http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TeiGZVWnuJA#!
The above video is produced by Fathers 4 Justice. Fathers 4 Justice is a non profit organization from England who seeks to help end male oppression, and help fathers fight for their rights. In the video, you'll notice the man who dresses up like Superman and hangs a banner on his ex-wifes house that reads "Fatherhood is for life not just conception". Two things really bother me about this video. 1) This man had to go to such great lengths to have his voice heard, 2) most people who watch this video will not take it seriously. Over the course of class this week I noticed how few people took the issue of men's rights seriously. Even our guest speaker scoffed at the notion that a man could ever be oppressed(Side bar: His analogy about the football team being up by 100 points was shitty). So I ask myself why are people so uncomfortable with the idea of a man being oppressed? People have been taught for so long that a man is not a symbol of power, being a man is power. Apparently due to what's between my legs I'm some master of destiny who decides what happens in my life and I don't suffer hardship. For many people, a man has become a convenient whipping boy:oh if I only I were a man this would be better, oh if it weren't for men this would be different, well I lost out on that because of sexism etc. However, as the dominant social species in America (Educated white male), let me be the first to tell you that view from the top ain't all it's cracked up to be. And that, is what I feel makes so many people uncomfortable. Men have been built up to be these larger than life figures, and if they're suffering what hope do I have to ever be happy? The biggest oppression that men face today is that no one wants to hear to their voice. If they did, that man would have never been on that roof. In today's political climate if you scoff at feminism you're an asshole, and if you believe that men are facing oppression you are considered an even bigger asshole. This is why I refuse to let my son cry. I plan on raising the toughest, saltiest, he-man that ever walked God's green Earth. I don't want my son to cry because when his wife gets an abortion without his consent (legal in hte US btw) no one's gonna cry for him. I won't let my son cry because one day when he works a 40 + hour a week job to send half his paycheck to his ex-wife and her new husband to support his children he's not allowed to see no one's gonna cry for him. I won't let my son cry because when he's drafted and forced to fight in a war he doesn't believe in no one's gonna cry for him. I wont let my son cry because one day when his rights are being violated I don't want him to cry about it, I want him to stand on a roof and force people to listen.
Wow....
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