by UNESCO. It isn’t a men’s day in the sense that “every day is men’s day”, or a mirror of Women’s Day. Rather than focusing on men’s rights in opposition to women or excluding women, it seeks to address issues specific to men within the context of communities and families and to improve gender relations. Aside from this, there are a number of websites and groups that seek to discuss what it means to be a man in the 21st century without looking at it in an oppositional sense, and to see “not all men” in the positive sense of challenging harmful models of manhood and promoting positive ones. One of the things that feminists can do is actually to support the men’s groups that do promote peaceful and inclusive values, rather than cynically writing them off as creepy from the start.
But those are feminist groups, not MRAs. MRAs aren’t interested in how to be a better man by their actions toward women.
Exactly. You claimed that:
…which is not true. These are groups that address areas specific to men, and that work together with women to promote feminism and other issues. As @the_borderer said, feminism is about equality, but it shouldn’t be expected to focus directly on every aspect of equality. These groups may be feminists in the sense that they support women and incorporate feminist thought, but they go beyond its direct scope. I never claimed that they were MRAs, but given the tendency of some men’s groups to become MRA-like, I’m not going to endorse any particular movement unreservedly.
ETA: To illustrate, this year’s theme is “Make A Difference for Men and Boys” and is designed to help more people consider what action we can all take to make a difference by addressing some of the issues that affect men and boys all over the world such as:
- men’s shorter life expectancy (including all men’s health issues, workplace deaths and homelessness)
- the high male suicide rate
- our collective tolerance of violence against men and boys (including sexual violence and domestic abuse)
- the struggles that boys can face in getting an education
- the unique challenges of the father-child relationship
- the negative portrayal of fathers, and, men and boys
These are not issues that are caused by women. They aren’t opposed to feminism, but rather support it. Tolerating violence against men and boys often leads to violent men and boys, which leads to violence against women. Portraying men as irresponsible, violent, misoigynistic and bad fathers is part of the patriarchy and supporting better role models will be better for everyone.
And @renke, yes it happens. I really don’t want to link to misogynistic BS like that, but if you search google there are plenty of choice examples.
Also, if we don’t wear make-up we’re ugly, if we gain weight, we’ve let ourselves go, and we shouldn’t be too skinny, either…
Yes, I learnt that much in the thread - Boingboing is for sure a place were misconceptions are corrected in a fast and hard way : )
And why haven’t feminists solved this whole gender inequality thing already? Can you add that to the list, it feels… Important. Kthnxbai
It isn’t a call for women to spend large amounts of time getting behind movements, just asking people to avoid rather common knee-jerk reactions that don’t help anyone. 
I worked for several years marketing makeup and hate myself for it. It is a horrible industry that preys on insecurities, wastes resources and lives, and destroys skin and the environment. Nobody should wear makeup, ever. Embrace your flaws and live naturally.
People who complain about makeup are right. It is ugly and fake and no better than wearing a mask. Be truly natural with no makeup and no concealer and find a person who likes you for who you are. You will be healthier, happier, have more time in your day and end up with a person who cares for the genuine you. It is ok to be “ugly”.
No. Those are issues caused by men, and yet MRA groups cling to the idea that they must look to blame women instead of within.
It is false and derisive to say that truly beautiful women are “mystical beasts.” Nobody is saying that beauty doesn’t require effort or maintenance. Everybody needs to keep clean and trim to look beautiful. But nobody needs to put on shadow or blush or blue hues or sparkles or fake eyelashes, or foundation to achieve a uniform boring face and look “beautiful.”
Putting on makeup is a waste of time and money. It needs to be shunned by our society and abandoned to the trash heaps of fashion along with powdered wigs and mullets. It promotes a false sense of beauty and has no place in modern society outside of halloween or other fantasy occasions.
Or you could, you could, you know, butt out of people’s choices. But, I mean, maybe us wimmin are just too stupid to make choices for ourselves…
Ironically, that would require a lot more makeup!
And yet you go from one narrative to selling another.
Revlon, L’Oreal, Covergirl, Mac, Sephora, and all the other chemical companies hope you keep making the bad choice of putting crap on your face to achieve a false ideal of beauty. You can be a painted sheep, be a clown and make people laugh. But in doing so you perpetuate falsehoods that will haunt your children and generations to come. Or you can teach people to focus on real things like science and food and nature.
Not sure what you’re trying to say…
I’m older Gen X but I’m actually Silent Generation Spawn (my dad was drafted for Korea, but the actual fighting had stopped by the time he got there).
Baby baby, sit down and let me explain what natural female beauty is.
