Why the Men's Rights Movement Is Garbage

[thucythucy]

209. I can give you a very explicit example of what i think you're talking about.

Many years ago, when I was a young'un, I worked as a volunteer counselor at an urban rape crisis center. I did this for about a decade, and then burned out.

As you might expect, most of the survivors who called or came to the door seeking help were women. However, there were also a number of men who sought help, sometimes immediately after being raped, sometimes years or even decades later.

All of the staff at the center--as least in my experience--were sympathetic and compassionate, no matter what the gender of the survivor. We stressed in our trainings and in our public outreach and education that men also can be survivors of assault, and offered in-house trainings specifically on male rape issues--which included having male survivors come in to tell their stories. EVERYONE at the center expressed support for working with men as they struggled to recover from their trauma.

I've said this before in these threads--to the extent that men and boys today are able even to talk about these issues, it's largely because of the pioneering work of the women's anti-rape movement beginning in the '60s and '70s. It was the feminists who first courageously confronted rape as a social and political issue that helped empower men and males to come forward and begin work on their own traumas.

Yes, there's lots more that needs to be done for survivors of all genders. But personally I've never bought into the myth that feminists somehow inherently undermine male survivors. Bullshit! It's feminists who led the way, and are still leading the way, to make this world safer for EVERYONE.

Okay, end of rant. I just had to add that rather clumsy personal comment, in support of what you've said here and elsewhere.

Best wishes.