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[davidthegnome]

121. The MRA groups are mostly made up of idiots.

When I was in my early twenties, I was very depressed for a variety of reasons. Without going into great detail - as I'm not looking for sympathy here, what I did was start researching Father's rights, Men's rights and so on. What I generally came across were forums full of men ranting about how they hated women - and why, and how terrible they were. Even forums that had been intended to be used to discuss misogyny and slam men - somehow were also taken over by men (one in particular had perhaps 3 female members and 15-20 males).

A lot of it comes down to lonely young men with way too much testosterone and not enough social skills or personal hygiene to get a girlfriend. The problem with MRA groups is that even when they do come up with a valid point, they tend to invalidate it through their hatred, their real intentions, their thinly veiled (or, in some cases, not at all veiled) bigotry. The court system and the bias regarding child custody. The bias that suggests it's okay for a woman to kick a man's ass, that he should shut up and take it like a man, because men are oh so much stronger (bull shit).

If there are rational thinking, decent MRA members out there who are actually interested in equality as opposed to ranting about how much they hate women and why... well, I never met any - and I looked. Now I won't say they don't exist - as they probably do, but I suspect that they are a statistical minority, such a tiny fraction of the whole that their whole movement is run by people who actually do it more harm than good.

With that being said, I agree with you in that the rights of any particular group, religion, gender, race, whatever... that we all should fall somewhere under human rights - and that these rights should be respected.

I'm a member of a privileged group - I am a white male. A white male who works full time for eight bucks an hour with no benefits - and would live in his parents basement if they had one - but lives in one of their upstairs bedrooms instead.

I may be a member of a privileged group, but I don't feel terribly privileged. My life kind of sucks. There are plenty of nights when I can't afford to buy myself dinner.

Does believing that even privileged white males have rights make me a misogynist? I don't think so. But I don't think that there are or should be any rights that are exclusive to me. I don't think that white men deserve the privilege they have held throughout history, or even now. I just wish I didn't get lumped in with all the rich assholes and idiots and tyrants. I'm not one of them.