Hi everyone i hope you're all well so Thursday November 19th is international men's day a day to
celebrate all things men and to raise awareness of issues that disproportionately affect them
for example the fact that the majority of homeless people are men about 95 percent of
workplace and military deaths are men the fact men work the longest hours in the most uncomfortable
dangerous jobs things like raising money for prostate cancer research and of course
awareness of men's mental health there are six pillars of international men's day according to
the official website to promote positive male role models not just movie stars and sportsmen
but every day working-class men who are living decent honest lives to celebrate men's positive
contributions to society community family marriage child care and to the environment
to focus on men's health and well-being social emotional physical and spiritual to highlight
discrimination against men in areas of social services social attitudes and expectations and
law to improve gender relations and promote gender equality and to create a safer better world where
people can be safe and grow to reach their full potential these are all lovely heartwarming things
and given the incredible tireless contributions that men make to our society i can't think of a
better way to celebrate all the wonderful men out there now there's a strong chance you actually
haven't heard of international men's day while international women's day sucks up all the world's
attention in early march international men's day has received nary a peep in the media and popular
culture over the years other than the odd derisive piece by this or that feminist asking sardonically
whether we even need an international men's day because isn't everyday international men's day
this lack of awareness among the general public is most likely because unlike international women's
day it's not officially recognized by the united nations which certainly says something
anyway those who have known of the day tended to be culture warriors which led to the general
commentary being dominated by cackling feminists mocking the day as stupid or unnecessary and
accusing men who were acknowledging international men's day of being misogynistic man babies who
should check their male privilege however last year i noticed something a bit weird
november 19th rolled around and far from the usual vicious derision i expected
the international men's day hashtag on twitter was swarmed with feminists tweeting lovey-dovey things
stuff like here's to all the good men out there may they find the strength to talk about their
feelings and oh we see you good men thanks for always treating women well etc etc etc
now it struck me as genuinely odd could it be that those of us who have been pushing for
international men's day to be taken for what it is as a celebration of those six pillars had cut
through were these formerly hostile feminists finally coming around to a happy middle ground
at first glance maybe and certainly if you look at the initial signs this year in the
lead up to november 19th well they were quite positive for example the all-female panel show
loose women which for the very first time is having an all-male panel in honour of
international men's day along with promoting their standby young men campaign to raise awareness for
men's mental health in australia infamous soap opera neighbours is having an all-male episode
on november 19th to feature the different plot lines of the male characters and i haven't yet
seen much sign of the usual pre-men's day naki comments on social media so could this be a flip
are people finally starting to see international men's day as a day to positively reflect on
positive men rather than as something to mock well look a little closer that episode of neighbours
claims to be all about exploring important social issues such as toxic masculinity the loose women
all male panel promises discuss how men should feel free to open up and talk about their feelings
just like women do which is code for toxic masculinity and if you look at just a few of those
surprisingly non-aggressive feminist tweets from last year on international men say i'm thinking
about how the patriarchy hurts everyone including masculine people on international men's day a
reminder that the battle is against patriarchy if you're against patriarchy you're an ally reminder
on international men's day that toxic masculinity doesn't mean masculinity is bad it means some
outdated models of masculinity are what's hurting and in many cases killing men you can see the
theme is the same i think feminists are trying to hijack international men's day to push their usual
anti-male men as the oppressor's narrative but which is with a slightly softer touch only that
makes it more insidious because one it's easy to fool the gullible with this soft touch and two
it's victim blaming you want to feel better about yourselves men well be less like men that'll work
while international women's day is a celebration of all things women along with recognition of
women's issues international men's day is turning into a sort of maya culpa for men feminists have
just started trying to present it as a day for men to address and combat toxic masculinity and
to recognize how the patriarchy harms men as well as women all under the guise of caring about men's
mental health well ladies if you really care about men's mental health how about you stop blaming
them for every single thing wrong with your life your friends lives and the world in general
how about you stop implying that straight white men have committed some sort of original sin
by being born in the wrong form how about you stop telling white men that no matter how poor
sick abused lonely or damaged they are they're always going to be inherently privileged so how
about they just suck it up and stop oppressing everyone maybe feminists if you care about men's
mental health how about you spend one day on international men's day not being awful about men
surely taking one day off a year isn't asking too much is it this attempted feminist hijacking of
international men's day is very new it may or may not happen again this year i don't know we'll see
please let me know in the comments one thing i can tell you for sure is that this interpretation
of the day has nothing to do with the six official pillars of international men's day
which focus on celebrating all the great things men contribute to society not facilitating men
to self-flagellate under the guise of protecting their mental health one of the best examples of
this attempted feminist hijacking last year was the pierce morgan situation here's what he said
on international men's day international men's day uh if you're a man oh yeah you're a man i'm
still allowed to admit it in your household uh tell us what's great about being a man
and if you're a woman that likes men there aren't many left i know but if there are women out there
that like men tell us why you like men let's have a celebration of all things manly today
yes actually say i'm a man and i'm proud of it this caused a bit of a stink on twitter among
feminists of course with one young lady having this to say and here we have pierce morgan
completely missing the point of international men's day it is not about being manly it's about
recognizing that there are no attributes that constitute being a man and that there shouldn't
be boundaries on being yourself to which peers aptly replied your woman's planning me on how
to celebrate international men's day wow touche pierce touche another really terrific example
is australian uber feminist clementine ford clementine who doesn't like me very much has
never really professed her love of international men's day in 2018 for instance this was her
offering a couple of months prior to that she demonstrated what i would call a concerted
hostility towards men's issues with a particularly vicious article in the sydney morning herald
about the lovely sydney watson a conservative commentator that i'm sure you will have heard of
and the march for men she hosted in melbourne that year the march of course was to raise awareness
for the same men's issues that are raised on international men's day now rather than providing
an erudite considered account of why she disagreed with sydney watson holding such a march for men
clementine proceeded to victim blame men by insisting of course that it was actually the
patriarchy and toxic ideals of masculinity that are the cause of the problems men face
not the constant barrage of hostility men and boys cop every day from a public dialogue that
privileges malicious female voices who are all too happy to cast white men as
the inherent villains of society voices that are constantly promoted over reasonable women
like sydney watson who don't see men and women in constant competition and believe
that conversations about both men's and women's issues can co-exist without one negating the other
clementine also included this sydney watson describes herself as a conservative political
commentator news limited describes her as pro-gun anti-feminist half-american donald trump supporter
i would probably more succinctly describe her as an idiot but horses for courses i suppose just
a thought if you say you're all about empowering women's voices you're not really helping your case
or lending yourself any credibility if you call a woman an idiot for being a voice you disagree
with just a thought she continued still what else do you call someone who thinks the fight
for women's rights is harming the fight for men's rights it's okay sydney i'm sure this will net you
the job on sky news you're clearly angling for sorry daisy look when i first read this in 2018
i was very flattered that clementine apparently thought i was famous enough to simply refer to by
my first name like cher or madonna but she kind of shot herself in the foot because i can guarantee
you that in 2018 at least and probably still now the vast majority of those who read the sydney
morning herald have no idea who i am so clementine from my observation has never really built herself
as someone who gives any credence to the notion that men have any problems beyond the idea that
they themselves are to blame for those problems but last year for some reason clementine seemed
to do a complete 180. happy international men's day shout out to the men who were doing their
best to dismantle the patriarchy that oppresses them needless to say i was shocked she also wrote
an article entitled there was something different about international men's day there was something
different about international men's day this year and it signifies a hugely positive shift
in society and the increased willingness of people to have confronting conversations about patriarchy
masculinity and the dismantling of the first to benefit the second instead of the usual jokes
and withering commentary in which i have freely and enthusiastically participated in the past
the target of those jokes of course being men who think iwd stands for imps witches and demons
there were heartfelt posts and tweets about how patriarchy capitalism and white supremacy
impact the lives of men everywhere in fact by my estimation there was far less cynicism
towards imd this year and far more genuine earnest observations about the kinds of social shifts that
are urgently required in order to liberate men from the ways in which they're oppressed by rigid
patriarchal ideas of masculinity have put both of her articles in the video description i encourage
you all to have a read of both and compare them from my reading in 2019 clementine wrote
the exact same article she did in 2018 about sydney watson and the march for men just with
a softer touch she made the same assertion in both that is the reason that men's issues are
prevalent is not because of toxic feminism but toxic masculinity and the patriarchy same old
victim-blaming anti-male schtick just framed in a more palatable way 15 months down the track
along with the rest of her feminist sisterhood so i don't rightfully know what's going to happen on
international men's day this year are feminists going to push forward with this oozing attempted
takeover or will they just go back to the usual disparaging spiteful adolescent mudslinging
please let me know in the comments section i am very keen to see what you all observe
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