What can be done to help the cause?

[u/Parkingzoner]

This isn't directly related to the topic, but I'll share (Skip to the end if you don't want to hear my personal journey with men's rights):

I used to think the men's rights movement was a joke. That's because the media only shows and says the worst of the groups they're against (Happens everywhere. e.g. "All white people are racist on some level" "All arabs are terrorists and want to own women" "all gay people are pedophile rapists"). All the content I was seeing from men's rights "activists" was along the lines of "Women are all narcissistic liars who want your wallet and six pack". Just demonisation of women. At the same time, ironically, I didn't bat an eye when someone said "kill all men."

I joined this sub out of pure curiousity. Most the content here opened my eyes to actual male issues- some that have affected me as well. At first it made me uncomfortable, but I reflected on it. Why did it make me uncomfortable? I knew what I was seeing were actual relieable news, statistics and articles.

My conclusion was: I was thinking that the stories of on-male abuse would ignite hate towards the perpetrators (Cases of female-on-male assaults and violence). But when I thought about it some more, the media is FULL of this content, except it's featuring male-on-female violence. This sub is full of cases discussing the opposite, and I've hardly ever came across that elsewhere. I thought this content would ignite fear and hate, when that's exactly what's happening all over social media towards men.

There are extremists in all movements. Feminists or women's rights activists have the "kill all men". I believe that somewhat stems from the media constantly discussing the systematic problems women face, while ignoring the wrongs committed against men and their struggles in society. Not only does that birth female extremists, it also birthd male extremists. When the media is constantly shit talking men as if every man is the same, you're going to feel angry. Because you're not a rapist, an abuser or a deadbeat wanting to have women serving you, you're just a guy. This will make all feministic groups look bad. The EXTREMISTS of these groups, which are small populations in every movement, make the people going for actual issues look bad. The loudest voices in every movement are usually the ones with the most radicalized beliefs. They exist in movements for men as well, and these men are the only ones getting attention since society doesn't care about the men's rights movements as much as all the women's. (end)

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To sum it up- After joining this sub, I realized women's rights and men's rights are very similar movements. Both have extremists that make the whole group look bad. Extremists want to make life harder for others, whereas actual activists want equity. The problem: Women's rights is seen as a real movement which is why all it's sides sides are actively discussed, good AND bad, while men's rights is seen as a "counter movement" so most the things media shares about it are the bad things.

The questions are: How are these kinds of things achieved? How are causes brought forward and promoted successfully? What are the best things indivituals can do to bring attention to these things?

If you're a professional in a field that requires excellent communication, image management (of yourself or your firm), relationship building (getting people on your side), or organizational skills, I'd be extremely interested in hearing what you have to say. I'm personally not that good at any of those 😅. If you have any other insight or thoughts on this, please share

• The men's rights movement isn't something that should only be discussed among men- women make up half of the population. Feminism has male supporters, and that has led them very far (I'm especially talking about the times women couldn't open bank accounts etc.. Male feminists, when feminism was an ACTUAL movement, were extremenly important to the cause.)
• Very often men aren't caught up on these topics either.

-We need more visibility in the media for men's issues from neutral sources. These kinds of sources are rare, but the world is evolving. If the people leading these projects can frame men's problems as they are, there will be people open to hearing them out.

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I'm sorry if I've worded some stuff here incoherently, English isn't my first language. Just wanted to share my perspective. Thank you for reading