"Steve, you have officially lost it..."

Well, I am growing to accept this opinion about my recent choice in political identity. I have joked for many years now about how there should be a movement for men's rights in this country. I get annoyed when I hear stories of men being discriminated against in cases of abuse, rape, child custody, child support and general issues relating to gender roles. I called this stupid idea "masculism", a push for gender equality from a male perspective. I really had no idea that something like this actually existed....

WHO AM I?

I am a 27 year-old stay-at-home father, professional stand-up comic and pizza delivery guy (in that order). I have lived all 27 years of my life in Dutchess County, NY near Poughkeepsie and I have never really wanted to live elsewhere. On January 17, 2009 at 11:05 PM my son Jacob was born and my role as a human being in this world changed totally. I have always been a bit egotistical and for the first time in my life I was presented with the concept of really living my life for someone else. If you analyze things closely, you'll realize that this is all his fault.

WHY THE BLOG?

I did a Google search on terms like "masculism" and "men's rights activism" and it seemed like so many search results were blogspot items. I realize that the concepts discussed involve mostly questions of opinion and contrasting scientific studies on the same subject matter. I did manage to get a good idea of what masculism is and the core tenets of belief of many masculists. I am really just attempting to find my own way of exorcising my demons (as many of you will grow to understand) and offer my own opinions about discrimination against males in this society. I plan to use examples from my own life to support or disprove the ideas given. I cannot stress enough that, like most blogs, the statements made herein will be mostly OPINION unless stated otherwise.

WHAT IS "MASCULISM"?

When I first did the search, I was brought almost immediately to a Wikipedia page describing the definition and principles of masculism. It is defined as follows:

Masculinism (also Masculism) is the advocacy of men's rights, and the adherence to or promotion of social theories and moral philosophies regarded as typical of males. The term masculinism was coined as the counterpart of feminism in the early 20th century. The shortened form masculism appears in the 1980s.

I have since read several definitions of masculism and come to the comclusion that only one truly jives with my actual beliefs on the subject: Masculism is sexual eqalitarianism from a male perspective.

WHAT MASCULISM IS NOT...

Masculism is not a desire for a male dominated society. I will agree with many feminists that humans have existed in patriarchal societies where women where put down and discriminated against. I want to be very clear that I do not seek male dominance. I will be quite happy with equality. This is one of the major reasons that I believe many masculists and feminists are on the same page. Gender discrimination still exists in all over the world includind the U.S. My hope is to express that women are not the only ones who suffer from this slight.



I hope to add in my next entry my SPECIFIC reasons for adopting a masculist view and pointing out some examples of masculist beliefs.