from Pandagon: Overview of the anti-feminist/men's rights movement

This ridiculous essay 'Sex, Women and Conservatism' was floating around the Internet a few weeks ago, being deservedly mocked by some of the bright stars of blogging. When I read it, I immediately realized that it was just more of the same stuff from the 'men's rights activists', better known as the MRAs. And it occured to me that your average feminist blogger is more than aware of the MRAs, due to the emails and comments we get from them, but most liberals may only be vaguely aware. So, since I had some time on my hands with Pandagon being down, I thought I would put together an overview of the men's rights movement, not to be confused with any overall men's movements, some of which are actually female-friendly.

The best way to understand the men's rights movement for me is to view them as the secular arm of the right wing move to return America to an old-fashioned patriarchy. Many MRAs consider themselves Christian, and some even consider themselves fundamentalists. But generally, their arguments for male dominance come not from the Bible but from repeated and colorful assertion that nature has made women inferior. They are also secular in that many MRAs do not wish to return to a situation where women refrained from premarital sex, and in fact, many would argue that women's greater power comes from our manipulation of men with sex. (more)