I have long realized what cleaves Mens' Issues apart. It is essentially a disagreement over how a man in a misandrist society should live. Because men in Western nations live in matriarchal, misandrist societies, the issue is of tantamount importance. Small mistakes a man makes can ruin his life in such a society. And understandably, this creates a fearful mindset. Why take on responsibility? Why try to change anything? Why do anything that could help a society that hates you? Even if what you would do is work towards Patriarchy, for example. Such an effort places the Western man at great risk. Even a group effort at Patriarchy would be fraught with risk for the men involved.
And so the first, increasingly common "solution" for men is to drop out. Stop doing things that can help society, and live selfishly. After all, a man is likely to be oppressed or punished if he takes on responsibility and attempts to live what used to be a man's life. Any prodding for the man to do anything more is instantly decried as shaming language. (And let me be clear: a lot of it is shaming language, particularly when said by Western women.) Even other men who support Patriarchy, for example, are often perceived as offering nothing but shaming language, if not ideas that are horribly risky. After all, why try to find a good woman and start a family in a misandrist society? At any time, it can end in disaster for a man. This is a legitimate concern, of course. Even those young men who desire Patriarchy don't know what the solution is. Why sacrifice yourself for a society that despises you? Why take even the slightest risk?
However, what is the end result of this kind of thinking? It's something I regard as feminism for men.
Under feminism, men are relegated to being useless and objects of hatred, promiscuity is rampant and desirable, the breakdown of family is unavoidable, and men become infantile, withdrawing into themselves and living as selfishly as possible, and so on and so forth.
And under the mindset of much of the MRA world, the results are essentially the same. Thus I regard it as being like feminism for men. The primary difference is that it is pro-male, at least superficially. It is not a solution. It is a self-defense method against misandrist society. It doesn't try to bring about Patriarchy. It doesn't promote trust and understanding and peace between the sexes. It's just withdrawing into a defensive position.
And so MRA and such ideas are likely never going be properly opposed to feminism, at least as long as they can't break away from being under the thumb of feminism. And even if they do, they must promote Patriarchal values, rejecting the results that feminism brings. Otherwise, we'll end up with the same result: men made useless and infantile.
As long as feminism keeps a stranglehold on society, though, how do men rise above MRAish defensive tactics? How do men fight the fight feminism together and create an environment where Patriarchy can return? How does Patriarchy gain a foothold?
Thus far, these questions lack a solid answer in the West.
