Masculism or masculinism may variously refer to advocacy of the rights or needs of men and boys; the adherence to or promotion of opinions, values, attitudes, etc. regarded as typical of men and boys.
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Definition and scope
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines masculism as a synonym of masculinism which the OED regards as the "advocacy of the rights of men; adherence to or promotion of opinions, values, etc., regarded as typical of men; (more generally) anti-feminism, machismo."
Philosopher Ferrell Christensen differentiates the words "masculism" and "masculinism"; he defines the latter as promoting the attributes of manliness. Political scientist Georgia Duerst-Lahti also distinguishes between the two terms, with masculism being more associated with the early gender egalitarian days of men's movement, while masculinism refers to patriarchy and its ideology.
Christensen differentiates between "progressive masculism" and an "extremist version". The former welcomes many of the societal changes promoted by feminists, while stating that many aimed at reducing sexism against women have had the effect of increasing it against men. The latter promotes male supremacy to some degree and is generally based on a belief in women's inferiority. Nicholas Davidson, in his book The Failure of Feminism, describes an extremist version of masculism which he termed "virism". According to Davidson, in this view "What ails society is 'effeminacy'. The improvement of society requires that the influence of female values be decreased and the influence of male values increased…." Gender theories, which have frequently focused on woman-based or feminist approaches, have come to include a "masculism" approach which seeks to examine oppression in a masculinist society from the perspectives of men, most of whom do not benefit from that society. From a feminist perspective to philosophy, masculinism seeks to value and include only male views, and claim "that anything that cannot be reduced or translated in men's experience should be excluded from the subject-matter of philosophy.
The term masculism was coined by Charlotte Perkins Gilman who used it a 1914 public lecture series titled "Studies in Masculism". She used the term to refer to androcentrism and opposition to women's rights and, more broadly, to describe men's collective actions on behalf of their own sex. The Oxford English Dictionary cites the first recorded use of the synonym masculinism in a The Freewoman article in November 1911.
Education
Many masculists suggest the abolition of co-educational schooling, believing that single-sex schools are preferred for the well-being of boys. Other masculists and equity feminists indicate that boys are on the weaker side of an education gap.
Employment
Data from 1994 in the U.S. reported that men make up 94% of workplace fatalities. Masculist Warren Farrell has argued that men are often clustered in dirty, physically demanding and hazardous jobs in an unjustifiably disproportionate manner.
Violence
Masculists express concern about violence against men being depicted as humorous, in the media and elsewhere.
Masculists also express concern about violence against men being ignored, minimized, or taken less seriously than violence against women. Some assert that there is gender symmetry in domestic violence. Another concern expressed is that assumptions of female innocence or sympathy for women may result in disproportionate penalties for women and men for similar crimes, lack of sympathy for male victims in domestic violence cases, and dismissal of female-on-male sexual assault and sexual harassment cases.
Custody
According to David Benatar, head of philosophy at the University of Cape Town, "Custody law is perhaps the best-known area of men's rights activism", as it is more likely in most parts of the world for the mother to obtain custody of children in case of divorce. He argues: "When the man is the primary care-giver his chances of winning custody are lower than when the woman is the primary care-giver. Even when the case is not contested by the mother, he's still not as likely to get custody as when the woman's claim is uncontested".
Suicide
Masculists cite higher rates of suicide in men than women.
South African masculist evangelical movements
In the wake of the abolition of apartheid, South Africa has seen a resurgence of masculist Christian evangelical groups, led by two complementary men's and women's movements, the Mighty Men movement and the Worthy Women movement. The Mighty Men movement harkens back to the Victorian idea of Muscular Christianity and the movement does not lead discussions about institutionalized racism. Feminist scholars argue that their lack of attention to women's rights and their historical struggle with racial equality makes the movement dangerous to women and the stability of the country. Scholar Miranda Pillay argues that the Mighty Men movement has gained traction because they argue that gender equality is incompatible with Christian values and because the patriarchy has gained "hyper-normative status," thus delegitimizing any other challenging claims to power.
The Worthy Women movement supports the Mighty Men movement because it advocates formenism, which subscribes to the belief in the inherent superiority of men over women, however it is propagated for and by women. The leader of the movement, Gretha Wiid, aims to restore order in South Africa by restoring order in the family, or making women subservient to men. She blames the country's disorder on the liberation of women. Reasons offered for her seemingly paradoxical success include that she claims that God created the gender hierarchy but that women are no less valuable than men and that the restoration of the traditional gender roles relieves existential anxiety in post-apartheid South Africa.
Criticisms and responses
Alternatively, masculism (sometimes called androcentrism) may refer to an approach that is focused on male superiority or dominance to the exclusion of women.
To the extent that masculism is associated with antifeminist masculinism, its primary focus is on "masculinity and the place of white heterosexual men in North America and European societies."
Some masculinists believe that differentiated gender roles are natural. There is considerable evidence for social influences (e.g. gender division of labor, socialization) as the sole or primary origin of gender differentiation. Furthermore, belief in inherent gender differences allows for inequality and for the dominant group to assert power by means of perceived difference. Some parts of the masculinist movement have to some extent borrowed concepts of evolutionary psychology: this theory argues that adaptation during prehistory resulted in complementary but different roles for the different genders, and that this balance has been destabilized by feminism since the 1960s.
Feminism
Some masculinists have been described as explicitly antifeminist by feminist activists. According to Blais and Dupuis-DĂ©ri, "the contents of [masculinist] websites and the testimony of feminists that we questioned confirm that masculinists are generally critical of even moderate feminists and feminists at the head of official feminist organizations." Some masculinist activism has involved disruption of events organized by feminists and lawsuits against feminist academics, journalists, or activists. Furthermore, masculinist actions are sometimes extreme; father's rights activists have bombed family courts in Australia and have issued bomb threats in the UK, although it is ambiguous whether there was public and organized militant group involvement. They have also engaged in "tire-slashing, the mailing of excrement-filled packages, threats against politicians and their children." Spokesmen for these groups have also spoken out against public awareness campaigns to prevent sexual assault, arguing that they portray a negative image of men, and one masculinist group harassed administrators of dozens of battered women's shelters and women's centers.
Feminists respond to the different ideologies of masculism in different ways. Masculinists who promote gender equality are often considered male feminists.
Philosopher Ferrell Christensen states that if masculism and feminism refer to the belief that men/women are systematically discriminated against, and that this discrimination should be eliminated, there is not necessarily a conflict between feminism and masculism, and some assert that they are both. However, many believe that one sex is more discriminated against, and thus use one label and reject the other.