Complete Consideration for All
Someone recently wrote the following on the Men's-Group-Digest:
". . . There has long been a cultural unwillingness to hold women accountable for their bad behavior. This unwillingness has been framed within biological terms, such as pregnancy, the post-partum period, menstruation, pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS), etc. But physiology is not behavioural science. It has provided new handy words which make the same old excuses for violence, neglect, aggression, etc., sound so modern and convincing and scientific. But justify? No. Excuse? No. Account for? Not even that."
Reply from Paul Whyte
I think the reasoning is back to front here.
As I read it you are understandably upset at the way a woman's abuse gets taken a great deal more seriously than a man's abuse ever would. Women are trained to be losers and men winners. It is obvious from seeing most guys in men's groups that men are not really winners. If we depart from appearing to be winners we get ridiculed for not being manly enough. If women can prove victimhood, then they can demand attention and consideration. This seems to be what you are complaining about.
I think we need to be saying that every last person needs consideration, not just victims. I agree that the "United Nations Year of the Latest Victim" mentality has influenced society to support only those who appear to be victims. This has to be abusive to the rest, and to the "victims" also, as it condemns them to the swap of victimhood for attention.
What we surely want is complete consideration for everyone and no more punishment, but rather repair work, for all. Why settle for less? Frankly, I believe that the beating the men's rights movement has taken from the women's movement and the rest of society is going to continue until the competition for victimhood ends. If we keep our integrity and work to heal the damage, it is not too hard to explain to anyone who ridicules men for speaking about our mistreatment that men deserve attention and that victimisation needs to end. The competition must also end, as it is immoral and inhuman.
We need to take and keep at all times the highest moral ground, not fight or compete for the lowest part of the swamp of victimhood. Men claiming victimhood can appear as a threat to women's consideration, which has been struggled for for so many years, and tends to lead to attacks on men's work. Until men have taken responsibility for healing our own tensions, we will smell of the swamp of victimhood and get mistreated for it.
Let's please get it straight that victimhood is bad for everyone. Let's struggle for consideration for men from a different place.
Paul Whyte
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia