Men's rights movement#Divorce

The term "men's rights" was used at least as early as February 1856 when it appeared in Putnam's Magazine. The author was responding to the issue of women's rights, calling it a "new movement for social reform, and even for political revolution", which the author proposed to counter with men's rights.{{cite journal |last= |title=A word for men's rights |journal=Putnam's Magazine |volume=7 |issue=38 |pages=208–214 |date=February 1856 |url=http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=putn;cc=putn;rgn=full%20text;idno=putn0007-2;didno=putn0007-2;view=image;seq=0214;node=putn0007-2%3A16 |access-date=6 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906043412/http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=putn;cc=putn;rgn=full%20text;idno=putn0007-2;didno=putn0007-2;view=image;seq=0214;node=putn0007-2%3A16 |archive-date=6 September 2017 |url-status=dead}} Ernest Belfort Bax wrote The Legal Subjection of Men in 1896, deriding the women's rights movement as a farcical effort by women—the "privileged sex"—to prove they were "oppressed."{{cite book |last=Bax |first=E. Belfort |title=The Legal Subjection of Men |publisher=The New Age Press |location=London |year=1908 |orig-date=1896 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Legal_Subjection_of_Men |oclc=875136389}}

• Reprinted as {{cite book |last=Bax |first=E. Belfort |title=The legal subjection of men (classic reprint) |publisher=Forgotten Books |location=London |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-330-65750-8}}

Three loosely connected men's rights organizations formed in Austria in the interwar period. The League for Men's Rights was founded in 1926 with the goal of "combating all excesses of women's emancipation".{{Cite journal |title=Der 'Bund für Männerrechte'. Die Bewegung der 'Männerrechtler' im Wien der Zwischenkriegszeit |year=2003 |last=Malleier |first=Elisabeth |journal={{interlanguage link|Wiener Geschichtsblätter|de}} |volume=58 |issue=3 |pages=208–233}}{{cite thesis |degree=MA |last=Wrussnig |first=Kerstin Christin |date=2009 |title='Wollen Sie ein Mann sein oder ein Weiberknecht?' Zur Männerrechtsbewegung in Wien der Zwischenkriegszeit |publisher=University of Vienna |url=http://othes.univie.ac.at/5454/1/2009-06-17_9908325.pdf}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/03/10/archives/mens-rights-league-in-vienna.html |title=Men's Rights League in Vienna |date=10 March 1926 |work=The New York Times |page=20 |access-date=6 June 2013 |quote=A 'League for Men's Rights' was founded today to protect men against Austrian feminism, which has grown rapidly since the war.}}{{cite book |last=Healy |first=Maureen |title=Vienna and the Fall of the Habsburg Empire: Total War and Everyday Life in World War I |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r2UXfqz0mgoC |year=2004 |publisher=Cambridge UP |isbn=978-0-521-83124-6 |page=272 |quote=As historians Sigrid Augeneder and Gabriella Hauch explain, legally removing women from traditional male jobs constituted one facet of the return to a 'healthy order' (gesunde Ordnung) in the postwar period. Hauch discusses the somewhat comical 'League for Men's Rights' founded in the 1920s to "protect the endangered existence of men.}} In 1927, the Justitia League for Family Law Reform and the Aequitas World's League for the Rights of Men split from the League of Men's Rights. The three men's rights groups opposed women's entry into the labor market and what they saw as the corrosive influence of the women's movement on social and legal institutions. They criticized marriage and family laws, especially the requirement to pay spousal and child support to former wives and illegitimate children, and supported the use of blood tests to determine paternity. Justitia and Aequitas issued their own short-lived journals Men's Rightists Newspaper and Self-Defense where they expressed their views that were heavily influenced by the works of Heinrich Schurtz, Otto Weininger, and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels. The organizations ceased to exist before 1939.

File:Warren Farrell photo.jpg, a proponent of the men's rights movement]]

The modern men's rights movement emerged from the men's liberation movement, which appeared in the first half of the 1970s when scholars began to study feminist ideas and politics.{{cite journal |last=Messner |first=Michael A. |author-link=Michael Messner |title=The limits of 'The Male Sex Role': an analysis of the men's liberation and men's rights movements' discourse |journal=Gender & Society |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=255–276 |doi=10.1177/0891243298012003002 |jstor=190285 |date=June 1998 |s2cid=143890298 |url=http://www.michaelmessner.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Gender-Society-1998-MESSNER-255-76.pdf}}{{sfn|Newton|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=bXZkmNTSQUAC&pg=PA190 190–200]}} These scholars acknowledged men's institutionalized power while critically examining the consequences of hegemonic masculinity, believing that both men and women suffered in a patriarchal society.{{cite book |last1=Eagle |first1=Jonna |editor1-last=Carroll |editor1-first=Bret |title=American Masculinities: A Historical Encyclopedia |date=2003 |publisher=SAGE Publications |location=Thousand Oaks, Calif. |isbn=978-1-4522-6571-1 |page=302 |chapter=Men's Movements}} The men's liberation movement was led by psychologists who argued that femininity and masculinity were socially formed behaviors and not the result of genes. They tried to balance the two ideas that men were responsible for oppressing women, but also being oppressed themselves by strict gender roles.{{r|Messner 1998}}{{cite journal |author=Baker, Maureen |author-link=Maureen Baker (sociologist) |author2=Bakker, J. I. Hans |date=Autumn 1980 |title=The Double-Bind of the Middle Class Male: Men's Liberation and the Male Sex Role |journal=Journal of Comparative Family Studies |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=547–561 |doi=10.3138/jcfs.11.4.547}}{{cite journal |author=Carrigan, Tim |author2=Connell, Bob |author3=Lee, John |title=Toward a New Sociology of Masculinity |journal=Theory and Society |date=1985 |volume=14 |issue=5 |pages=551–604 |doi=10.1007/BF00160017 |s2cid=143967899 |jstor=657315}}{{pb}}In the mid-1970s, this movement began to focus on the oppression of men and less on the effects of sexism on women.{{Cite book |last=Messner |first=Michael A. |title=Politics of Masculinities: Men in Movements |date=1997 |publisher=AltaMira Press |location=Lanham, Md. |pages=42–43 |isbn=978-0-7591-1755-6}} In the late 1970s, the movement split into two separate strands with opposing views: the pro-feminist men's movement and the anti-feminist men's rights movement, which sees men as an oppressed group.{{r|Eagle 2003|Maddison 1999}}{{cite book |last1=Pease |first1=Bob |last2=Camilleri |first2=Peter |title=Working with men in the human services |year=2001 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |location=Crow's Nest, N.S.W. |pages=3–4 |isbn=978-1-86508-480-0 |chapter=Feminism, masculinity and the human services |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aGFYw3JmRmEC&pg=PA3}}{{cite book |last1=Kahn |first1=Jack S. |title=An introduction to masculinities |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AR17bxoJ_U8C&pg=PA202 |year=2009 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |location=Chichester, U.K. |isbn=978-1-4051-8179-2 |page=202}}{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Gwyneth I. |editor1-first=Rhys H. |editor1-last=Williams |title=Promise keepers and the new masculinity: private lives and public morality |year=2001 |publisher=Lexington Books |location=Lanham, Md. |page=107 |isbn=978-0-7391-0230-5 |chapter=Masculinity in context: an epilogue |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CsHmN5K29iAC&pg=PA107}}{{pb}}In the 1980s, the men's rights movement focused only on the ways that sex roles discriminated against males rather than the oppression it inflicted on both genders. Author Herb Goldberg claimed that the U.S. was a "matriarchal society" because women have the power to transgress gender roles and assume masculine and feminine roles, while males are still constrained to the purely masculine role.{{cite journal |last1=Coston |first1=Bethany |last2=Kimmel |first2=Michael |title=White Men as the New Victims: Reverse Discrimination Cases and the Men's Rights Movement |journal=Nevada Law Journal |date=1 January 2013 |volume=13 |issue=2 |url=https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/nlj/vol13/iss2/5/}} Reneé Blank and Sandra Slipp in 1994 compiled the testimonies of men who believed they were discriminated against based on their sex and race. This occurred in a time where women were entering the work force and obtaining managerial positions.{{cite journal |last1=Blank |first1=Renee |last2=Slipp |first2=Sandra |title=The white male: an endangered species? |journal=Management Review |date=1 September 1994 |volume=83 |issue=9 |pages=27–33 |id={{Gale|A15803282}} {{ProQuest|206709029}}}}{{Cite web |title=The history of women's work and wages and how it has created success for us all |url=https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-history-of-womens-work-and-wages-and-how-it-has-created-success-for-us-all/ |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=Brookings |language=en-US}}{{pb}}A major concern of the men's rights movement has been the issue of fathers' rights.{{r|Eagle 2003}} In the 1980s and 1990s, men's rights activists opposed societal changes sought by feminists and defended the patriarchal gender order in the family, schools and the workplace.{{cite journal |last1=Lingard |first1=Bob |last2=Mills |first2=Martin |last3=Weaver-Hightower |first3=Marcus B. |title=Interrogating recuperative masculinity politics in schooling |journal=International Journal of Inclusive Education |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=407–421 |doi=10.1080/13603116.2011.555095 |date=2012 |s2cid=144275951 |quote=The concept of recuperative masculinity politics was developed by Lingard and Douglas (1999) to refer to both mythopoetic (Biddulph 1995, 2010; Bly 1990) and men's rights politics (Farrell 1993). Both of these rejected the move to a more equal gender order and more equal gender regimes in all of the major institutions of society (e.g. the family, schools, universities, workplaces) sought by feminists and most evident in the political and policy impacts in the 1980s and 1990s from second-wave feminism of the 1970s. 'Recuperative' was used to specifically indicate the ways in which these politics reinforced, defended and wished to recoup the patriarchal gender order and institutional gender regimes.}} Sociologist Michael Kimmel states that their earlier critiques of gender roles "morphed into a celebration of all things masculine and a near infatuation with the traditional masculine role itself".{{Cite book |title=Angry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era |last=Kimmel |first=Michael |publisher=The Nation Institute |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-56858-962-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7WVGDgAAQBAJ&q=Angry+White+Men:+American+Masculinity+at+the+End+of+an+Era}}

One of the first major men's rights organizations was the Coalition of American Divorce Reform Elements, founded by Richard Doyle in 1971, from which the Men's Rights Association spun off in 1973.{{sfn|Newton|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=bXZkmNTSQUAC&pg=PA190 190–200]}}{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Calinda N. |editor1-first=Bret E. |editor1-last=Carroll |title=American Masculinities: A Historical Encyclopedia |volume=One |year=2003 |publisher=SAGE Publications |location=Thousand Oaks, California |isbn=978-0-7619-2540-8 |page=167 |chapter=Fathers' rights |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E0R9lLtv8i8C&pg=PA167}} Free Men Inc. was founded in 1977 in Columbia, Maryland, spawning several chapters over the following years, which eventually merged to form the National Coalition of Free Men (known since 2008 as the National Coalition for Men).{{sfn|Ashe|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nXDbiPA9IuQC&pg=PA63 63]}} Men's Rights, Inc. was also formed in 1977,{{r|Eagle 2003}}{{cite book |last1=Pelak |first1=Cynthia Fabrizio |last2=Taylor |first2=Verta |author2-link=Verta Taylor |last3=Whittier |first3=Nancy |chapter=Gender movements |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZzEhEdWViPoC&pg=PA168 |editor-last=Saltzman Chafetz |editor-first=Janet |title=Handbook of the sociology of gender |page=168 |publisher=Springer |location=New York |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-387-36218-2}}{{sfn|Ashe|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nXDbiPA9IuQC&pg=PA63 63]}} the National Organization for Men was founded in 1983,{{r|Eagle 2003}} and Fathers and Families was formed in 1994.{{Cite journal |url=https://www.politicalresearch.org/2011/03/01/fathers-rights-groups-threaten-womens-gains-and-their-safety/ |title=Father's Rights Groups Threaten Women's Gains—And Their Safety |journal=Political Research Associates |date=March 2011 |language=en-US |access-date=20 June 2018 |last1=Chamberlain |first1=Pam}} In the United Kingdom, a men's rights group calling itself the UK Men's Movement began to organize in the early 1990s.{{sfn|Dunphy|2000|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NVPQkt0bVpAC&pg=PA142 142–143]}} The Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) was founded in 2005, and in 2010 claimed to have over 30,000 members.{{cite news |last=Karnad |first=Raghu |title=Now, is that malevolence? |work=Outlook magazine |date=3 December 2007 |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?236168 |access-date=28 March 2013}}{{cite web |url=http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/living/men-who-cry |title=Men Who Cry |last=Polanki |first=Pallavi |date=17 July 2010 |work=OPEN |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100721000304/http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/living/men-who-cry |archive-date=21 July 2010 |access-date=3 May 2013}}{{cite news |last= |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Members-of-mens-rights-body-meet/articleshow/3564406.cms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029191107/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2008-10-06/bangalore/27896822_1_helpline-numbers-domestic-violence-rights-body |url-status=live |archive-date=29 October 2013 |title=Members of men's rights body meet |date=8 October 2008 |work=The Times of India |access-date=3 May 2013}}

File:Save Indian Families protest (New Delhi, 26 August 2007).jpg.]]

Men's rights groups have formed in some European countries during periods of shifts toward conservatism and policies supporting patriarchal family and gender relations.{{cite journal |last1=Ruxton |first1=Sandy |last2=van deer Gaag |first2=Nikki |title=Men's involvement in gender equality – European perspectives |journal=Gender & Development |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=161–175 |doi=10.1080/13552074.2013.767522 |date=2013 |s2cid=145747752}} In the United States, the men's rights movement has ideological ties to neoconservatism.{{sfn|Menzies|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ASc568aunFoC&pg=PA77 77]}}{{sfn|Clatterbaugh|2007a}} Men's rights activists have received lobbying support from conservative organizations{{cite web |url=http://www.salon.com/2009/11/05/mens_rights/ |title="Men's rights" groups go mainstream |last1=Berman |first1=Judy |date=5 November 2009 |work=Salon |access-date=21 March 2013}} and their arguments have been covered extensively in neoconservative media.{{cite journal |last1=Connell |first1=R. W. |author-link=Raewyn Connell |title=Change among the gatekeepers: men, masculinities, and gender equality in the global arena |journal=Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=1801–1825 |doi=10.1086/427525 |date=Spring 2005 |jstor=10.1086/427525 |url=http://xyonline.net/sites/default/files/Connell,%20Change%20among.pdf |citeseerx=10.1.1.694.8027 |s2cid=15161058 |access-date=21 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517133631/http://xyonline.net/sites/default/files/Connell,%20Change%20among.pdf |archive-date=17 May 2013 |url-status=dead}}

Fringe political parties focusing on men's rights have been formed including, but not limited to, the Australian Non-Custodial Parents Party (Equal Parenting),{{cite book |last1=Sawer |first1=Marian |editor1-first=John |editor1-last=Warhurst |editor2-first=Marian |editor2-last=Simms |title=2001: The centenary election |year=2002 |publisher=University of Queensland Press |location=St Lucia, Qld. |isbn=978-0-7022-3303-6 |page=255 |chapter=In safe hands? Women in the 2001 election |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HRl9GyjSOB8C&pg=PA255}} the Israeli Man's Rights in the Family Party,{{cite news |last=Weitz |first=Udo |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2003-01-26-divided-israelis_x.htm |title=Run-up to election shows Israelis are as fragmented as ever |work=USA Today |date=26 December 2003 |access-date=23 April 2013}}{{cite news |last=Bennet |first=James |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/19/world/israeli-parties-clamor-for-votes-in-divided-society.html |title=Israeli parties clamor for votes in divided society |work=The New York Times |location=New York |date=19 January 2003 |access-date=23 April 2013}}{{cite news |agency=The Associated Press |title=Israel's fringe parties take root |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VU9WAAAAIBAJ&pg=4830,197973&dq=men%27s-rights-in-the-family&hl=en |work=The Register-Guard |location=Eugene, Oregon |date=2 January 2003 |access-date=23 April 2013}} and the Justice for Men and Boys party in the UK.

{{See also|Manosphere}}

The men's rights movement has become more vocal and more organized since the development of the Internet,{{cite book |last=Kimmel |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Kimmel |title=Angry white men: American masculinity as the end of an era |publisher=Nation Books |location=New York |year=2017 |chapter=White men as victims: The Men's Rights Movement |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k5aeDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA140 |edition=2nd |isbn=978-1-56858-962-6 |title-link=Angry White Men}}{{cite journal |last=Chowdhury |first=Romit |title=Conditions of emergence: the formation of men's rights groups in contemporary India |journal=Indian Journal of Gender Studies |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=27–53 |doi=10.1177/0971521513511199 |date=2014 |s2cid=144978025}} where activists tend to congregate.{{cite news |last= |url=https://www.theweek.co.uk/people/62607/mens-rights-movement-why-it-is-so-controversial |title=Men's rights movement: why it is so controversial? |work=The Week |date=19 February 2015 |access-date= |url-access=limited}} Men's rights websites and forums have proliferated within the online manosphere.{{cite book |last=Hodapp |first=Christa |title=Men's Rights, Gender, and Social Media |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-49-852617-3 |location=Lanham, Md. |page=xv}}{{Cite journal |last=Ging |first=Debbie |year=2019 |title=Alphas, Betas, and Incels: Theorizing the Masculinities of the Manosphere |journal=Men and Masculinities |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=638–657 |doi=10.1177/1097184X17706401 |s2cid=149239953 |issn=1097-184X |doi-access=}}{{r|Kimmel 2013}} While some of the groups have adversarial relationships with one another,{{r|Zuckerberg 2018}} they tend to be united in their misogyny, promotion of masculinity, and opposition to feminism.{{harvnb|Hodapp|2017|p=8|ps=: "The MRM is related to the manosphere, a loose association of websites and organizations promoting certain forms of masculinity and generally expressing a disdain for feminism."}}{{Cite journal |last=Jane |first=Emma A. |author-link=Emma Jane |date=2017 |title=Systemic misogyny exposed: Translating Rapeglish from the Manosphere with a Random Rape Threat Generator |journal=International Journal of Cultural Studies |volume=21 |issue=6 |pages=661–680 |doi=10.1177/1367877917734042 |s2cid=149078033 |issn=1367-8779 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320836838 |via=ResearchGate}}

Men's rights proponents often use the red pill and blue pill metaphor from the film The Matrix to identify each other online; those who accept the idea that men are the oppressed victims of a misandrist society are said to have "taken the red pill".{{r|Ging 2019}}{{Cite book |last=Zuckerberg |first=Donna |title=Not All Dead White Men: Classics and Misogyny in the Digital Age |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-674-97555-2 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=12–16 |title-link=Not All Dead White Men}} Paul Elam's site A Voice for Men (AVFM) functions as a central point of discussion and organization for men's rights issues.{{sfn|Hodapp|2017|pages=xix–xx}} Other sites dedicated to men's rights are Fathers Rights Foundation{{cite news |last=Kelly |first=R. Tod |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/20/the-masculine-mystique-inside-the-men-s-rights-movement-mrm.html |title=The Masculine Mystique: Inside The Men's Rights Movement (MRM) |work=The Daily Beast |date=20 October 2013 |access-date=1 April 2015 |url-access=limited}} MGTOW.com (Men Going Their Own Way),{{r|Hodapp 2017}} and several Reddit forums such as /r/MensRights and /r/TheRedPill.{{r|Ging 2019}}{{cite web |last=Rosin |first=Hanna |title=Dad's cay in court: The perception that family law is unfair to fathers is not exactly true |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2014/05/men_s_rights_recognized_the_pro_father_evolution_of_divorce_and_paternity.html |work=Slate |date=13 May 2014 |access-date=28 July 2015}}{{cite news |last=Clark-Flory |first=Tracy |title='Feminism is a sexual strategy': Inside the angry online men's rights group 'Red Pill' |url=http://www.salon.com/2014/07/01/feminism_is_a_sexual_strategy_inside_the_angry_online_mens_rights_group_red_pill/ |work=Salon.com |date=1 July 2014 |access-date=28 July 2015}}

Many scholars consider the men's rights movement a backlash{{Multiref2 |{{cite book |last1=Clatterbaugh |first1=Kenneth |date=2007a |editor1-last=Flood |editor1-first=Michael |editor2-last=Gardiner |editor2-first=Judith Kegan |editor3-last=Pease |editor3-first=Bob |editor4-last=Pringle |editor4-first=Keith |title=International Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-33343-6 |pages=430–433 |chapter=Men's Rights |quote=The concept of men's rights embraces a variety of points of view that are overwhelmingly hostile to feminism or pro-feminism.}} |{{cite journal |last=Maddison |first=Sarah |year=1999 |title=Private Men, Public Anger: The Men's Rights Movement in Australia |journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=39–52 |url=http://newcastle.edu.au/Resources/Schools/Humanities%20and%20Social%20Science/JIGS/JIGSV4N2_039.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020163216/https://newcastle.edu.au/Resources/Schools/Humanities%20and%20Social%20Science/JIGS/JIGSV4N2_039.pdf |archive-date=20 October 2013}} |{{cite book |last1=Doyle |first1=Ciara |editor1-first=Peter |editor1-last=Herrman |title=Citizenship Revisited: Threats or Opportunities of Shifting Boundaries |year=2004 |publisher=Nova Publishers |location=New York |isbn=978-1-59033-900-8 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=HdLVGgJQ0mUC&pg=PA61 61–62] |chapter=The Fathers' Rights Movement: Extending Patriarchal Control Beyond the Marital Family}} |{{cite book |last1=Flood |first1=Michael |author-link1=Michael Flood |editor1-first=Michael S. |editor1-last=Kimmel |editor1-link=Michael Kimmel |editor2-last=Hearn |editor2-first=Jeff |editor3-last=Connell |editor3-first=Raewyn |title=Handbook of Studies on Men and Masculinities |year=2005 |publisher=SAGE Publications |location=Thousand Oaks |isbn=978-0-7619-2369-5 |page=459 |chapter=Men's Collective Struggles for Gender Justice: The Case of Antiviolence Activism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UvAZD45BMDoC&pg=PA459}} |{{cite web |url=http://www.salon.com/2011/03/29/scott_adams_mens_rights_movement/ |title=Is the men's rights movement growing? |last1=Finocchiaro |first1=Peter |date=29 March 2011 |work=Salon |access-date=10 March 2013}} |{{cite book |last=Messner |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Messner |year=2000 |title=Politics of Masculinities: Men in Movements |location=Lanham, Md. |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nG8MGcopgWQC&pg=PA41 41] |isbn=978-0-8039-5577-6}} |{{cite book |last1=Solinger |first1=Rickie |title=Reproductive Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gfem7O38h6MC&pg=PP130 |year=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-981141-0 |page=130}} |{{cite book |last1=Menzies |first1=Robert |editor1-first=Susan B |editor1-last=Boyd |title=Reaction and Resistance: Feminism, Law, and Social Change |year=2007 |publisher=University of British Columbia Press |location=Vancouver |isbn=978-0-7748-1411-9 |chapter=Virtual Backlash: Representation of Men's 'Rights' and Feminist 'Wrongs' in Cyberspace |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ASc568aunFoC&pg=PA65 |pages=65–97}} |{{cite book |last1=Dunphy |first1=Richard |title=Sexual Politics: An Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NVPQkt0bVpAC&pg=PA88 |year=2000 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-0-7486-1247-5 |page=88}} |{{Cite journal |last=Mills |first=Martin |title=Shaping the boys' agenda: the backlash blockbusters |year=2003 |journal=International Journal of Inclusive Education |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=57–73 |doi=10.1080/13603110210143644 |s2cid=144875158}} }} or countermovement{{cite journal |last=Williams |first=Rhys H. |author-link=Rhys H. Williams (sociologist) |year=1995 |title=Constructing the Public Good: Social Movements and Cultural Resources |journal=Social Problems |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=134–135 |jstor=3097008 |doi=10.2307/3097008 |quote=Another example of contractual model rhetoric is in the language of the Men's Rights movement. As a countermovement to the feminist movement, it has concentrated on areas generally thought of as family law{{emdash}}especially divorce and child custody laws. The movement charges that maternal preference in child custody decisions is an example of gender prejudice, with men the ones who are systematically disadvantaged [...] Men's Rights groups [...] have adopted much of the rhetoric of the early liberal feminist movement... Similarly, along with the appeal to 'equal rights for fathers' [...] the Men's Rights movement also uses a rhetoric of children's 'needs' [...] The needs rhetoric helps offset charges that their rights language is motivated by self-interest alone. |citeseerx=10.1.1.1016.677}} to feminism.

The men's rights movement generally incorporates points of view that reject feminist and profeminist ideas.{{sfn|Clatterbaugh|2007a}}{{r|Messner 1998}} Men's rights activists (MRAs) say feminism has surpassed its original goals and is now harming men.{{cite book |last1=Cahill |first1=Charlotte |editor1-first=Roger |editor1-last=Chapman |title=Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices |year=2010 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |location=Armonk |isbn=978-1-84972-713-6 |pages=354–356 |chapter=Men's movement |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vRY27FkGJAUC&pg=PA355}}{{cite journal |last=Allen |first=Jonathan A. |title=Phallic Affect |journal=Men and Masculinities |date=9 March 2015 |doi=10.1177/1097184X15574338 |quote=The men's rights movement is distinct from other explorations of masculinity insofar as the movement itself is fundamentally situated in opposition to feminist theory and activism. |volume=19 |pages=22–41 |s2cid=147829870}} MRAs believe that men are victims of feminism and "feminizing" influences in society, and that entities such as public institutions now discriminate against men.{{cite book |last=Beasley |first=Chris |title=Gender and Sexuality: Critical Theories, Critical Thinkers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f2qM2ULqDK0C&pg=PA180 |year=2005 |publisher=SAGE Publications |location=Thousand Oaks, Calif. |isbn=978-0-7619-6979-2 |page=180}}{{cite journal |last=Maddison |first=Sarah |year=1999 |title=Private Men, Public Anger: The Men's Rights Movement in Australia |journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=39–52 |url=http://newcastle.edu.au/Resources/Schools/Humanities%20and%20Social%20Science/JIGS/JIGSV4N2_039.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020163216/https://newcastle.edu.au/Resources/Schools/Humanities%20and%20Social%20Science/JIGS/JIGSV4N2_039.pdf |archive-date=20 October 2013}}

Men's rights activists argue that society has historically benefited women and femininity at the expense of men, an idea termed gynocentrism.{{sfn|Hodapp|2017|pp=2–3}} MRAs believe that patriarchy is a feminist myth and that feminism creates unfair advantages for women, causing men to become a disadvantaged group.{{sfn|Hodapp|2017|pp=2–3}}{{cite book |last1=O'Donnell |first1=Jessica |title=Gamergate and Anti-Feminism in the Digital Age |date=2022 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Cham |isbn=978-3-031-14057-0 |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-14057-0_2 |page=9 |chapter=Men’s Rights Activism and the Manosphere}} They argue that men are not only oppressed, but also degraded and vilified; this idea of misandry or hatred of men is commonly used by MRAs to dispute feminist accusations of misogyny.{{sfn|Hodapp|2017|pp=4–5}} Feminism is portrayed as having degenerated from its original purpose as a movement for basic equality into an outlet for vindictive, irrational women to gain power and express their hatred of men.{{sfn|Hodapp|2017|pp=5–6}}

MRAs dispute that men as a group have institutional power and privilege{{sfn|Clatterbaugh|2007a}}{{cite journal |last=Kimmel |first=Michael S. |year=1987 |title=Men's Responses to Feminism at the Turn of the Century |journal=Gender & Society |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=261–283 |doi=10.1177/089124387001003003 |s2cid=145428652}} and believe that men are victimized relative to women,{{sfn|Dunphy|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NVPQkt0bVpAC&pg=PA88 88]}}{{cite book |last1=Flood |first1=Michael |date=2007 |editor1-last=Flood |editor1-first=Michael |editor2-last=Gardiner |editor2-first=Judith Kegan |editor3-last=Pease |editor3-first=Bob |editor4-last=Pringle |editor4-first=Keith |title=International Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-33343-6 |pages=418–422 |chapter=Men's Movement |chapter-url=https://xyonline.net/content/mens-movements-encyclopedia-entry |via=XYOnline.net}}{{cite book |last1=Clatterbaugh |first1=Kenneth |date=2007b |editor1-last=Flood |editor1-first=Michael |editor2-last=Gardiner |editor2-first=Judith Kegan |editor3-last=Pease |editor3-first=Bob |editor4-last=Pringle |editor4-first=Keith |title=International Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-33343-6 |pages=21–22 |chapter=Anti-feminism}} including in regard to what had been considered feminist concerns, such as domestic violence, pornography, prostitution, and sexism in mass media.{{r|Eagle 2003}} The movement is divided between those who consider sexism equally harmful to both men and women and those who view men as disadvantaged relative to women, who benefit from "female privilege".{{sfn|Clatterbaugh|1997|page=11|ps=: "Indeed the premise of all men's rights literature is that men are {{em|not}} privileged relative to women [...] Having denied that men are privileged relative to women, this movement divides into those who believe that men and women are equally harmed by sexism and those who believe that society has become a bastion of female privilege and male degradation.}}

Men's rights groups generally reject the notion that feminism is interested in men's problems,{{sfn|Clatterbaugh|2007a}} and some men's rights activists have viewed the women's movement as a plot to deliberately conceal discrimination against men and promote gynocentrism.{{cite book |last1=Whitaker |first1=Stephen |editor1-first=Dana |editor1-last=Vannoy |title=Gender Mosaics: Social Perspectives |year=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-532998-8 |pages=343–351 |chapter=Gender Politics in Men's Movements |chapter-url=http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~spwhita/Gender%20Politics%20in%20Mens%20Movements.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029192101/http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~spwhita/Gender%20Politics%20in%20Mens%20Movements.pdf |archive-date=29 October 2013}}{{r|Flood 2007}} Warren Farrell and Herb Goldberg have argued that women hold the true power in society through their roles as the primary caregivers of children, and that male power is an illusion.

Sociologist Michael Messner states that the early men's rights movement "appropriates the symmetrical language of sex roles" first used by feminists, which implies a false balance of institutional power between men and women.{{r|Messner 1998}} Masculinities scholar Jonathan A. Allan described the men's rights movement as a reactionary movement that is defined by its opposition to women and feminism but has not yet formulated its own theories and methodologies outside of antifeminism.{{cite journal |last=Allen |first=Jonathan A. |title=Phallic Affect |journal=Men and Masculinities |date=9 March 2015 |doi=10.1177/1097184X15574338 |volume=19 |pages=22–41 |s2cid=147829870}}

Men's rights proponents are concerned with a wide variety of matters, some of which have spawned their own groups or movements, such as the fathers' rights movement, concerned specifically with divorce and child custody issues.{{sfn |Messner |1997 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nG8MGcopgWQC&pg=PA41 41–48]}} Some, if not all, men's rights issues stem from gender roles and, according to sociologist Allan G. Johnson, patriarchy.{{cite book |title=The Gender Knot: Unraveling our Patriarchal Legacy |publisher=Temple University Press |author=Johnson, Allan G. |year=2005 |location=Philadelphia |isbn=978-1-59213-383-3 |page=220 |quote=such problems are prominent in many men's lives, but this is no organized male response to the patriarchal system whose dynamics produce much of men's loss, suffering, and grief. Contrary to Bly's claim, it is not a parallel to the women's movement that is merely on a "different timetable." It may be a response to genuine emotional and spiritual needs that are met by bringing men together to drum, chant, and share stories and feelings from their lives. It may help to heal some of the damage patriarchy does to men's lives. But it is not a movement aimed at the system and the gender dynamics that actually cause that damage.}}

Men's rights activists seek to expand the rights of unwed fathers in case of their child's adoption.{{cite book |editor=Judith A. Baer |editor-link=Judith A. Baer |title=Historical and Multicultural Encyclopedia of Women's Reproductive Rights in the United States |last=Williams |first=Gwyneth |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZKVzULJ-764C&pg=PA83 |chapter=Fathers' rights movement |date=1 January 2002 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-30644-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historicalmultic0000unse/page/83 83] |url=https://archive.org/details/historicalmultic0000unse/page/83}}{{sfn|Farrell|Sterba|2008|p=79–80}} Warren Farrell argues that in failing to inform the father of a pregnancy, an expectant mother deprives an adopted child of a relationship with the biological father. He proposes that women be legally required to make every reasonable effort to notify the father of her pregnancy within four to five days.{{sfn|Farrell|Sterba|2008|p=79–80}} In response, philosopher James P. Sterba agrees that, for moral reasons, a woman should inform the father of the pregnancy and adoption, but this should not be imposed as a legal requirement as it might result in undue pressure, for example, to have an abortion.{{sfn|Farrell|Sterba|2008|p=193–94}}

Men's rights organizations such as Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) say that women misuse legislation meant to protect them from dowry death and bride burnings.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/dec/13/india.randeepramesh1 |title=Dowry law making us the victims, says India's men's movement |last=Ramesh |first=Randeep |work=The Guardian |date=13 December 2007 |access-date=27 March 2015}} SIFF is a men's rights organization in India that focuses on abuse of anti-dowry laws against men.{{cite news |title=Men demand fair play |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Men-demand-fair-play/articleshow/5248823.cms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110911090157/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-11-20/chandigarh/28100670_1_law-ministry-men-demand-awareness-programme |url-status=live |archive-date=11 September 2011 |access-date=20 October 2011 |newspaper=The Times of India |date=20 November 2009}} SIFF has campaigned to abolish Section 498A{{cite web |url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/538436/ |title=Section 498A in The Indian Penal Code |website=indiankanoon.org |access-date=16 May 2017}} of the Indian Penal Code, which penalizes cruelty by husbands (and the husband's family) in pursuit of dowry or for driving a wife to suicide.{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/dowry-wars-the-big-issue-that-has-india-divided-2229498.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220512/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/dowry-wars-the-big-issue-that-has-india-divided-2229498.html |archive-date=12 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Dowry wars: The big issue that has India divided |last=Buncombe |first=Andrew |work=The Independent |date=2 March 2011 |access-date=27 March 2015}}{{cite book |title=Women, Gender and Everyday Social Transformation in India |editor1-last=Nielsen |editor1-first=Kenneth Bo |editor2-last=Waldrop |editor2-first=Anne |last=Chowdhury |first=Romit |chapter=Family, Femininity, Feminism: 'Structure of Feeling' in the Articulation of Men's Rights |publisher=Anthem Press |location=London |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-78-308269-8 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aA4iBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA189 |page=189}} SIFF states anti-dowry laws are regularly being abused to settle petty disputes in marriage{{cite news |last=Gilani |first=Iftikhar |title=Shoaib Malik controversy to hit Pakistan-India relations |url=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010%5C04%5C06%5Cstory_6-4-2010_pg2_6 |access-date=20 October 2011 |newspaper=Daily Times |date=6 April 2010}} and that they regularly receive calls from many men who allege their wives have used false dowry claims to imprison them.{{cite news |last=Dhillon |first=Amrit |title=Men say wives use India's pro-women laws to torment them |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/men-say-wives-use-indias-prowomen-laws-to-torment-them/2007/12/23/1198344884127.html |access-date=20 October 2011 |newspaper=The Age |date=24 December 2007}}

{{ See also|Fathers' rights movement}}Family law is an area of deep concern among men's rights groups. Men's rights adherents argue that the legal system and family courts discriminate against men, especially in regards to child custody after divorce.{{Cite journal |last1=Melville |first1=Angela |last2=Hunter |first2=Rosemary |year=2001 |title='As everybody knows': Countering myths of gender bias in family law |journal=Griffith Law Review |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=124–138 |url=https://kar.kent.ac.uk/1719/1/R_Hunter_As_everybody_knows_2001.pdf |quote=Several authors have observed that men's rights groups claim that the family law system and the Family Court are biased against men, despite the lack of supporting empirical research.}} Also available through [http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/griffith10&div=12&src=home HeinOnline.]{{sfn|Messner|1997|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nG8MGcopgWQC&pg=PA41 41–48]}}{{Cite book |last=Pease |first=Bob |title=Men and gender relations |year=2002 |location=Croydon, Vic. |publisher=Tertiary Press |page=36 |isbn=978-0-86458-218-8}}{{Cite book |last1=Fidler |first1=Barbara Jo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ocUupL4YcnkC&q=%22men's%20rights%22%20activists%20%22parental%20alienation%22%20syndrome&pg=PA2 |title=Children Who Resist Post-Separation Parental Contact: A Differential Approach for Legal and Mental Health Professionals |last2=Bala |first2=Nicholas |last3=Saini |first3=Michael A. |date=2013 |publisher=OUP USA |isbn=978-0-19-989549-6 |pages=2–3 |language=en}} They believe that men do not have the same contact rights or equitable shared parenting rights as their ex-spouse and use statistics on custody awards as evidence of judicial bias against men.{{Cite book |last=Crean |first=Susan M. |title=In the name of the fathers: the story behind child custody |year=1988 |location=Toronto |publisher=Amanita |pages=[https://archive.org/details/innameoffatherss0000crea/page/107 107–108] |isbn=978-0-921299-04-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/innameoffatherss0000crea/page/107}} Men's rights advocates seek to change the legal climate for men through changes in family law{{Cn|date=October 2024}}, for example by lobbying for laws that make joint custody the default custody arrangement except in cases where one parent is unfit or unwilling to parent.{{sfn|Clatterbaugh|1997|p=77}} They have appropriated the feminist rhetoric of "rights" and "equality" in their discourse, framing child custody as a matter of basic civil rights.{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Gwyneth I. |last2=Williams |first2=Rhys H |editor1-first=Joel |editor1-last=Best |title=Images of Issues: Typifying Contemporary Social Problems |edition=2nd |year=1995 |publisher=A. De Gruyter |location=New York |isbn=978-0-202-30539-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/imagesofissuesty0000unse/page/201 201–202] |chapter="All We Want Is Equality": Rhetorical Framing in the Fathers' Rights Movement |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=larpu0lKQlQC&pg=PA201 |url=https://archive.org/details/imagesofissuesty0000unse/page/201}}{{cite journal |last1=Coltrane |first1=Scott |last2=Hickman |first2=Neal |year=1992 |title=The Rhetoric of Rights and Needs: Moral Discourse in the Reform of Child Custody and Child Support Laws |journal=Social Problems |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=400–420 |doi=10.2307/3097018 |jstor=3097018}} Men's rights activists argue that the lack of contact with their children makes fathers less willing to pay child support.{{Cite book |editor1-last=Kamerman |editor1-first=SB |editor2-last=Kahn |editor2-first=AJ |title=Family change and family policies in Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States |year=1997 |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JKtjclo01N0C&pg=PA182 |page=182 |isbn=978-0-19-829025-4}} Others cite the discredited parental alienation syndrome (PAS) or parental alienation as a reason to grant custody to fathers; they claim that mothers alienate children from their fathers and make false accusations of abuse in order to seek revenge against fathers.{{Cite book |editor1-first=NJ |editor1-last=Cabrera |editor2-first=CS |editor2-last=Tamis-LeMonda |title=Handbook of father involvement: multidisciplinary perspectives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAnt7DhD5pcC&pg=PA425 |location=London |publisher=Routledge |page=425 |edition=2nd |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-415-87867-8}}{{Cite web |url=http://theconversation.com/parental-alienation-the-debunked-theory-that-women-lie-about-violence-is-still-used-in-court-125823 |title='Parental alienation': the debunked theory that women lie about violence is still used in court |last=Rathus |first=Zoe |website=The Conversation |date=7 November 2019 |language=en |access-date=18 March 2020}}{{Cite news |last=Hill |first=Jess |author-link1=Jess Hill (writer) |url=https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/oct/03/family-law-inquiry-is-no-sop-to-hanson-its-a-deliberate-move-to-bury-previous-reviews |title=Family law inquiry is no sop to Hanson. It's a deliberate move to bury previous reviews {{!}} Jess Hill |date=2 October 2019 |work=The Guardian |access-date=18 March 2020 |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}File:Fathers 4 Justice in Peterborough.jpg protesting in Peterborough in 2010.]]Scholars and critics assert that empirical research does not support the notion of a judicial bias against men and that men's rights advocates distort statistics in a way that ignores the fact that the majority of men do not seek custody, and the overwhelming majority of custody cases are settled outside of court.

Academics critique the rhetorical framing of custody decisions, stating that men's rights advocates appeal for "equal rights" without ever specifying the legal rights they believe have been violated.{{Cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Gwyneth I. |last2=Williams |first2=Rhys H. |editor1-first=Donileen R. |editor1-last=Loseke |editor2-first=Joel |editor2-last=Best |title=Social problems: constructionist readings |year=2003 |location=New York |publisher=de Gruyter |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ee0MiJ0Mw_8C&pg=PA96 |chapter=Framing in the fathers' rights movement |page=96 |isbn=978-0-202-30703-9}} Scholars and critics assert that the men's rights rhetoric of children's "needs" that accompanies their plea for fathers' rights is merely to deflect criticism that they are motivated by self-interest and masks men's rights advocates' own claims.{{Cite journal |last=Ryrstedt |first=Eva |year=2003 |title=Joint decisions – a prerequisite or a drawback in joint parental responsibility? |journal=Australian Journal of Family Law |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=155–206 |url=http://lup.lub.lu.se/record/609257 |quote=Research has highlighted that it is usually disaffected fathers and men's rights groups, who have masked their own claims behind the rhetoric of the rights of the child to know and be cared for by both parents.}} Critics argue that abusive men use allegations of parental alienation to counter mothers' legitimate concerns about their and their chlldren's safety. Deborah Rhode argues that, contrary to the claims of some men's rights activists, research shows that joint legal custody does not increase the likelihood that fathers will pay child support or remain involved parents.{{Cite book |last=Rhode |first=DL |title=Speaking of sex: the denial of gender inequality |year=1997 |location=Cambridge, Mass. |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=194 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ilR5D4vnuv4C&pg=PA194 |isbn=978-0-674-83177-3}} Michael Flood argues that the fathers' and men's rights movement seems to prioritize re-establishing paternal authority over the children, rather than actual involvement, and that they prioritize principles of equality over the positive parenting and well-being of the children.{{Cite journal |last=Flood |first=Michael |year=2012 |title=Separated fathers and the 'fathers' rights' movement |journal=Journal of Family Studies |volume=18 |issue=2–3 |pages=235–245 |doi=10.5172/jfs.2012.18.2-3.235 |s2cid=55469150 |url=http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2985&context=artspapers}}

{{See also|Circumcision controversies|Ethics of circumcision|Forced circumcision|Violence against men}}

Observers{{Who|date=April 2021}} have stated that the 'intactivist' movement, an anti-circumcision movement, has some overlap with the men's rights movement.{{cite web |url=http://www.papermag.com/what-is-intactivism-we-spoke-to-a-guy-fighting-for-his-foreskin-1458684021.html |title=We spoke to an Intactivist fighting for his foreskin |publisher=Paper Magazine |date=16 November 2015 |access-date=8 November 2016 |author=Song, Sandra}} Most men's rights activists object to routine neonatal circumcision and say that female genital mutilation has received more attention than male circumcision.{{cite web |url=http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/mens-rights-activists-meninism-mra-feminism |title=Men's Rights Activists are cave dwelling idiots |publisher=GQ |date=21 December 2015 |access-date=3 November 2016 |author=Meyers, Rupert |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020055230/http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/mens-rights-activists-meninism-mra-feminism |archive-date=20 October 2017}}{{cite news |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/02/anti-cutters-slam-new-cdc-recommendations-on-circumcision.html |title=Anti-Cutters Slam New CDC Recommendations on Circumcision |newspaper=The Daily Beast |date=3 December 2013 |access-date=8 November 2016 |author=Strochlic, Nina}}{{cite web |url=https://mic.com/articles/90131/the-8-biggest-lies-men-s-rights-activists-spread-about-women#.9xhAvtLD6 |title=The 8 Biggest Lies Men's Rights Activists Spread About Women |publisher=Mic.com |date=10 June 2014 |access-date=3 November 2016 |author=Ross, Julianne}}

The controversy around non-consensual circumcision of children for non-therapeutic reasons is not exclusive to the men's rights movement, and involves concerns of feminists and medical ethics.{{cite journal |last=Povenmire |first=R. |year=1998–1999 |title=Do Parents Have the Legal Authority to Consent to the Surgical Amputation of Normal, Healthy Tissue From Their Infant Children?: The Practice of Circumcision in the United States |journal=Journal of Gender, Social Policy and the Law |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=87–123 |pmid=16526136 |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/legal/povenmire/}} Some doctors and academics have argued that circumcision is a violation of the right to health and bodily integrity,{{cite book |last=Denniston |first=George C. |title=Male and female circumcision medical, legal, and ethical considerations in pediatric practice |year=1999 |publisher=Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers |location=New York |isbn=978-0-306-46131-6 |page=348}}{{cite journal |last=El-Salam |first=Seham Abd |title=The Importance of Genital Mutilations to Gender Power Politics |journal=Al-Raida |date=2002–2003 |volume=20 |issue=99 |page=42 |quote=Women's defense of men's right to bodily integrity and their work against MGM will not have a negative impact on their struggle against FGM.}}{{cite book |last=Somerville |first=M. |chapter=Altering baby boys' bodies: the ethics of infant male circumcision |title=The Ethical Canary: Science, Society and the Human Spirit |location=Toronto |publisher=Viking Press |isbn=978-0-670-89302-7 |year=2000}}{{cite book |last=Green |first=James |title=The Male Herbal: The Definitive Health Care Book for Men & Boys |year=2007 |publisher=Crossing Press |location=Berkeley, Calif. |isbn=978-1-58091-175-7 |edition=2nd |quote=Circumcision: A Common Form of Disregard for Men's Rights… Glick emphasizes that infants are persons with full civil rights, and therefore no one has the right to impose circumcision on them—not even parents.}}{{cite news |last=Earp |first=Brian D. |title=Female genital mutilation (FGM) and male circumcision: Should there be a separate ethical discourse? (blog) |url=http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2014/02/female-genital-mutilation-and-male-circumcision-time-to-confront-the-double-standard/ |work=Practical Ethics |publisher=Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford |date=18 February 2014 |access-date=19 June 2018}} [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brian_Earp/publication/266971287_Female_genital_mutilation_FGM_and_male_circumcision_Should_there_be_a_separate_ethical_discourse/links/57a614b308aee07544bc17da/Female-genital-mutilation-FGM-and-male-circumcision-Should-there-be-a-separate-ethical-discourse.pdf Pdf.] [https://www.academia.edu/8817976/Female_genital_mutilation_FGM_and_male_circumcision_Should_there_be_a_separate_ethical_discourse Alternative pdf.] while others have disagreed.{{cite journal |vauthors=Benatar M, Benatar D |title=Between prophylaxis and child abuse: the ethics of neonatal male circumcision |journal=Am J Bioeth |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=35–48 |year=2003 |pmid=12859815 |doi=10.1162/152651603766436216 |s2cid=10798287}}{{cite journal |vauthors=Clark PA, Eisenman J, Szapor S |title=Mandatory neonatal male circumcision in Sub-Saharan Africa: medical and ethical analysis |journal=Med. Sci. Monit. |volume=13 |issue=12 |pages=RA205–13 |date=December 2007 |pmid=18049444}}{{cite journal |author=Patrick K |title=Is infant male circumcision an abuse of the rights of the child? No |journal=BMJ |volume=335 |issue=7631 |page=1181 |date=December 2007 |pmid=18063641 |pmc=2128676 |doi=10.1136/bmj.39406.523762.AD}}{{cite journal |vauthors=Brusa M, Barilan YM |title=Cultural circumcision in EU public hospitals—an ethical discussion |journal=Bioethics |volume=23 |issue=8 |pages=470–82 |date=October 2009 |pmid=19076127 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8519.2008.00683.x |s2cid=205564640}}

Men's rights groups in the United States began organizing in opposition to divorce reform and custody issues around the 1960s. Up until this time, husbands held legal power and control over wives and children.{{cite journal |last=Zaher |first=Claudia |title=When a woman's marital status determined her legal status: a research guide on the common law doctrine of coverture |journal=Law Library Journal |volume=94 |issue=3 |pages=459–486 |publisher=HeinOnline on behalf of the American Association of Law Libraries |date=Summer 2002 |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/llj94&div=46&id=&page=}} [http://people.virginia.edu/~jdk3t/ZaherWMS.pdf Pdf.] The men involved in the early organization claimed that family and divorce law discriminated against them and favored their wives.{{sfn|Ashe|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nXDbiPA9IuQC&pg=PA57 57]}} Men's rights leader Rich Doyle likened divorce courts to slaughterhouses, considering their judgements unsympathetic and unreasonable.{{sfn |Messner |1997 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=EfyxAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 45]}}

Men's rights activists have argued that divorce and custody laws violate men's individual rights to equal protection. Law professor Gwendolyn Leachman writes that this sort of framing "downplays the systemic biases that women face that justify protective divorce and custody laws".{{Cite book |last=Leachman |first=Gwendolyn |chapter=Legal framing |volume=61 |pages=25–59 |doi=10.1108/S1059-4337(2013)0000061005 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZNunVhZjK0cC&pg=PA25 |editor-last=Sarat |editor-first=Austin |title=Studies in law |publisher=Emerald Publishing |location=Bingley, West Yorkshire, UK |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-78190-619-4 |series=Studies in Law, Politics and Society}}

{{See also|Domestic violence against men}}

Men's rights groups describe domestic violence committed by women against men as a problem that goes ignored, under-reported,{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Susan L. |title=Victims as offenders: the paradox of women's violence in relationships |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7CsgywvFH-EC&pg=PA16 |date=October 2005 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location=New Brunswick, NJ |isbn=978-0-8135-3671-2 |page=16}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2003/dec/21/socialcare.uknews |title=Battered men get their own refuge |first=Jamie |last=Doward |work=The Observer |date=21 December 2003 |publisher=GMG |location=London |issn=0261-3077 |oclc=60623878 |access-date=22 October 2011}} and under-researched,{{cite journal |title=Abused by the Patriarchy: Male Victims, Masculinity, "Honor"-Based Abuse and Forced Marriages |date=2022 |pmc=9251746 |last1=Idriss |first1=M. M. |journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |volume=37 |issue=13–14 |pages=NP11905–NP11932 |doi=10.1177/0886260521997928 |pmid=33631999}} in part because men are reluctant to label themselves as victims. They say that women are as aggressive or more aggressive than men in relationships{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Susan L. |last2=Lilley |first2=Terry G. |last3=Renzetti |first3=Claire M. |last4=Edleson |first4=Jeffrey L. |title=Encyclopedia of interpersonal violence |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BOKAMXEA_jQC&pg=PT257 |year=2008 |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=978-1-4129-1800-8 |pages=257–258 |chapter=Female perpetrators of intimate partner violence}} and that domestic violence is gender-symmetrical.{{cite book |last=Dragiewicz |first=Molly |chapter=Sex differences |title=Equality with a Vengeance: Men's Rights Groups, Battered Women, and Antifeminist Backlash |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OHr7yWfEjQYC&pg=PA84 |pages=84–85 |publisher=Northeastern University Press |location=Boston |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-55553-739-5}} They cite controversial family conflict research by Murray Straus and Richard Gelles as evidence of gender symmetry.Citations:

• {{cite book |first=David M. |last=Haugen |title=Domestic violence: opposing viewpoints |url=https://archive.org/details/domesticviolence00gree |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/domesticviolence00gree/page/41 41] |publisher=Greenhaven Press |location=Detroit |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7377-2225-3}}
• {{harvnb |Menzies |2007 ||pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ASc568aunFoC&pg=PA86 86–87]}}
• {{Cite book |title=The victimization of women: law, policies, and politics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uGQ8Cf3FMp8C&pg=PA34 |first1=Michelle L. |last1=Meloy |first2=Susan L. |last2=Miller |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-19-976510-2 |page=34}}
• {{Cite book |first=Kathleen J. |last=Ferraro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-tMpxZHOvcgC&pg=PA270 |title=Neither angels nor demons: women, crime, and victimization |year=2006 |publisher=Northeastern University Press |location=Lebanon, NH |isbn=978-1-55553-662-6 |page=270}} Men's rights advocates argue that judicial systems too easily accept false allegations of domestic violence by women against male partners.{{sfn|Menzies|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ASc568aunFoC&pg=PA85 85]}} Men's rights advocates have been critics of legal, policy and practical protections for abused women,{{cite book |last=Dragiewicz |first=Molly |chapter=Introduction / Booth v. Hvass |title=Equality with a Vengeance: Men's Rights Groups, Battered Women, and Antifeminist Backlash |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OHr7yWfEjQYC&pg=PA3 |pages=3–4, 29 |publisher=Northeastern University Press |location=Boston |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-55553-739-5}}{{cite book |last=Kimmel |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Kimmel |title=Misframing Men: the Politics of Contemporary Masculinities |page=1 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location=Piscataway |year=2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wC9_3wBJX6QC&pg=PA1 |isbn=978-0-8135-4762-6}} campaigning for domestic violence shelters for battered men and for the legal system to be educated about women's violence against men. In the early 21st or late 20th century, the National Coalition for Free Men sued the Minnesota state, calling for funding to women's domestic violence programmes to be removed under the idea that they "discriminate against men".{{Cite journal |last=Saunders |first=Daniel G. |date=2002 |title=Are Physical Assaults by Wives and Girlfriends a Major Social Problem?: A Review of the Literature |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/107780102237964 |journal=Violence Against Women |language=en |volume=8 |issue=12 |pages=1424–1448 |doi=10.1177/107780102237964 |hdl=2027.42/90019 |s2cid=145578534 |issn=1077-8012 |hdl-access=free}}

In response to such claims, family violence scholar Richard Gelles published an article entitled "Domestic Violence: Not An Even Playing Field" and accused the men's rights movement of distorting his research findings on men's and women's violence to promote a misogynistic agenda.{{Cite web |url=http://fathersmanifesto.net/gelles.htm |title=Richard Gelles: oh so magnanimous, and dead wrong |website=fathersmanifesto.net |access-date=25 May 2018 |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418085959/http://fathersmanifesto.net/gelles.htm |archivedate=18 April 2016}} Many domestic violence scholars and advocates have rejected the research cited by men's rights activists as flawed,{{cite journal |last=Flood |first=Michael |title=Separated fathers and the 'fathers' rights' movement |journal=Journal of Family Studies |volume=18 |issue=2–3 |pages=235–345 |doi=10.5172/jfs.2012.18.2-3.235 |date=December 2012 |s2cid=55469150 |url=http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2985&context=artspapers}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20151204153709/http://xyonline.net/sites/default/files/Flood,%20Separated%20fathers%20and%20the%20'fathers'%20rights'%20movement%202012_0.pdf Pdf.] disputing their claims that such violence is gender symmetrical,{{cite journal |last1=Dobash |first1=Russell P. |last2=Dobash |first2=R. Emerson |last3=Wilson |first3=Margo |last4=Daly |first4=Martin |title=The myth of sexual symmetry in marital violence |journal=Social Problems |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=71–91 |doi=10.2307/3096914 |jstor=3096914 |date=February 1992 |s2cid=4058660}}{{Cite journal |last=Kimmel |first=Michael S. |author-link=Michael Kimmel |title='Gender symmetry' in domestic violence: a substantive and methodological research review |journal=Violence Against Women |volume=8 |issue=11 |pages=1332–1363 |doi=10.1177/107780102237407 |date=November 2002 |s2cid=74249845}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20141016110040/http://www.vawnet.org/assoc_files_vawnet/gendersymmetry.pdf Pdf.] saying that their focus on women's violence stems from a political agenda to minimize the severity of the problem of men's violence against women and children and to undermine services to abused women.

{{see also|Sex differences in education}}

Men's rights adherents describe the education of boys as being in crisis, with boys having reduced educational achievement and motivation compared to girls. Advocates blame the influence of feminism on education for what they believe is discrimination against and systematic oppression of boys in the education system.{{cite book |last1=Mills |first1=Martin |last2=Francis |first2=Becky |last3=Skelton |first3=Christine |chapter=Gender policies in Australia and the United Kingdom |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ouWMouuNuWAC&pg=PA38 |editor-last1=Martino |editor-first1=Wayne |editor-last2=Kehler |editor-first2=Michael |editor-last3=Weaver-Hightower |editor-first3=Marcus B. |title=The problem with boys' education: beyond the backlash |date=8 June 2009 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-56023-683-2 |pages=38–55}}{{cite web |author=Press Association |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jan/05/gender-gap-uk-degree-subjects-doubles-eight-years-ucas-study |title=Gender gap in UK degree subjects doubles in eight years, UCAS study finds |work=The Guardian | Education |date=5 January 2016 |access-date=14 July 2017}} They critique what they describe as the "feminization" of education, stating that the predominance of female teachers, a focus on girls' needs, as well as a curricula and assessment methods that supposedly favour girls, have proved repressive and restrictive to men and boys.{{cite book |author1=Becky Francis |author2=Christine Skelton |title=Reassessing gender and achievement: questioning contemporary key debates |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XkkfekXzkZMC&pg=PA18 |access-date=26 December 2011 |date=27 September 2005 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-33324-5 |pages=18–19, 141 |author1-link=Becky Francis}}

Men's rights groups call for increased recognition of masculinity, greater numbers of male role models, more competitive sports, and the increased responsibilities for boys in the school setting. They have also advocated clearer school routines, more traditional school structures, including gender-segregated classrooms, and stricter discipline.

One primary characteristic of men's rights groups is the view of boys as a homogeneous group that shares common educational experiences; this means that it fails to account for how responses to educational approaches may differ by age, disability, culture, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, and class.

In Australia, men's rights discourse has influenced government policy documents. Compared to Australia, less impact has been noted in the United Kingdom, where feminists have historically had less influence on educational policy. However, Mary Curnock Cook, the British Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) chief executive, argued that in Britain "despite the clear evidence and despite the press coverage, there is a deafening policy silence on the issue. Has the women's movement now become so normalised that we cannot conceive of needing to take positive action to secure equal education outcomes for boys?"

Men's rights groups have called for governmental structures to address issues specific to men and boys including education, health, work and marriage.{{cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/What-about-tax-and-fathers-custody-rights/articleshow/5244920.cms |title=What about tax, and father's custody rights? |work=The Times of India |date=17 May 2011 |access-date=22 December 2011}}{{cite news |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/17/guys-got-it-made-think-again-say-advocates/ |title=Guys got it made? Think again, say advocates |first=Wetzstein |last=Cheryl |work=Washington Times |access-date=22 December 2011}} Men's rights groups in India have called for the creation of a Men's Welfare Ministry and a National Commission for Men, or for the abolition of the National Commission for Women.{{cite news |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-india-husbands-idUKTRE5AJ0TZ20091120 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125033234/https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-india-husbands-idUKTRE5AJ0TZ20091120 |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 November 2018 |title=Indian husbands want protection from nagging wives |work=Reuters |date=20 November 2009 |access-date=22 December 2011}}{{cite web |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/relationships/man-woman/Boys-fight-for-freedom/articleshow/4859757.cms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020060318/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-08-09/man-woman/28177085_1_indian-law-law-minister-siff |url-status=live |archive-date=20 October 2012 |title=Boys fight for freedom! |author=Manigandan KR |work=The Times of India |date=9 August 2009 |access-date=22 December 2011}} In the United Kingdom, the creation of a Minister for Men analogous to the existing Minister for Women, has been proposed by David Amess, MP and Lord Northbourne, but was rejected by the government headed by Prime Minister Tony Blair.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/bbc_parliament/3522631.stm |work=BBC News |title=FHM: For Him Minister? |date=3 March 2004 |access-date=22 December 2011}}{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1343276/Yesterday-in-Parliament.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1343276/Yesterday-in-Parliament.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |title=Yesterday in Parliament |first=Michael |last=Kallenbach |date=16 June 2000 |access-date=5 May 2010}}{{cbignore}}[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/2004/mar/08/minister-for-men#S6CV0418P2_20040308_CWA_745 Minister for Men.] Hansard, UK Parliament. Retrieved 24 November 2011. In the United States, Warren Farrell heads a commission focused on the creation of a White House Council on Boys and Men as a counterpart to the White House Council on Women and Girls, which was formed in March 2009.{{cite news |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/rahimkanani/2011/09/05/the-need-to-create-a-white-house-council-on-boys-to-men/ |title=The Need to Create a White House Council on Boys to Men |author=Rahim Kanani |work=Forbes |date=9 May 2011 |access-date=22 December 2011}}

Men's rights groups view the health issues faced by men, and their shorter life spans compared to women globally, as evidence of discrimination and oppression.{{sfn |Messner |1997 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nG8MGcopgWQC&pg=PA41 41–48]}} They claim that feminism has led to women's health issues being privileged at the expense of men's.{{sfn|Menzies|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ASc568aunFoC&pg=PA86 86]}} They highlight certain disparities in funding of men's health issues as compared to women's, stating that, for example, prostate cancer research receives less funding than breast-cancer research.{{cite book |author1=Christian Haywood |author2=Máirtín Mac an Ghaill |title=Men and masculinities: theory, research, and social practice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d-vtAAAAMAAJ |access-date=30 December 2011 |date=1 January 2003 |publisher=Open University Press |pages=134–5 |isbn=978-0-335-20892-0}}{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1998/06/21/feminism-has-created-progress-but-man-oh-man-look-what-else/ |title=Feminism Has Created Progress, But Man, Oh, Man, Look What Else |first=Kate |last=Zernike |work=Chicago Tribune |date=21 June 1998 |access-date=30 December 2011}} However, women and minorities had typically been excluded from medical research until the 1990s.{{Cite journal |last1=Woods |first1=Caira M. |last2=Applebaum |first2=Bethany |last3=Green |first3=Yvonne |last4=Kallgren |first4=Deborah L. |last5=Kappeler |first5=Evelyn |date=2015 |title=Women's Health: 30 Years of Progress in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |journal=Public Health Reports |volume=130 |issue=2 |pages=123–127 |issn=0033-3549 |pmc=4315852 |pmid=25729100 |doi=10.1177/003335491513000204}}{{Cite journal |last1=Berlin |first1=Jesse A. |last2=Ellenberg |first2=Susan S. |author2-link=Susan S. Ellenberg |date=9 October 2009 |title=Inclusion of women in clinical trials |journal=BMC Medicine |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=56 |doi=10.1186/1741-7015-7-56 |pmid=19818115 |pmc=2763864 |issn=1741-7015 |doi-access=free}} Viviana Simon states, "Most biomedical and clinical research has been based on the assumption that the male can serve as representative of the species." Medical scholars warn that such false assumptions are still prevalent.{{Cite journal |last=Simon |first=Viviana |date=10 June 2005 |title=Wanted: Women in Clinical Trials |journal=Science |language=en |volume=308 |issue=5728 |pages=1517 |doi=10.1126/science.1115616 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=15947140 |doi-access=free}} Contrary to antifeminist assertions, empirical findings suggest that gender bias against females remains the norm in medicine.{{Cite journal |last1=Allotey |first1=Pascale |last2=Allotey-Reidpath |author-link1=Pascale Allotey |first2=Caitlin |last3=Reidpath |first3=Daniel D. |date=11 May 2017 |title=Gender bias in clinical case reports: A cross-sectional study of the "big five" medical journals |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=12 |issue=5 |pages=e0177386 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0177386 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=5426670 |pmid=28493948 |bibcode=2017PLoSO..1277386A |doi-access=free}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mACtc2JhJ7QC |title=Women's Health Research: Progress, Pitfalls, and Promise |last1=Medicine |first1=Institute of |last2=Practice |first2=Board on Population Health and Public Health |last3=Research |first3=Committee on Women's Health |date=27 October 2010 |publisher=National Academies Press |isbn=978-0-309-16337-8 |language=en}} {{page needed|date=November 2018}} Farrell argues that industrialization raised the stress level of men while lowering the stress-level of women by pulling men away from the home and the family, and pushing women closer to home and family. He cites this an explanation why men are more likely to die from all 15 leading causes of death than women at all ages. He argues that the U.S. government having an Office of Research on Women's Health but no Office of Research on Men's Health, along with the U.S. federal government spending twice as much money on Women's health, shows that society considers men more disposable than women.{{cite AV media |last1=Farrell |first1=Warren |title=The Myth of Male Power: Why Men are The Disposable Sex |year=2014 |edition=21st anniversary |id=Chapter 7 (audiobook)}}{{Time needed|date=April 2021}}

Scholars have critiqued these claims,{{sfn|Messner|1997|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nG8MGcopgWQC&pg=PA6 6–7]}} stating, as Michael Messner puts it, that the poorer health outcomes are the heavy costs paid by men "for conformity with the narrow definitions of masculinity that promise to bring them status and privilege"{{sfn|Messner|1997|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nG8MGcopgWQC&pg=PA6 6–7]}} and that these costs fall disproportionately on men who are marginalized socially and economically.{{sfn|Messner|1997|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nG8MGcopgWQC&pg=PA6 6–7]}} According to Michael Flood, men's health would best be improved by "tackling destructive notions of manhood, an economic system which values profit and productivity over workers' health, and the ignorance of service providers", instead of blaming a feminist health movement.{{cite web |last1=Flood |first1=Michael |last2=River |first2=Jo |title=Men's health: A critique of men's rights and anti-feminist claims |url=https://xyonline.net/content/mens-health-critique-mens-rights-and-anti-feminist-claims |website=xyonline.net |date=20 December 2017}} Genevieve Creighton & John L Oliffe have stated that men engage in positive health practices, such as reducing fat intake and alcohol, to conform to positive masculine ideals.{{cite journal |last1=Creighton |first1=Genevieve |last2=Oliffe |first2=John L |year=2010 |title=Theorising masculinities and men's health: A brief history with a view to practice |journal=Health Sociology Review |volume=19 |issue=4 |page=413 |doi=10.5172/hesr.2010.19.4.409 |s2cid=143771206}} Some have argued that biology contributes to the life-expectancy gap. For example, it has been found that females consistently outlive males among primates. Eunuchs, castrated before puberty, have shown to live with varying differences, more than other males, pointing to testosterone levels playing a role in the life-expectancy gap.{{cite news |last=Robinson |first=David |title=Why do women live longer than men? |url=http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151001-why-women-live-longer-than-men |work=BBC Future |date=2 October 2015}} Luy and Gast found that the female–male life expectancy gap is primarily due to higher mortality rates among specific sub-populations of men. They therefore state that social programs should be narrowly targeted to those sub-populations, rather than to men as a whole.{{Cite journal |last1=Luy |first1=M. |last2=Gast |first2=K. |title=Do women live longer or do men die earlier? Reflections on the causes of sex differences in life expectancy |journal=Gerontology |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=143–153 |doi=10.1159/000355310 |pmid=24296637 |date=2014 |s2cid=24794334}}

Glen Poole, author of the book Equality For Men, argues that homelessness is a gendered issue, saying that in Britain, most homeless people are male.{{cite news |last1=Poole |first1=Glenn |title=Homelessness is a gendered issue, and it mostly impacts men |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11787304/Homelessness-is-a-gendered-issue-and-it-mostly-impacts-men.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11787304/Homelessness-is-a-gendered-issue-and-it-mostly-impacts-men.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |website=The Telegraph |access-date=5 March 2017}}{{cbignore}} A 2018 study focused on three Pennsylvania emergency departments found little difference in the number of men and women who self-reported as homeless; however, the study did not claim to reflect the homeless population in the United States as a whole.{{Cite journal |last1=Feldman |first1=Brett J. |last2=Craen |first2=Alexandra M. |last3=Enyart |first3=Joshua |last4=Batchelor |first4=Timothy |last5=Friel |first5=Timothy J. |last6=Dusza |first6=Stephen W. |last7=Greenberg |first7=Marna Rayl |date=1 February 2018 |title=Prevalence of Homelessness by Gender in an Emergency Department Population in Pennsylvania |journal=The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association |volume=118 |issue=2 |pages=85–91 |doi=10.7556/jaoa.2018.023 |issn=1945-1997 |pmid=29379974 |doi-access=free}} {{primary source inline|date=October 2018}} In 2022, most homeless individuals were male. "State of Homelessness: 2023 Edition" National Alliance to end homelessness https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness/#key-facts Men are also more likely to be unsheltered than women, this may be partly due to the administrators of the homelessness system prioritizing vulnerability, age, or risk of violence over serving men and women equally. But, many reasons are found outside the homelessness system, like men being over-represented in the criminal justice system and more likely to drop out of school than women. "Demographic Data Project: Gender and Individual Homelessness" National Alliance to End Homelessness. https://endhomelessness.org/demographic-data-project-gender-and-individual-homelessness/ For information on the homeless population of the United States as a whole, see Homelessness in the United States.

{{Primary sources|section|date=January 2022}}

Men's rights campaigners believe that men receive harsher treatment than women in criminal justice systems around the world. They cite the disproportionate number of men in prison as evidence of this.{{cite book |last=Benatar |first=D |author-link=David Benatar |title=The Second Sexism: Discrimination Against Men and Boys |isbn=978-1-118-19230-6 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=iGZ0dhvvVN8C&pg=PA190 59-60] |year=2012}} In the United States,{{cite web |url=https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_gender.jsp |work=Federal Bureau of Prisons |access-date=25 June 2021 |title=Inmate Gender}} the United Kingdom,{{cite web |url=https://data.justice.gov.uk/prisons |work=gov.uk |access-date=25 June 2021 |title=Prisons data}} Australia,{{cite web |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/corrective-services-australia/latest-release |work=gov.au |title=Corrective Services, Australia |date=6 March 2021 |access-date=25 June 2021}} India{{cite web |url=https://ncrb.gov.in/sites/default/files/psi_table_and_chapter_report/TABLE-2.3_0.pdf |work=National Crime Records Bureau of India |access-date=25 June 2021 |title=Types of Prison Inmates in Central Jails as on 31st December, 2016}} and across the European Union,{{cite web |url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Prison_statistics |work=Eurostat |access-date=5 June 2021 |title=Prison statistics (EU)}} 90–95% of prison inmates are male. Studies have shown that, compared with women who commit similar crimes, men are more likely to be incarcerated, receive longer prison sentences, and have to serve a greater portion of their sentences.{{Cite web |title=Study finds large gender disparities in federal criminal cases |url=https://www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo/features/Pages/starr_gender_disparities.aspx |access-date=6 December 2016 |website=www.law.umich.edu}}{{Cite journal |last=Starr |first=Sonja B. |date=29 August 2012 |title=Estimating Gender Disparities in Federal Criminal Cases |location=Rochester, NY |publisher=Social Science Research Network |ssrn=2144002 |periodical=University of Michigan Law and Economics Research Paper}}{{Cite journal |last=Mustard |first=David B. |date=6 March 2001 |title=Racial, Ethnic and Gender Disparities in Sentencing: Evidence from the Us Federal Courts |journal=Journal of Law and Economics |language=en |location=Rochester, NY |volume=44 |pages=285–314 |ssrn=259138 |doi=10.1086/320276 |s2cid=154533225}}{{cite book |author=Rhys H. Williams |title=Promise Keepers and the New Masculinity: Private Lives and Public Morality |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CsHmN5K29iAC&pg=PA107 |access-date=10 June 2013 |date=1 January 2001 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-0231-2 |page=107}}{{sfn|Menzies|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ASc568aunFoC&pg=PA73 73]}}{{sfn|Farrell|Sterba|2008|p=49–56}}{{cite web |url=http://www.parity-uk.org/Briefing/MenandWomenandtheCJSfComplete.pdf |work=Parity UK |title=Men and Women and the Criminal Justice System |access-date=25 June 2021}} According to Warren Farrell, a man convicted of murder in the United States is twenty times more likely to receive a death sentence than a woman convicted of murder.{{sfn|Farrell|Sterba|2008|p=49–56}} There is also evidence that female sex offenders are treated with more leniency than their male counterparts.{{Cite journal |last=Goodwin |first=Deborah |date=February 2019 |title="Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Shorter": An Analysis of Lenient Sentencing for Female Sex Offenders in the United States |journal=William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice |language=en |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages= |url=https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1498&context=wmjowl |ssrn= |doi=}} Farrell believes society considers women to be naturally more innocent and credible, and criticizes battered woman and infanticide defenses.{{sfn|Farrell|Sterba|2008|p=49–56}} He criticizes conditions in men's prisons and the lack of attention to prison male-to-male rape by authorities.{{sfn|Farrell|Sterba|2008|p=49–56}}

{{Main|Conscription and sexism}}

Men's rights activists argue that the sole military conscription of men is an example of discrimination against men.{{sfn |Messner |1997 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nG8MGcopgWQC&pg=PA41 41–48]}}{{cite book |title=Redeeming men: religion and masculinities |editor=Stephen Blake Boyd |editor2=W. Merle Longwood |editor3=Mark William Muesse |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |year=1996 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VSrhNzWb6sIC&pg=PR17 |isbn=978-0-664-25544-2 |page=17 |quote=In contradistinction to profeminism, however, the men's rights perspective addresses specific legal and cultural factors that put men at a disadvantage. The movement is made up of a variety of formal and informal groups that differ in their approaches and issues; Men's rights advocates, for example, target sex-specific military conscription and judicial practices that discriminate against men in child custody cases.}} Historically, most societies have only required men to be conscripted. According to David Benatar, "perhaps the most obvious example of male disadvantage is the long history of social and legal pressures on men, but not on women, to enter the military and to fight in war, thereby risking their lives and bodily and psychological health. Where the pressure to join the military has taken the form of conscription, the costs of avoidance have been self-imposed exile, imprisonment, physical assault or, in the most extreme circumstances, execution."{{cite book |last=Benatar |first=D |author-link=David Benatar |title=The Second Sexism: Discrimination Against Men and Boys |isbn=978-1-118-19230-6 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=iGZ0dhvvVN8C&pg=PA35 35] |year=2012}} Around 80 countries worldwide still use conscription in various forms, and most of these have a male-only draft. As of 2018, only two countries – Norway and Sweden – required women to be conscripted under the same formal conditions as men.{{Cite journal |last1=Persson |first1=Alma |last2=Sundevall |first2=Fia |date=22 March 2019 |title=Conscripting women: gender, soldiering, and military service in Sweden 1965–2018 |journal=Women's History Review |volume=28 |issue=7 |pages=1039–1056 |doi=10.1080/09612025.2019.1596542 |issn=0961-2025 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-norway-women-conscription-idUSBRE95D0NB20130614 |title=Norway becomes first NATO country to draft women into military |last1=Koranyi |first1=Balazs |date=14 June 2014 |access-date=31 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128132614/https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/14/us-norway-women-conscription-idUSBRE95D0NB20130614 |archive-date=28 January 2015 |url-status=live |work=Reuters |last2=Fouche |first2=Gwladys |editor-last=Char |editor-first=Pravin |location=Oslo, Norway}}

In the United States, all males ages 18–25 are required to register for Selective Service. Failure to do so can result in fines, imprisonment, and ineligibility for student loans and federal employment. Women are not required to register. In 1971, draft resisters in the United States initiated a class-action suit alleging that male-only conscription violated men's rights to equal protection under the US constitution. When the case, Rostker v. Goldberg, reached the Supreme Court in 1981, they were supported by a men's rights group and multiple feminist groups, including the National Organization for Women.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UDFPAAAAIBAJ&pg=6777,7767318&dq=men%27s-rights+conscription&hl=en |title=Supreme Court to begin hearing male-only military draft case |first=Richard |last=Carelli |work=Toledo Blade |date=23 March 1981 |access-date=12 November 2011}} However, the Supreme Court upheld the Military Selective Service Act,{{cite book |author=Martin Binkin |title=Who will fight the next war?: the changing face of the American military |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AOHD6sbzNysC&pg=PA53 |access-date=12 November 2011 |year=1993 |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |isbn=978-0-8157-0955-8 |page=53}} stating that "the argument for registering women was based on considerations of equity, but Congress was entitled, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, to focus on the question of military need, rather than 'equity'".[https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0453_0057_ZS.html Rostker v. Goldberg] at Cornell University Law School. The 2016 decision by Defense Secretary Ash Carter to make all combat positions open to women relaunched debate over whether or not women should be required to register for the Selective Service System.{{cite web |url=https://www.vox.com/2016/6/15/11944602/women-join-military-draft-senate-bill |title=Like it or not, gender equality may soon come to the US military draft |publisher=Vox |date=15 June 2016}} In the case National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System, the Southern District Court of Texas ruled the male-only draft unconstitutional.

{{Main|Non-paternity event|Paternity fraud}}

Men's and fathers' rights groups interest in "paternity fraud" or mistaken paternity falls into two main categories: men who are compelled to provide financial support for a child that has been proven by DNA testing not to be their biological offspring, and men who have been led to believe that the children they are raising are their own, and have subsequently discovered otherwise. They hold biological views of fatherhood, emphasizing the imperative of the genetic foundation of paternity rather than social aspects of fatherhood.{{cite book |author=Majumber, Mary Anderlik |editor=Mark A. Rothstein |editor2=Thomas H. Murray |editor3=Gregory E. Kaebnick |chapter=Disestablishment Suits |title=Genetic Ties and the Family: The Impact of Paternity Testing on Parents and Children |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q_FN-L-VZGYC&pg=PA173 |date=12 September 2005 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-8193-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/genetictiesfamil0000roth/page/172 172–79] |url=https://archive.org/details/genetictiesfamil0000roth/page/172}} They state that men should not be forced to support children fathered by another man, and that men are harmed because a relationship is created between a man and non-biological children while denying the children and their biological father of that experience and knowledge of their genetic history. In addition, they say non-biological fathers are denied the resources to have their own biological children in another relationship.

Men's rights activists support the use of one-parent consent paternity testing to reassure presumed fathers about the child's paternity; men's and fathers' rights groups have also called for compulsory paternity testing of all children.{{cite news |url=http://www.news.com.au/technology/men-flock-online-for-peace-of-mind-paternity-tests/story-e6frfro0-1226385528162 |title=Men flock online for 'peace of mind' paternity tests |first=Tory |last=Shepherd |work=news.com.au |date=6 June 2012 |access-date=27 October 2012 |archive-date=24 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224191046/http://www.news.com.au/technology/men-flock-online-for-peace-of-mind-paternity-tests/story-e6frfro0-1226385528162 |url-status=dead}}{{cite news |title=Who's your daddy? |newspaper=Philadelphia Daily News |date=5 October 2005 |quote="I think the best solution is DNA testing at birth," said Glenn Sacks, a syndicated radio talk-show host who focuses on men's issues}} They have campaigned vigorously in support of men who have been shown by genetic testing not to be the biological father, but who are nevertheless required to be financially responsible for them. Prompted by these concerns, legislators in certain jurisdictions have supported this biological view and have passed laws providing relief from child support payments when a man is proved not to be the father.{{Cite journal |last=Cannold |first=Leslie |title=Who's the father? Rethinking the moral 'crime' of 'paternity fraud' |journal=Women's Studies International Forum |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=249–256 |doi=10.1016/j.wsif.2008.05.011 |date=July–August 2008}} [http://cannold.com/static/files/assets/aa358dd8/rethinking-the-moral-crime-of-paternity-fraud.pdf Pdf.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124074159/http://cannold.com/static/files/assets/aa358dd8/rethinking-the-moral-crime-of-paternity-fraud.pdf |date=24 January 2013}} Australian men's rights groups have opposed the recommendations of a report by the Australian Law Reform Commission and the National Health and Medical Research Council that would require the informed consent of both parents for paternity testing of young children,{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2005/12/14/1530514.htm |title=Teens may be forced to have paternity test |first=Anna |last=Salah |work=abc.net.au |date=14 December 2005 |access-date=27 October 2012}} and laws that would make it illegal to obtain a sample for DNA testing without the individual's informed consent.{{cite news |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/legal-affairs/fathers-disrupt-debate-on-dna/story-e6frg97x-1111118010434 |title=Fathers 'disrupt debate on DNA' |work=The Australian |first=Leigh |last=Dayton |date=12 November 2008 |access-date=27 October 2012}}

Estimates of the extent of misattributed paternity vary considerably. Some campaigners claim that between 10% and 30% of children are being parented by men who are unaware that they are not the biological father, but Professor Leslie Cannold writes that these numbers have been inflated by an order of magnitude, with about 1% seen in Australia and the UK, and 3% observed in the US. Sociologist Michael Gilding asserts that men's rights activists have exaggerated the rate and extent of misattributed paternity, which he estimates at about 1–3%.{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/the-myth-behind-paternity-fraud/2005/06/29/1119724699885.html |title=The myth behind paternity fraud |first=Adele |last=Horrin |work=Sydney Morning Herald |date=30 June 2005 |access-date=27 October 2012}}{{cite news |url=http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/paternity-tests-on-the-increase/story-fnet085v-1226529022283 |title=What you need to know about paternity tests |first=Sarah |date=2 December 2012 |last=Marinos |work=Herald Sun |access-date=28 August 2013 |archive-date=4 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204075046/http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/paternity-tests-on-the-increase/story-fnet085v-1226529022283 |url-status=dead}} Gilding opposed as unnecessary calls for mandatory paternity testing of all children. Even the lowest estimates of the prevalence of paternity fraud suggest it affects tens of thousands of men in the US alone.{{Cite journal |last=Henry |first=Ronald K. |title=The Innocent Third Party: Victims of Paternity Fraud |journal=Family Law Quarterly of the American Bar Association |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages= |doi= |date=Spring 2006}}

{{Main|False accusation of rape}}

Men's rights activists believe there are a significant number of false accusations of rape,{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1992/10/30/sex-contract-shares-intimate-knowledge/ |title=Sex Contract Shares Intimate Knowledge |first=Barbara |last=Brotman |work=The Chicago Tribune |date=30 October 1992 |access-date=1 November 2012}} and have proposed legal changes to protect men in those situations.{{citation |title=Men and Masculinities: A Social, Cultural and Historical Encyclopedia |author=Michael Kimmel |year=1992 |contribution=Anti-Feminism |pages=35–37 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-774-0 |editor1=Michael S. Kimmel |editor2=Amy Aronson |publication-date=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jWj5OBvTh1IC&pg=PA37 |access-date=23 December 2011}}

Men's rights proponents believe that the naming of the accused while providing the accuser (victim) with anonymity encourages abuse of this kind.{{sfn|Farrell|1994|p=161}} Men's rights advocates have also claimed that rape "has been used as a scam."{{cite news |url=http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2014/6/6/mena-s-rights-activistfeministshaveusedrapeaasascama.html |title=Men's rights activist: Feminists have used rape 'as a scam' |work=Al Jazeera America |date=6 June 2014 |publisher=Al Jazeera |access-date=11 June 2014}} Studies from the United States, Australia, and the Britain have found the percentage of estimated false or unsubstantiated rape allegations to be around 2% to 8%.{{cite web |url=http://www.ndaa.org/pdf/the_voice_vol_3_no_1_2009.pdf |title=False Reports: Moving Beyond the Issue to Successfully Investigate and Prosecute Non-Stranger Sexual Assault |date=2009 |website=www.ndaa.org |last=Lonsway Archambault Lisak |first=Dr.Kimberlya ., Sgt . Joanne, Dr. David |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170723114037/http://www.ndaa.org/pdf/the_voice_vol_3_no_1_2009.pdf |archive-date=23 July 2017 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/1996/96sec2.pdf |title=Crime Index Offenses Reported |date=1996 |website=www.fbi.gov |last=FBI |first=Federal Bureau of Investigation}}{{cite book |last1=Kelly |first1=Liz |last2=Regan |first2=Linda |last3=Lovett |first3=Jo |author-link=Liz Kelly |title=A gap or a chasm?: Attrition in reported rape cases |publisher=Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate |location=London |id=293 |year=2005 |url=http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/hors293.pdf |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110218135832/rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/hors293.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 February 2011 |isbn=978-1-84473-555-6}}{{cite web |title=Abstracts Database - National Criminal Justice Reference Service |url=https://www.ncjrs.gov/app/abstractdb/AbstractDBDetails.aspx?id=243182 |website=www.ncjrs.gov |access-date=23 December 2015}}

Whilst false accusations of rape often receive much online and media attention, the vast majority do not lead to conviction or wrongful jail time despite the claims of some organisations.{{Cite news |last=Kay |first=Katty |date=2018-09-18 |title=The truth about false assault accusations by women |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45565684 |access-date=2023-06-11}} A study from the British Home Office for example, shows that in the early 2000s, of 216 sexual assault cases that were classified as false allegations, only six led to an arrest and just two led to charges against the accused before ultimately being ruled as false.{{Cite web |last=Newman |first=Sandra |date=2017-05-11 |title=What kind of person makes false rape accusations? |url=https://qz.com/980766/the-truth-about-false-rape-accusations |access-date=2023-06-11 |website=Quartz |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=UK Government Web Archive |url=https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20100418065544/homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/hors293.pdf |access-date=2023-06-11 |website=webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk}}

To argue the issue of false accusations of rape, the categories of 'false' and 'unsubstantiated' are often conflated, such as the National Coalition for Men citing reports such as the 1996 FBI summary that finds a rate of 8% for unsubstantiated forcible rape, which is four times higher than the average for all index crimes as a whole.{{cite web |date=11 January 2009 |title=False Accusations |url=http://www.ncfm.org/2009/01/issues/false-accusations/ |access-date=6 May 2013 |work=National Coalition For Men}}{{primary-source-inline|date=April 2023}} Experts emphasize that verified false allegations are a distinct category from unsubstantiated allegations, and conflating the two is fallacious.{{Cite journal |last1=Lisak |first1=David |last2=Gardinier |first2=Lori |last3=Nicksa |first3=Sarah C. |last4=Cote |first4=Ashley M. |date=December 2010 |title=False allegations of sexual assault: an analysis of ten years of reported cases |journal=Violence Against Women |volume=16 |issue=12 |pages=1318–1334 |doi=10.1177/1077801210387747 |issn=1552-8448 |pmid=21164210 |s2cid=15377916}} These figures are widely debated due to the questionable methodology and small sample sizes.{{cite journal |last1=Lisak |first1=David |last2=Gardinier |first2=Lori |last3=Nicksa |first3=Sarah C. |last4=Cote |first4=Ashley M. |date=2010-12-01 |title=False Allegations of Sexual {{sic|Assua|lt |nolink=y}}: An Analysis of Ten Years of Reported Cases |journal=Violence Against Women |volume=16 |issue=12 |pages=1318–1334 |doi=10.1177/1077801210387747 |issn=1077-8012 |pmid=21164210 |s2cid=15377916}}Gross, Bruce (Spring 2009). [http://www.biomedsearch.com/article/False-rape-allegations-assault-justice/195323158.html "False Rape Allegations: An Assault On Justice"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619163323/http://www.biomedsearch.com/article/False-rape-allegations-assault-justice/195323158.html |date=2018-06-19 }}. The Forensic Examiner

{{See also|Rape of males}}

Men's rights activists have also raised contention on the issue of sexual violence against men, especially in the context of the stigma surrounding male victims of rape and the legal troubles they face, including being counter-sued for rape, child support (see Hermesmann v. Seyer), and lack of action. Men's rights activists have also criticized the lack of attention towards prison male-to-male rape by authorities.{{primary-source-inline|date=April 2023}}

{{Main|Marital rape}}

Legislation and judicial decisions criminalizing marital rape are opposed by some men's rights groups in the United Kingdom,{{sfn|Ashe|2007|p=60}}{{cite book |last1=Wykes |first1=Maggie |last2=Welsh |first2=Kirsty |date=2009 |title=Violence, Gender and Justice |location=London |publisher=SAGE |pages=29–37 |isbn=978-1-4129-2336-1}}{{cite book |editor1-last=Diduck |editor1-first=Allison |editor2-last=O'Donovan |editor2-first=Katherine |date=2007 |title=Feminist Perspectives on Family Law |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=160–164 |isbn=978-1-135-30963-3}}{{sfn|Dunphy|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NVPQkt0bVpAC&pg=PA142 142] excerpt: "The conservative and unashamedly patriarchal nature of the men's rights lobby ... is well illustrated by some statements by one of its self-proclaimed spokesmen in the UK, Roger Whitcomb .. he reserved particular anger for the House of Lords ruling on marital rape in 1991 ('a long-standing feminist dream')"}} the United States{{cite book |author1=Donileen R. Loseke |author2=Richard J. Gelles |author3=Mary M. Cavanaugh |title=Current controversies on family violence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YBVGswoPYqMC&pg=PA92 |year=2005 |publisher=SAGE |isbn=978-0-7619-2106-6 |page=92 |quote=Other men's rights advocacy groups use family conflict research to justify demands [...] to eliminate laws defining marital rape as a crime (the Equal Justice Foundation: ww.ejfi.org).}}{{cite book |last=Segal |first=Lynne |title=Straight Sex: Tethinking the Politics of Pleasure |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-m2pGUgX-RAC&pg=PA276 |year=1994 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=978-0-520-20001-2 |page=276 |quote=It is there that 7 February has been declared International Men's Day by the men's rights groups, celebrated in Kansas City in 1994 as a day for campaigning against the legal recognition of 'marital rape'...}} and India.{{cite web |url=http://www.firstpost.com/india/why-mens-rights-activists-are-against-inclusion-of-marital-rape-615413.html |title=Why men's rights activists are against inclusion of marital rape |author= |date=6 February 2013 |work=First Post |access-date=10 March 2013}} excerpt: "The Government has not included marital rape in its anti-rape ordinance appealing that it is a complex issue that involves multiple stakeholders... mens rights activists are constantly clamouring that Section 498(A), the Domestic Violence Act is being misused"{{Cite news |last1=Wallen |first1=Joe |last2=Lateef |first2=Samaan |date=2022-02-02 |title=Men's rights activists protest introduction of marital rape law in India |language=en-GB |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/mens-rights-activists-protest-introduction-marital-rape-law/ |access-date=2022-02-04 |issn=0307-1235}} The reasons for opposition include concerns about false allegations related to divorce proceedings,{{cite web |url=http://www.strike-the-root.com/columns/Miller/miller1.html |title=Marital Rape – What a Can of Worms! |first=Stuart A |last=Millar |work=Strike at the Root |year=2002 |access-date=11 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706190837/http://www.strike-the-root.com/columns/Miller/miller1.html |archive-date=6 July 2008}}{{sfn|Farrell|1994|p=338|ps=:"Spousal rape legislation is blackmail waiting to happen. If a man feels he needs to file for divorce, his wife can say 'If you do, I'll accuse you of spousal rape.' Spousal rape legislation is worse than government-as-substitute-husband. It's government in the bedroom"}}{{cite news |title=Spousal Rape Laws |newspaper=CNN |date=31 July 1992 |quote=Tom Williamson, President National Coalition of Free Men: "I don't think that there should be anything called marital rape laws. I don't deny that the elements involved with rape can occur in a marriage. They certainly do. But the problem with the concept of having something called marital rape is that it makes every man vulnerable in a bad situation to blackmail. It makes them vulnerable to false accusations for a variety of motivations that we know exists"}} and the belief that sex within marriage is an irrevocable part of the institution of marriage.{{cite news |first=Cathy |last=Young |title=Complexities cloud marital rape case; William Hetherington has spent nine years in a Michigan prison, but proclaims his innocence – controversial case that pits one person's word against another in accusations of spousal rape |date=1 August 1994 |work=Insight on the News |quote=Much of his support has come from men's rights organizations and conservative Christian groups, which tend to argue that a crime such as marital rape should not be on the books because consent to sex is part of the marriage covenant.}}{{cite book |title=Women, Gender and Everyday Social Transformation in India |editor1-last=Nielsen |editor1-first=Kenneth Bo |editor2-last=Waldrop |editor2-first=Anne |publisher=Anthem Press |location=London |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-78-308269-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aA4iBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA193 |page=193}} In India, there has been anxiety about relationships{{cite news |last=Pandey |first=Vineeta |title=Husbands can't get away with marital rape: Government |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_husbands-can-t-get-away-with-marital-rape-government_1356512 |newspaper=DNA |access-date=30 September 2012 |quote=no relationship will work if these rules are enforced. |date=8 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100331132152/http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_husbands-can-t-get-away-with-marital-rape-government_1356512 |archive-date=31 March 2010}} and the future of marriage that such laws have given women "grossly disproportional rights".{{cite news |title=Women confident law will end culture of abuse |newspaper=South China Morning Post |url=http://www.scmp.com/node/569778 |first=Amrit |last=Dhillon |date=1 November 2006 |access-date=11 October 2012 |quote="The All India Harassed Husbands Association protested last week at the law. 'It gives such grossly disproportionate rights to women that men won't want to get married,' said member Akhil Gupta"}} Virag Dhulia of the Save Indian Family Foundation, a men's rights organization, has opposed recent efforts to criminalize marital rape in India, arguing that "no relationship will work if these rules are enforced".

Feminist scholars Lise Gotell and Emily Dutton argue that content on the manosphere reveals anti-feminist arguments, including that sexual violence is a gender-neutral problem, feminists are responsible for erasing men's experiences of victimization, false allegations are widespread, and that rape culture is a feminist-produced moral panic. They contend it is important to engage [this topic] as there is a real danger that MRA (Men's Rights Activism) claims could come to define the popular conversation about sexual violence.{{Cite journal |last=Gotell |first=Lise |year=2016 |title=Sexual Violence in the 'Manosphere': Antifeminist Men's Rights Discourses on Rape |journal=International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=65–80 |doi=10.5204/ijcjsd.v5i2.310 |doi-access=free}}

{{See also|Paper abortion}}

Men's rights campaigners assert that while a woman has several legal avenues to opt out of being a mother after conception (abortion, adoption, safe haven laws), a man has no choice in whether he becomes a father and is at the mercy of the mother's decision.{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Helen |title=Men on Strike: Why Men Are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood, and the American Dream-And Why It Matters |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9m6kMQEACAAJ&pg=PA1 |chapter=Chapter 2 |publisher=Encounter Books |location=New York |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-59403-675-0}}{{cite web |url=https://thoughtcatalog.com/janet-bloomfield/2014/05/heres-why-men-should-have-the-reproductive-rights-that-women-have/ |title=Let's Talk About Reproductive Rights And Why Men Should Have Them Too |work=Thought Catalog |date=31 May 2014 |access-date=16 December 2020 |author=Janet Bloomfield}} Moreover, a man who fathers a child as a result of reproductive coercion or a sexual assault by a woman can still be compelled to support the child financially.{{cite journal |last=Higdon |first=Michael J. |title=Fatherhood by Conscription: Nonconsensual Insemination and the Duty of Child Support |journal=University of Tennessee Legal Studies |volume=139 |date=14 February 2011 |ssrn=1761333}} Cases in Kansas, California and Arizona have established that a male raped as a minor by a woman can be held legally responsible for a child that results from the assault, a situation the director of the National Center for Men described as "off-the-charts ridiculous" that "wouldn't be tolerated" if the genders were reversed.{{cite news |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/male-statutory-rape-victim-nick-olivas-must-pay-child-support-2014-9?r=US&IR=T |title=Arizona Is Requiring A Male Statutory Rape Victim To Pay Child Support |work=Business Insider |date=2 September 2014 |access-date=16 December 2020}} According to Warren Farrell, "Roe v. Wade gave women the vote over their bodies. Men still don't have the vote over theirs—whether in love or war."{{cite book |last1=Farrell |first1=Warren |chapter=Chapter 1 |title=The Myth of Male Power: Why Men Are The Disposable Sex |publisher=Berkley Books |location=New York |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-425-18144-7 |title-link=The Myth of Male Power}}{{Third-party inline|date=January 2022}}

In consequence, some advocate for "paper abortion", which would allow the biological father, before the birth of the child, to opt out of any rights, privileges, and responsibilities toward the child, including financial support.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}

In 2006, the American National Center for Men backed Dubay v. Wells, a lawsuit which concerned whether men should have the opportunity to decline all paternity rights and responsibilities in the event of an unplanned pregnancy. Supporters argued that this would allow the woman time to make an informed decision and give men the same reproductive rights as women.{{cite web |last=Traister |first=R |date=13 March 2006 |url=http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2006/03/13/roe_for_men/ |title=Roe for men? |work=Salon |access-date=17 December 2007}} The case and the appeal were dismissed, with the U.S. Court of Appeals (Sixth Circuit) stating that neither parent has the right to sever their financial responsibilities for a child and that "Dubay's claim that a man's right to disclaim fatherhood would be analogous to a woman's right to abortion rests upon a false analogy".{{cite web |url=http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/07a0442p-06.pdf |title=U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, case No. 06-11016}}{{cite book |author=Jessica Valenti |title=Why Have Kids?: A New Mom Explores the Truth About Parenting and Happiness |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OXnxd2le7XYC&pg=PA103 |access-date=11 May 2013 |year=2012 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-547-89261-0 |pages=103–5}}

Men's rights groups argue that women are given superior social security and tax benefits than men.{{sfn|Clatterbaugh|2007a}} Warren Farrell states that men in the United States pay more into social security, but in total, women receive more in benefits, and that discrimination against men in insurance and pensions have gone unrecognized.{{sfn|Farrell|1994|p=350}}{{Third-party inline|date=January 2022}}

{{Main|Gender differences in suicide}}

Men's rights activists point to higher suicide rates in men compared to women.{{sfn|Menzies|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ASc568aunFoC&pg=PA86 86]}} In the United States for example, the male-to-female suicide death ratio varies, approximately, between 3:1 and 10:1,{{cite web |title=Teen Suicide Statistics |publisher=FamilyFirstAid.org |year=2001 |work=Adolescent Teenage Suicide Prevention |url=http://www.familyfirstaid.org/suicide.html |access-date=11 April 2006}} and some studies have shown a higher suicidal intent in men.{{Cite journal |last1=Harriss |first1=Louise |last2=Hawton |first2=Keith |last3=Zahl |first3=Daniel |date=January 2005 |title=Value of measuring suicidal intent in the assessment of people attending hospital following self-poisoning or self-injury |journal=The British Journal of Psychiatry |language=en |volume=186 |issue=1 |pages=60–66 |doi=10.1192/bjp.186.1.60 |pmid=15630125 |issn=0007-1250 |doi-access=free}}

In Australia, 75% of suicides are male,{{Cite web |url=https://www.lifeline.org.au/resources/data-and-statistics/ |title=Data & Statistics - Lifeline Australia}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.beyondblue.org.au/media/statistics |title=Facts about suicide in Australia}} with, on average, 6 men killing themselves each day.{{Cite web |url=https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/FlagPost/2019/June/Mens_health |title=Mens health}}

Studies have also found an over-representation of women in attempted or incomplete suicides and men in complete suicides.{{cite journal |title=The gender paradox in suicidal behavior and its impact on the suicidal process – Journal of Affective Disorders |journal=Journal of Affective Disorders |volume=138 |issue=1–2 |pages=19–26 |pmid=21529962 |doi=10.1016/j.jad.2011.03.050 |year=2012 |last1=Schrijvers |first1=Didier L. |last2=Bollen |first2=Jos |last3=Sabbe |first3=Bernard G.C.}} This phenomenon, described as the "gender paradox in suicide," is argued to derive from a tendency for females to use less lethal methods and greater male access and use of lethal methods.{{cite web |url=http://www.people-press.org/2013/03/12/section-3-gun-ownership-trends-and-demographics/ |title=Section 3: Gun Ownership Trends and Demographics |work=www.people-press.org |publisher=Pew Research Center |date=12 March 2013 |access-date=30 May 2016}}

{{Expand section|date=May 2020}}

Most men's rights activists in the United States are white, middle-class, heterosexual men.{{harvnb|Hodapp|2017|p=8|ps=: "There are very clear patterns in terms of MRA identification: white, heterosexual middle class males of varying ages."}}{{cite book |last=Katz |first=Jackson |author-link=Jackson Katz |title=Critical issues on violence against women: international perspectives and promising strategies |editor-last1=Johnson |editor-first1=Holly |editor-last2=Fisher |editor-first2=Bonnie |editor-last3=Jaquier |editor-first3=Véronique |year=2015 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=978-0-415-85624-9 |page=237 |chapter=Engaging men in prevention of violence against women |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pD62BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA237}}{{cite book |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HgzFZ4o0qnMC&pg=PA11 |last=Gavanas |first=Anna |title=Fatherhood politics in the United States: masculinity, sexuality, race and marriage |page=[https://archive.org/details/fatherhoodpoliti00gava/page/11 11] |publisher=University of Illinois Press |location=Urbana |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-252-02884-7 |quote=Despite their claims of victimhood, men's and fathers' rights advocates are usually white, middle-class, heterosexual men who tend to overlook their institutional and socioeconomical advantages in work and the family... |url=https://archive.org/details/fatherhoodpoliti00gava/page/11}}{{cite journal |last1=Coston |first1=Bethany M. |last2=Kimmel |first2=Michael |author-link2=Michael Kimmel |title=White men as the new victims: reverse discrimination cases and the men's rights movement |journal=Nevada Law Journal |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=368–385 |url=http://scholars.law.unlv.edu/nlj/vol13/iss2/5 |date=2013 |quote=Where are the Men's Rights guys when it comes to 'other' men? Men's Rights is almost entirely a movement of angry, straight, white men.}} Prominent advocates include Warren Farrell, Herb Goldberg, Richard Doyle,{{Cite book |first=Christopher P. |last=Mason |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m4wSEUF5MJgC&pg=PA16 |title=Crossing into manhood: a men's studies curriculum |publisher=Cambria Press |location=Youngstown |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-934043-30-1}} and Asa Baber.{{cite journal |last=Goldberg |first=Stephanie B. |title=In all its variations, the fathers' rights movement is saying one thing...: Make Room for Daddy |journal=ABA Journal |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=48–52 |date=February 1997 |jstor=27839422}} [http://www.dadsnow.org/essay/abamiller.htm View online.] [http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/abaj83&div=33 Also available via HeinOnline.]{{Cite book |first=Michael S. |last=Kimmel |author-link=Michael Kimmel |chapter=From anxiety to anger since the 1990s: the "Self-Made Man" becomes "Angry White Man" |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4V0pAAAAYAAJ |title=Manhood in America: a cultural history |edition=2nd |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-19-518113-5 |page=302}} There are also women in the movement, including Helen Smith, Christina Hoff Sommers,{{Cite news |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/03/08/christina-hoff-sommers-cant-take-single-line-criticism |title=Christina Hoff Sommers can't take a single line of criticism |work=Southern Poverty Law Center |access-date=8 September 2018 |language=en}} Erin Pizzey{{cite news |last=Blake |first=Mariah |title=The men's rights movement and the women who love it |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/mens-rights-movement-women-who-love-it |work=Mother Jones |date=11 August 2014 |access-date=12 August 2014}} and Bettina Arndt.{{Cite web |last=Koziol |first=Michael |date=2020-01-25 |title=Men's rights activist honoured for service to gender equity |url=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/men-s-rights-activist-honoured-for-service-to-gender-equity-20200124-p53uh1.html |access-date=2023-04-12 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}

{{Main|Karen DeCrow}}

Karen DeCrow was an American attorney, author, and activist and feminist, who served as president of the National Organization for Women from 1974 to 1977, she was also a strong supporter of equal rights for men in child custody decisions, arguing for a "rebuttable presumption" of shared custody after divorce.{{cite web |title=The Feminist Leader Who Became a Men's-Rights Activist |website=The Atlantic |date=13 June 2014 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/06/the-now-president-who-became-a-mens-rights-activist/372742/ |access-date=13 June 2014}} She also asserted that men as well as women should be allowed the decision not to become a parent, and was an avid supporter of father's rights movements, and argued that domestic violence is a "two-way street." As a result, DeCrow found she was "increasingly at odds with the organization she had once led, though she never broke with it."

{{Main|Marc Angelucci}}

Marc Angelucci was an American attorney, men's rights activist, and the vice-president of the National Coalition for Men (NCFM).{{cite web |last=Cassens Weiss |first=Debra |date=14 July 2020 |title=Prominent men's rights lawyer is shot and killed outside his home |url=https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/prominent-mens-rights-lawyer-is-shot-and-killed-outside-his-home |access-date=22 July 2020 |publisher=ABA Journal}} As a lawyer, he represented several cases related to men's rights issues, most prominently National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System, in which the federal judge declared the male-only selective-service system unconstitutional, and Woods v. Horton, which ruled that the California State Legislature had unconstitutionally excluded men from domestic violence victim protection programs.{{cite web |last=Licas |first=Eric |date=12 July 2020 |title=Men's rights activist fatally shot in front of home in San Bernardino Mountains |url=https://www.sbsun.com/2020/07/12/mens-rights-activist-fatally-shot-in-front-of-home-in-san-bernardino-mountains/ |access-date=22 July 2020 |website=The San Bernardino Sun}}{{cite web |last=Aviles |first=Gwen |date=13 July 2020 |title=Men's rights attorney Marc Angelucci's fatal shooting prompts investigation |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/men-s-rights-attorney-marc-angelucci-s-fatal-shooting-prompts-n1233680 |access-date=22 July 2020 |work=NBC News}}

{{Main|Warren Farrell}}

Warren Farrell is an American educator, activist and author of seven books on men's and women's issues.

Farrell initially came to prominence in the 1970s as a supporter of second wave feminism; he served on the New York City Board of the National Organization for Women (NOW). Generally considered the 'Father of Men's Rights Movement,'" Farrell advocates for "a gender liberation movement, with "both sexes walking a mile in each other's moccasins."{{cite news |last=Nemko |first=Marty |date=17 July 2014 |title=Men, power, money, and sex |work=Psychology Today |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/how-do-life/201407/men-power-money-and-sex |access-date=17 February 2017}}

{{Main|Herb Goldberg}}

Herb Goldberg was the author of the book What Men Still Don't Know About Women, Relationships, and Love,The Hazards of Being Male: Surviving the Myth of Masculine Privilege (1975), and What Men Really Want and Men's Secrets related to the formative men's movement. He was a professor emeritus of psychology at California State University, Los Angeles and a practicing psychologist in Los Angeles.{{Cite web |title=Herbert Goldberg Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information |url=https://www.cabotandsonsfh.com/obituaries/obituary-listings?obId=4453606 |access-date=31 July 2021 |website=www.cabotandsonsfh.com}}

{{Main|Erin Pizzey}}

Erin Pizzey is an English men's rights advocate, domestic abuse advocate and ex-feminist. She holds a controversial theory that most domestic violence between men and women is mutual and reciprocated.{{Cite web |date=5 March 2020 |title=Difficult Women by Helen Lewis review – a history of feminism in 11 fights |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/05/difficult-women-history-feminism-11-fights-helen-lewis-review |access-date=6 August 2021 |website=The Guardian}}{{Cite book |first1=Moira |last1=Ferguson |first2=Ketu H. |last2=Katrak |first3=Valerie |last3=Miner |author-link3=Valerie Miner |editor-link1=VèVè Amasasa Clark |editor-link3=Margaret Higonnet |editor1-first=VèVè |editor1-last=Clark |editor2-first=Shirley |editor2-last=Nelson Garner |editor3-first=Margaret |editor3-last=Higonnet |editor4-first=Ketu |editor4-last=Katrak |chapter=Feminism and Antifeminism: From Civil Rights to Culture Wars |date=2014 |orig-date=originally published 1996 |title=Anti-feminism in the Academy |pages=35–66 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781315865898-10 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |isbn=978-1-317-95907-6}}{{Failed verification|date=September 2021}} Pizzey has released two notable works, Scream Quietly or the Neighbours Will Hear and Prone to Violence.{{Cite journal |last=Worth |first=Carolyn |date=1979 |title=Scream Quietly or The Neighbours will Hear — Erin Pizzey, (Penguin Books, Gt. Bt., 1974. Reprinted, with a postcript, in Pelican Books 1979) 149 pp. Price $2.75. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0312897000016453 |journal=Children Australia |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=45–46 |doi=10.1017/s0312897000016453 |s2cid=163740372 |issn=1035-0772}}{{undue weight inline|date=August 2023}} In the 2024 New Year Honours she was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire.{{Cite web |date=2023-12-29 |title=Domestic violence activist Erin Pizzey 'flabbergasted' to be made a CBE |url=https://jersey-evening-post-prod.eu-west-2.elasticbeanstalk.com/uncategorised/2023/12/29/domestic-violence-activist-erin-pizzey-flabbergasted-to-be-made-a-cbe/ |access-date=2023-12-29 |website=Jersey Evening Post |language=en-GB}}

{{Main|Bettina Arndt}}

Bettina Arndt is an Australian men's right activist who was awarded the Order of Australia for gender equity in 2020. Despite heavy criticism, the Council of the Award of Australia decided not to strip her of the award.{{Cite web |title=Bettina Arndt will not be stripped of her Order of Australia honour |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/bettina-arndt-will-not-be-stripped-of-her-order-of-australia-honour/oe3xbxl7w |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=SBS News |language=en}}{{undue weight inline|date=November 2023}}

Many authors have characterized the men's rights movement as misogynistic.See e.g.:

• {{cite book |last=Clatterbaugh |first=Kenneth C. |author-link=Kenneth Clatterbaugh |title=Contemporary perspectives on masculinity: men, women, and politics in modern society |year=1997 |edition=2nd |pages=77, 88 |publisher=Westview Press |location=Boulder, Colo. |isbn=978-0-8133-2701-3}}
• {{cite book |last1=Kimmel |first1=Michael |last2=Kaufman |first2=Michael |editor=Mary R. Walsh |title=Women, Men and Gender |chapter=Weekend Warriors |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dCDbL3WyjFMC&pg=PA407 |year=1997 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-06938-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/womenmengender00mary/page/407 407] |url=https://archive.org/details/womenmengender00mary/page/407}}
• {{harvnb|Menzies |2007 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ASc568aunFoC&pg=PA71 71]}}
• {{cite book |editor-last1=Brod |editor-first1=Harry |editor-last2=Kaufman |editor-first2=Michael |editor-link1=Harry Brod |editor-link2=Michael Kaufman (author) |title=Theorizing masculinities |url=https://archive.org/details/theorizingmascul00brod |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/theorizingmascul00brod/page/162 162] |publisher=Sage Publications |location=Thousand Oaks, California |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-8039-4904-1}}
• {{Cite book |last=Pease |first=Bob |title=Recreating men: postmodern masculinity politics |location=Thousand Oaks, California |publisher=SAGE Publications |year=2000 |page=140 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ub0-sqSmokkC&pg=PA140 |isbn=978-0-7619-6205-2}}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.caut.ca/issues-and-campaigns/equity/2013/12/05/caut-statement-on-december-6 |title=CAUT Statement on December 6 |publisher=Canadian Association of University Teachers |access-date=7 May 2015 |quote=Disturbingly, we have seen in the past year the rise of misogynist men's rights groups on campuses and in communities across the country – an alarming trend that requires our attention and action. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518071937/http://www.caut.ca/issues-and-campaigns/equity/2013/12/05/caut-statement-on-december-6 |archive-date=18 May 2015}}
• {{cite magazine |title=Men's rights movement: why it is so controversial? |url=https://www.theweek.co.uk/people/62607/mens-rights-movement-why-it-is-so-controversial |access-date=19 March 2019 |magazine=The Week |date=19 February 2015}} The Southern Poverty Law Center has stated that while some of the websites, blogs and forums related to the movement "voice legitimate and sometimes disturbing complaints about the treatment of men, what is most remarkable is the misogynistic tone that pervades so many."{{cite journal |url=http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2012/spring/myths-of-the-manosphere-lying-about-women |title=Men's Rights Movement Spreads False Claims about Women |date=Spring 2012 |last=Potok |first=M |author2=Schlatter S |volume=145 |access-date=7 March 2013 |journal=Intelligence Report}}{{cite journal |url=http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2012/spring/a-war-on-women |title=Leader's Suicide Brings Attention to Men's Rights Movement |date=Spring 2012 |access-date=7 March 2013 |journal=Intelligence Report |volume=145 |last=Goldwag |first=A}}{{cite book |author=Shira Tarrant |title=Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex, and Power |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cuoE_LeZ6BIC&pg=PT195 |access-date=19 April 2013 |date=11 February 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-12743-5 |page=174}} After further research into the movement, the SPLC elaborated: "A thinly veiled desire for the domination of women and a conviction that the current system oppresses men in favor of women are the unifying tenets of the male supremacist worldview." Other studies have pointed towards men's rights groups in India trying to change or completely abolish important legal protections for women as a form of "patriarchal anxiety" as well as being hostile towards women.{{Cite journal |title="Stop importing weapons of family destruction!": cyberdiscourses, patriarchal anxieties, and the men's backlash movement in India |journal=Violence Against Women |date=1 August 2014 |issn=1552-8448 |pmid=25238869 |pages=905–936 |volume=20 |issue=8 |doi=10.1177/1077801214546906 |first=Sharmila |last=Lodhia |s2cid=538128}} In 2024 UN Women described men's rights, anti-gender and gender-critical movements as examples of anti-rights movements and linked them to "hateful propaganda and disinformation to target and attempt to delegitimize people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, and sex characteristics."{{cite web |title=LGBTIQ+ communities and the anti-rights pushback: 5 things to know |date=28 May 2024 |url=https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/explainer/2024/05/lgbtiq-communities-and-the-anti-rights-pushback-5-things-to-know |publisher=UN Women |access-date=15 June 2024}}

The venue for the first Men's Rights Conference in the US received death threats, calls, and demonstrations{{Cite web |title=Mad Men: Inside the men's rights movement—and the army of misogynists and trolls it spawned |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/01/warren-farrell-mens-rights-movement-feminism-misogyny-trolls/ |last=Blake |first=Mariah |website=Mother Jones |language=en-US |access-date=20 May 2020}} forcing the organizers to raise funds for extra security{{Cite web |title=A Men's Rights Group Crowdfunded $25,000 for Extra Security Because of 'Bullies' |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/06/a-mens-rights-group-crowdfunded-25000-for-extra-security-because-of-bullies/372081/ |last=Ohlheiser |first=Abby |date=3 June 2014 |website=The Atlantic |language=en-US |access-date=20 May 2020}} and eventually change the venue.

Professor Ruth M. Mann of the University of Windsor in Canada suggests that men's rights groups fuel an international rhetoric of hatred and victimization by disseminating misinformation via online forums and websites containing constantly-updated "diatribes against feminism, ex-wives, child support, shelters, and the family law and criminal justice systems." According to Mann, these stories reignite their hatred and reinforce their beliefs that the system is biased against men and that feminism is responsible for a large scale and ongoing "cover-up" of men's victimization. Mann says that although existing legislation in Canada acknowledges that men are also victims of domestic violence, men's rights advocates demand government recognition that men are equally or more victimized by domestic violence, claims not supported by the data.{{Cite journal |url=http://www.brown.uk.com/domesticviolence/mann.pdf |title=Men's Rights and Feminist Advocacy in Canadian Domestic Violence Policy Arenas. |last=Mann |first=Ruth M. |date=2008 |journal=Feminist Criminology |volume=3 |issue=1 |doi=10.1177/1557085107311067 |pages=44–75 |citeseerx=10.1.1.413.6328 |s2cid=145502648}} Mann also states that in contrast to feminist groups, who have advocated for domestic violence services on behalf of other historically oppressed groups in addition to women, such as individuals impacted by poverty, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, etc., men's rights groups have attempted to achieve their goals by actively opposing and attempting to dismantle services and supports put in place to protect abused women and children.

Other researchers such as Michael Flood have accused the men's rights movement, particularly the father's rights groups in Australia, of endangering women, children, and even men who are at greater risk of abuse and violence.{{Cite book |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/10536 |title=Equality with a Vengeance: Men's Rights Groups, Battered Women, and Antifeminist Backlash |last=Dragiewicz |first=Molly |date=2011 |publisher=Northeastern University Press |isbn=978-1-55553-756-2 |language=en}}{{cite journal |last=Flood |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Flood |title="Fathers' rights" and the defense of paternal authority in Australia |journal=Violence Against Women |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=328–347 |doi=10.1177/1077801209360918 |pmid=20133921 |date=March 2010 |s2cid=206667283 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/890044}} [http://www.xyonline.net/sites/default/files/Flood,%20%27Fathers%27%20rights%27%20and%20defence%20of%20paternal%20authority.pdf Pdf.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406000050/http://www.xyonline.net/sites/default/files/Flood,%20%27Fathers%27%20rights%27%20and%20defence%20of%20paternal%20authority.pdf |date=6 April 2016}} Flood states that the men's rights/father's rights groups in Australia pursue "equality with a vengeance" or equal policies with negative outcomes and motives in order to re-establish paternal authority over the well-being of children and women as well as positive parenting.

{{Portal|Feminism|Law|Society}}

• Anti-feminism
• Fathers' rights movement by country
• Honey badger (men's rights)
• Masculism
• Men's rights movement in India
• Men's studies
• Men Going Their Own Way
• MRAsians
• Paternal rights and abortion
• The Red Pill, a 2016 documentary about the movement
• Toxic masculinity
• Violence against men
• The War Against Boys

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin|40em}}

• {{cite book |last=Ashe |first=Fidelma |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nXDbiPA9IuQC |title=The New Politics of Masculinity: Men, Power and Resistance |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-415-30275-3}}
• {{cite book |last=Farrell |first=W |title=The Myth of Male Power |year=1994 |publisher=Berkley Books |isbn=978-0-425-14381-0 |title-link=The Myth of Male Power}}
• {{cite book |first1=Warren |last1=Farrell |first2=James P. |last2=Sterba |title=Does feminism discriminate against men? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mRkqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA79 |year=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press, Incorporated |isbn=978-0-19-531282-9}}
• {{cite book |last=Newton |first=J |title=From Panthers to Promise Keepers: rethinking the men's movement |year=2004 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |location=Lanham, MD |isbn=978-0-8476-9130-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bXZkmNTSQUAC}}

{{refend}}

{{refbegin|40em}}

• {{cite book |title=#MenToo |publisher=Wilkinson |year=2019 |last=Arndt |first=Bettina |author-link=Bettina Arndt |isbn=978-1-925642-65-0}}
• {{cite book |title=Is There Anything Good About Men?: How Cultures Flourish by Exploiting Men |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |last=Baumeister |first=R.F. |author-link=Roy Baumeister |isbn=978-0-19-537410-0}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Coston |first1=Bethany M. |last2=Kimmel |first2=Michael |title=White Men as the New Victims: Reverse Discrimination Cases and the Men's Rights Movement |journal=Nevada Law Journal |volume=13 |issue=2 |year=2013 |pages=368–385 |url=http://scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1465&context=nlj}}
• {{cite journal |last=Maddison |first=Sarah |year=1999 |title=Private Men, Public Anger: The Men's Rights Movement in Australia |journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=39–52 |url=http://www.xyonline.net/sites/default/files/Maddison,%20Private%20men,%20public.pdf |access-date=2 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160607043119/http://www.xyonline.net/sites/default/files/Maddison,%20Private%20men,%20public.pdf |archive-date=7 June 2016 |url-status=dead}}
• {{cite book |last=Murdoch |first=Simon |chapter=Societal misogyny and the manosphere: understanding the UK anti-feminist movement |chapter-url=https://j4mb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2019/02/190218-Hope-not-Hate-report.pdf |title=State of hate 2019: People vs the elite? |pages=38–41 |publisher=Hope Not Hate |location=London |date=February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190223113432/https://j4mb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2019/02/190218-Hope-not-Hate-report.pdf |archive-date=23 February 2019}}
• {{cite book |title=Spreading Misandry: The Teaching of Contempt for Men in Popular Culture |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7735-2272-5 |publisher=McGill–Queen's University Press |last1=Nathanson |first1=P. |last2=Young |first2=K.K.}}
• {{cite news |url=https://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/201503/mens-rights-activism-the-red-pill?currentPage=1 |title=Are You Man Enough for the Men's Rights Movement? |last=Sharlet |first=Jeff |work=GQ |date=March 2015}}

{{refend}}

{{Manosphere}}

{{Masculinism}}

Category:Men's rights

Category:Men's health

Category:Criticism of feminism

Category:Masculism

Category:Manosphere

Category:Antifeminism

Category:Anti-rights movements