MALEFACTOR

It’s OK to be a man. Not all men are bad, or have done bad things. It’s OK to love women, to think they can be smart, beautiful, and strong all at the same time. All the while, still a man.

My feelings on this sparked during a family life class for grade nine boys. I was an adult in the class working with a specific student and they had split the class into boys and girls. Each group watched this video that basically showed the many ways in which men objectify women. It was a good hour and thirty minutes long of this is how men treat and think about women.

I think not. At the end of the video I had male students approach me wondering if anyone really thinks like this anymore. It was as if they felt bad for being male. A malefactor perhaps. Like they were already guilty of treating women poorly by association and still only in grade nine. I wasn’t privy to the girls class but I am sure it made them feel victimized and a second class gender. A seed planted that men are the enemy and a progressive chip placed on their shoulder they will need to work harder than most men to shake off.

It also made me really question gender politics in my own life. I always knew women had it rough in some cultures but surely in Canada and the US women and men are treated fairly. I hate to say equal because, let’s face it, men and women are not equal biologically and for that reason there will always be inequality. I thought that feminism started as a movement toward equality and found that today it’s more of a right wing turn toward demonizing the male gender.

I came across this article on Buzzfeed Canada about the Jian Ghomeshi verdict titled I Hope The Ghomeshi Verdict Makes You Fucking Furious. It’s written by female writer Scaachi Koul and it really made me wonder how many women in Canada and the US really feel a deep rooted resentment toward males. Let me preface this by saying I didn’t follow all of this in the news. From what I understand of it the ruling was based on lack luster evidence and the word of the girls against Ghomeshi. I have no sympathy for Ghomeshi and if he hurt any of those women in any way I hope he gets his. Thankfully it’s not up to me and thankfully it’s not up to Scaachi Koul because it’s evident throughout the article that she’s on a manhunt for not just Ghomeshi, but men in general.

First she attacked the judge claiming that women knew what the verdict was going to be right from the start “because the (justice) system wasn’t built for us (women). It was built for the men it protects, the ones we try to expose.” She refers to the judge as “a cartoon sheriff from the ‘50s”.

Huh? Currently in the US 93% of incarcerated inmates are male. To further those stats I looked at the offenses committed and sex offenses ranked 4th on the list of reason convicted out of 13 possible offenses.

Although my favorite quote, and the whole reason I am writing my thoughts on all of this, just so I won’t forget this beauty of a statement…

Let your body crack wide open and fill the world with your anger because anger gets shit done. Male anger is turned against women and our heads are smashed against walls and our bodies are shaken and bruised; female anger activates and shoots up into the sun and forces change.

Yes, let’s promote anger instead of truth and rationale! Not Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails, kind of anger but sugar and spice and all things nice kind of anger because that’s what little girls are made of.

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You can also read a more unbiased report on the verdict.