A UK Member of Parliament recently suggested that there should be a Government minister for men which would presumably do similar things to the existsing minister for Women.
This has thrown up a series of heated discussions on social media about whether this is part of the 'backlash' against feminsm, or whether there is a legitimate need for wider support of men's issues.
As a man who believes that there are legitimate issues disproportionately affecting men which should be addressed, what I really want help in understanding is the opinion that men don't need any targetted support.
I don't want to start a big argument, but I do want to understand this perspective, because I have struggled to understand it before and I don't like feeling like I'm missing something.
As an American whose only knowledge of UK government comes from sporadic episodes of Politics Unboringed, my first thought would be to replace the Minister for Women with a Minister for Gender Equality. They would have all the powers and responsibilities of the Minister for Women, and also gain any powers and responsibilities that a hypothetical Minister for Men would need.
Sounds like a win-win to me, but again, I'm a dumb Yank lol
I'm afraid that Minister for Gender Equality is far, far more likely to be attacked as woke by the right than Minister for Women.
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I'm unware of "woke" culture (or political terms such as right or left), but why would having a Gender Equality title be the target of attacks? A title like that should also, in theory, cover people who are transgendered, non-binary, intersex etc, so pretty much everyone in the country should be included. I'm not sure why "woke" people would take offence to this? Are they a gender that doesn't fit in any of the currently established genders or something? Wouldn't "woke" people also benefit from any decisions made by this minister, so why would they be offended?
It's because they don't actually want equality, they want to maintain the status quo which is a power imbalance in favour of men.
A "minister for men" plays in to the false idea that men and women are equal and therefore a having only a "minister for women" is "unfair".
A "minister for gender equality" (so essentially what we have now, since the full job title is "minister for women and equalities") would still rely on acknowledging that there is gender inequality, and that doesn't feed in to the victim fantasy those who are fighting for this bullshit are trying to satisfy.
No, the right wing attacks anything that's "woke". A ministry of gender equality would be labeled "woke" and attacked by the UK's right wing.
I don't think that is a good idea.
Men and women are different in some fundamental ways, and so equality is the wrong answer. Equal means either putting tampons in the Men's restroom, thus wasting money - or taking them away from women who need them.
It is really hard to make any other statement about how men and women are different. Even making a claim backed by clear facts (hormones make men stronger than women gets some people mad) is controversial. As such I do not want a minister who because a dual mandate can focus on just one. A minister of gender equity that only focuses on Women's issues is not doing the job, but that is an easy thing to do anyway (and the most likely result given that men socially often cannot admit they need help), but a minister going the other way and focusing on men's issues is also bad. By making them separate we can better track budgets, and if they are not equal force justification/discussion of why that should be.
Tampons 100% belong in all bathrooms.
Many people do not have a problem with nudity and seeing the opposite sex's gentiles, or having the opposite sex see their gentiles. However there is a large group of people worldwide that do. This later group is large enough that the first should respect them and accept gender segregated bathrooms, as such there is no need for them in restrooms for males.
Now you can argue that all restrooms should be single stall, unisex - and those should all have tampons. However where that is not the case you are being insensitive to the values of someone else.
I dunno what you’re doing in the bathroom but I’m certainly not looking at other people’s genitals. I don’t really see a problem with a bathroom for all genders. There’s nothing stopping creeps from going into the opposite gender’s bathroom with ill intent in current state other than a sign on the door
We have a difference of values here. You should be asking a different question, how much do you adjust to someone with different values. You do not have a problem with single gender bathrooms, but some do. Leave it there and quit asking why, there is no answer you will accept anyway, and no particular reason to conclude your values are better.
Hold on while I hoist this giant mirror up, maybe you can read your own words back to yourself that way
I ask that of myself constantly.
oh good, for a minute I thought you were saying you were against neutral bathrooms, because "values" are frequently hidden behind to justify being against progress
No. Asking 'why' is a fundamental part of the process. If there is a genuine reason behind it, fair enough. If it's a thinly veiled attempt at racism/sexism/etc, do you really want to treat that with any legitimacy?
What bathroom should someone born with both parts use?
How many genitals you seeing in the public bathrooms dude? Why are you looking at them all? Peeking over stalls now?
I'm not looking intentionally, but I've been in several where the angles of how i'm turning corners (and missing doors or dividers) mean sometimes you cannot help but seeing someone else's genitals. If you know that setup you can avoid it, but that is a conscious effort that is easy to forget to do since most are not setup that way.
I have literally never seen anyone else's genitals in the toilets. It's not just easy to avoid, it's difficult to make happen. Either you're in the worst designed toilet ever, or you're actively trying to look at people's junk. Eyes forward, soldier.