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Masculism is considered by some to describe the belief that the male and female genders should be considered complementary and interdependent by necessity. However, such a definition is neither inclusive of all masculists, nor does it exclude many who are not masculist. Several noted feminists believe sexual complementarity is a necessity in society, and the masculist author Warren Farrell writes from an ideology of equivalence between the sexes, rather than a belief in unchangeable gender differences. Masculism is also the name of a political and social movement. In this way it is considered by some feminists to be synonymous with the men's rights or fathers' rights movements. However, many of the fathers' rights movement make a clear distinction between masculism and their own often quite varied approaches to gender relations. While some expressions of masculism are built around the general belief that differentiated gender roles are natural and should be exempt from government interference, this is by no means universal amongst masculists. A more encompassing view of masculism is that it is a movement to empower males in society, and to redress discrimination against men. In this regard, many claim masculism is the ideological flip side of feminism, as capitalism is to communism in economics.See also: Humanism , Men's rights , Fathers' rights
1 History of masculism
The first kind of secular response to feminism came from Ernest Belfort Bax, a socialist theoretician in the height of socialism at the beginning of the 20th century, and an associate of Karl Marx. Bax wrote The Fraud of Feminism in 1913, which was in essence the first masculist text. However, the term masculism did not gain usage until the end of the 20th century and even today is sometimes misspelt "masculinism" or even confused with misogyny.
According to some masculists, feminists consider the genders as having the same capacities in virtually every respect and denounce differentiated gender roles as an oppressive artificial construct. These masculists believe, to the contrary, that profound gender differences are inherent in human natureHuman nature is the range of human behaviour that is believed to be invariant across long periods of time and across very different cultural contexts. Sometimes debate on this subject is phrased as the quarrel over nature versus nurture', but that phrase, and claim that feminists who have attempted to negate these differences by legislation and other means are viewed to be taking people through a fallaciousA logical fallacy is an error in logical argument which is independent of the truth of the premises. It is a flaw in the structure of an argument as opposed to an error in its premises. When there is a fallacy in an argument it is said to be invalid. experiment. However, this view is also held by many who are not masculists, and there are masculists such as Warren Farrell who celebrate the notion of a gender-free society and fluid gender roles. Many masculists ascribe to feminism the high rates of divorceDivorce or dissolution of marriage is the ending of a marriage, which can be contrasted with an annulment which is a declaration that a marriage is void, though the effects of marriage may be recognized in such unions, such as spousal support, child custo (see marriage strikeMarriage strike is a term coined by some masculist authors to describe the idea that a substantial fraction of men avoid (or should avoid) marriage out of a conscious fear of financial devastation in the event of divorce. Advocates of the marriage strike), alienation of the genders, female chauvinismFemale chauvinism or supremacism is the belief that females are superior to males. It is the opposite of Male chauvinism. A number of men, more likely masculists, believe that feminism has evolved into female chauvinism. They may also believe that because, love-shynessThe term love-shyness is sometimes used to designate a specific type of severe chronic shyness. Love-shy people find it difficult to be assertive in informal situations involving potential romantic or sexual partners. For example, a love-shy heterosexual, disintegrating communities, fatherless children, high school dropout, drug addictionAddiction is an uncontrollable compulsion to repeat a behavior regardless of its negative consequences. A person who is addicted is sometimes called an addict . Many drugs or behaviors can precipitate a pattern of conditions recognized as addiction, which, consumerismConsumerism is the tendency of people to identify strongly with products or services they consume, especially those with commercial brand names and obvious status-enhancing appeal, e. an expensive automobile, rich jewellery. It is a pejorative term which, teenage pregnancy, male suicide, violent crime (especially murder), road rage, and overfilled prisons. Others argue that all these points have reasons and origins that are multi-faceted in nature, and that feminism is not the sole cause of this.
Some masculists further state that sexual equality laws (beginning with the Civil Rights Act of 1964) have resulted in making feminist ideology, as they see it, as mainstream - that such laws serve primarily women and have created significant unconstitutional discrimination against men. While, in their view, some feminists rail against an "all-powerful patriarchy", many masculists consider patriarchy "inevitable". Many masculists accuse feminists of characterizing women as powerless victims of patriarchal oppression, and of using this as a device to justify the negative views they may have of men and the moves seen as the curtailing of men's rights. Some masculists claim that so-called "fascist feminism" has achieved a covert matriarchy by means of such devices, helped by chivalry towards women that itself undermines the notion of female oppression.
