In part one I listed; patriarchy, male privilege, discrimination, sexual harassment and violence against women, and the sexual objectification of women. I said we’d look at them one by one. In part two, I wittered on about patriarchy, so let’s try another one:
male privilege – Right. Good one. This stems from patriarchy – as does pretty much everything in radical feminism – but male privilege is № 1. Male privilege concerns the social, economic, and political advantages or rights that are available to men solely on the basis of their gender. As with other some forms of privilege, it is very difficult for the privileged (men) to see the privilege for what it is. This leads men to ascribe their special status to their owned individual merits and achievements, rather than to unearned advantages This is particularly the case with men who were brought up in difficult (and underprivileged in a general sense) conditions. They are unable to separate the specific from the general. And that’s a real problem when discussing the subject of male privilege with males – they honestly can’t see that it exists (though that’s also due to the fact that they’re scum, mostly*).
Advocates for men's rights, and anti-feminist men, will often claim that men's traditional roles are damaging to men, but deny that men as a group have institutional power and privilege, and argue that men are now the victims compared to women (see comment footnoted above).
I think I can speak for most radical feminists when I state that my feeling about men now suffering due to their traditional male rôles as defined by the patriarchy is: Tough shit.
To be continued yet again…
*This is not the view of all radical feminists, only some of us.