The Men’s Network in Brighton & Hove is a charitable organisation committed to creating A City That Works For Everyone – Men And Boys Included.
We are committed to helping every man and boy in our city to fulfil his greatest potential which is why we take action to improve men’s health, support dads, help boys do better in school and give children more access to male mentors and role models.
We do this by encouraging our city’s leaders to involve and support men in developing local groups, communities and services that actively create opportunities for every man and boy in our city to give help and get help whenever they need it.
When local communities include men and boys it makes it easier for everyone to work together to help men and boys live longer, happier, healthier lives; help boys to do better at school and support every dad to make a difference in his children’s lives.
By taking this male-friendly inclusive approach we believe we can make Brighton & Hove a healthier, happier, safer place for everyone who lives in, works in and visits our city – Men and Boys included.
Click here to find out more about our plans for 2011-2014 by reading a brief overview of our Citywide Strategy For Men And Boys and tell us what you think.
Hi,
Came across your site from the “Rights of Man” blog, and would like to say how refreshing it is to visit a sight actually standing up for men’s rights. For far too long the feminist brand of ‘equality’ has coerced politicians into discrimination against the male gender at large.
I don’t actually live in Brighton so will perhaps not benefit directly from what you, do however I would to wish you the very best.
James
Hi James
Great to hear from you and thanks for the positive feedback. We are focussed in terms of service on Brighton & Hove but our strategy (see link below) is national and international so our intention is that all men and boys benefit from our work ultimately AND that we develop a plan for enabling men to launch projects like ours all over the world – which part of the UK do you live in?
http://brightonmanplan.wordpress.com/category/our-strategy-2011-2014/a-quick-guide/a-step-by-step-guide/
I must compliment you on this site and the work you have done on a local strategy. It is time that some really new thinking is applied to “gender”. I wish you well with your local strategy and thank you for sharing it. I hope it influences people in other places.
Thank you for that feedback – please free to visit the site on a regular basis to follow our progress – Glen, The Men’s Network
http://www.mhfi.org/about-e-male-matters.html
You may find the work of groups in the island of Ireland of interest. There are some very active groups in the North and South. Possibly I,m biased but there seems to be more going on than in most areas of the UK. Brighton and Hove excepted.
Thanks for that Groan – yes Ireland is doing more than most probably due in part to the fact that it has a national Men’s Health Strategy – thanks for the link – we’ve signed up
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Thanks Glen!
Such a breath of fresh air! Having been on the receiving end of anti-male abuse from both men and women (who have been brainwashed and know no better) what you are doing is fantastic!
Yours truly,
Nick Hirst (a Brighton Boy)
Growing up male in a society that routinely sees them as stupid idiots, has done a number on our sons minds. Boys can no longer be boys. I have seen an increase in anger in both of our sons because of this. We have six kids, four are girls. I am wondering what to do about teachers who are arrogant and nasty. Not just to my son but to everyone in a class. Yesterday a teacher called one of my sons an asshole. This was because he handed in his homework and forgot to put the date and the mod on the top, and the guy got irritated and threw the paper back at my son, and it landed on the floor. My son said he did nothing…he is basically afraid of all of these wacko teachers, but he probably sighed, and thats when the teacher said that. What would you do?
Hi all,
Just a quick note for the moment, to say I’m really pleased to have found this site!
Also, is there anyone here from, or does anyone know of anything going on in, the West Midlands (UK), especially B’ham?
Thanks,
Jeff
Hi,
I have just been linked to this site and I think it is a fabulous idea that you are working to improve the areas where men and boys are disadvantaged. This is an excellent project and I wish you the best of luck in raising awareness of these too often ignored issues. My only hope is that people don’t take this as some kind of ‘proof’ that feminism is to blame for the disadvantages that men and boys are faced with. Any discerning and socially aware individual must be aware that people of both genders face disadvantages in different fields – such as how women are underperforming in employment, men are underperforming in education. Both of these issues need to be tackled before we can claim to have a truly equal society. It’s important that both the feminists and the masculists don’t go for the wrong target and attack each other’s causes, when in fact they ought to be working together towards a gender-neutral society where each individual can achieve their maximum potential.
This said, I am delighted to see that in my cursory look at the site, the Men’s Network seems to recognise this and does not fall into the simple trap of thinking that you can’t be a feminist and a masculist at the same time!
Best of luck,
Anya
I am glad to find this site, and comforted to find that there are people taking care of mens’ issues. As a man, I feel there is a lack of support and communication for men’s issues.
I agree wholeheartedly with Anya. There should be plenty of support for both genders, who have sometimes similar and sometimes dissimilar issues, but need to feel supported by their own gender in society. Feminism and masculism are not mutually exclusive! It is not the role for masculism to attack feminism, nor feminism to attack masculism.
Feminist causes are developmentally about 30 years ahead of male ones. They are well funded by comparison. I have tried to talk to feminists about problems that afflict men and boys. I regret to say that many feminists will only address male issues on female terms and want men to conform with feminist thinking. It’s a bit like asking boys to wear dresses, it doesn’t work. Refuges (women’s only of course) do not admit teenage boys because of their masculine voice. I do not long for confrontation, but whilst feminists operate a gender apartheid attitude there are no common grounds to work on. Some feminists, when you talk of men’s rights, are hostile to the notion and will make accusations of misogyny. At a conference, I attended recently the local women’s aid contingent were asked would they work with men’s groups to address DV. Their response was “No chance.” So, ideally, it would be good to work together, but in reality there is a long way to go.
As a woman, I was very pleasantly surprised to come across this blog. For too long we’ve had feminism thrust upon us, as if we can function as a society without men.
Men seem to be sidelined, their needs overlooked, and their existence ignored. So, how refreshing it is, to see men prepared to stand up for themselves.
Anya does make a fair point about men and women not attacking each other’s causes, but I cannot agree with the concept of a gender-neutral society. Do we not want men to be men and women to be women? To be gender-neutral would be akin to being gender-less. A gender-strong culture is what I would support and would like to promote, where each side appreciates the other’s role in society.
More to the point, I’d like to see men’s social and psychological needs addressed and met. Then, we will have the benefit of a society with well-balanced balanced men (as well as well-balanced women).
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Like another person who posted, I too came across this site after seeing it mentioned on The Rights of Man website. I wish you every success. I’m a writer dedicated to fighting the scourge of gender feminism – the fight for special privileges for women, rather than equality of opportunity – and details of my books including ‘Feminism: Crones’ Disease’ are on http://www.lpspublishing.co.uk. May I take this opportunity to mention an excellent recently-published book by another writer, Swayne O’Pie, ‘Why Britain Hates Men: Exposing Feminism’.
Good luck!
Mike Buchanan
mikebuchanan@hotmail.co.uk
It’s such a relief to see an organisation that has been set up to promote male issues. Politicians have refused to confront the very clear evidence available which shows areas when men are falling behind. Gender equality is to be welcomed but there are many areas where the concentration has been disproportionately concentrated on women’s rights and as a result men have fallen behind. Organisations like these are needed in order to raise awareness of the disadvantages that men suffer in our society. Gender equality can only move forward if both sexes move together equally. Otherwise I fear we are moving to a society where the next big gender equality issue will be the lack of male rights. We have not reached this stage yet but the indicators are not positive. I wish you good luck and I hope your movement can be replicated across the whole country.
In reply to the last post, ‘… the next big gender equality issue will be the lack of male rights’. Good. Long overdue. Radical feminists have been doing what they can to trample on men’s rights in many areas for decades (ably abetted by such dismal politicians as Harriet Harman, Jacqui Smith and Angela Eagle), even though they’re hopelessly unrepresentative of women (so what legitimacy do they have to ‘represent’ women?) Their philosophy is based on misandry (the hatred of men) and they do all they can to spread misandry. It’s their top recruiting tool.
We have to stop kidding ourselves that these people (mainly but not invariably women) might be willing to engage with any other groups. They want to grind men’s faces into the dirt. We need to start fighting them – everwhere, and at all times – for the sake not only of men, but of the vast majority of women.
Have a nice day!
I feel saddened that within the space of a few comments the apparently benign attempt to address some of the unique experiences of men and boys outlined at the top of the page has erupted into attacks on ‘feminism’, as if ‘it’ were to blame. For one thing, identifying ‘feminism’ as a thing, as if it speaks with one voice, is problematic and out of touch with the complex reality of this political/cultural phenomenon; and the equation of feminism (or even ‘radical feminism’) with the hatred of men is more than a little ignorant of the content of much feminist thought.
Worse still, these claims show a kind of dehumanising assault upon people who describe themselves as feminist or otherwise see some feminist arguments as meaningful and relevant to their understanding of human relationships and the structure of society, as if they were not individuals with idiosyncratic views, of which some form of feminism might be a part, but instead are subsumed and submerged into this category, ‘feminism’, which here and there in the comments above seems to be equated with ‘them (not us) who are to blame’.
In this way it seems that attempting to open a space to explore the unique needs of men/boys somehow collapses in on itself to become a highly defended position of attack of the other. I’m fascinated by this process, not least because my experience of people who self-identify as ‘feminists’ has never been that I’ve been hated by them, rather we have always had lively, engaging and reasoned dialogue about matters of gender! I wonder, then, what leads another man to blame feminism and/or feminists for something (presumably gender related) that they feel very aggrieved about?
Of course, ‘feminist’ women/men are just as likely to have personal experiences, motivations, agendas etc. that influence their political views as advocates for the Men’s Network, or indeed anyone else (we’re all human after all). My problem with the discussion here is that there doesn’t seem much acknowledgement of this, nor does there appear to be much (any?) challenge by the Men’s Network team on this site of those who use the forum to bash/blame feminism for their experiences. This can surely only lead to polarised debate, a ‘them-and-us’ stand-off in which both parties end up getting shot.
For me, feminism has been very effective at times in identifying a power structure that operates through institutions, culture, politics, personal relationships, language and individual psychology, a structure that has greatly disadvantaged women but has also harmed men. The oppressively rigid gender roles this structure assigns, and the power relations it promotes between them, ultimately do us all a net harm, even while it arguably advantages one or other group in particular ways.
It would seem to me that groups such as the Men’s Network could have much to learn from feminist analyses, as long as they can be both ‘man enough’ to deal with any localised hostility (which we find everywhere in life, not just in groups of women/feminists), and can also challenge their male supporters when they share views that, rather than facilitating understanding, instead buy into precisely the kind of power dynamics that do us all a disservice.
There’s a place for working through our personal conflicts regarding women/men but there is also a place for an initiative such as this to take a principled rather than blindly partisan line. I hope to see some more evidence of this here.
@ Andy
“…as long as they can be both ‘man enough’ to deal with any localised hostility….”
It’s exactly this sort of stereotyping gender shaming language that has earned feminists their reputation for being sexist and hypocritical – on the one hand claiming to fight gender stereotypes whilst on the other hand using those same gender stereotypes against men when it’s convenient. And don’t even try to deny how rampant this sexist hypocrisy is since you yourself demonstrated it.
Sorry it seems the heavy irony was lost here. I was deliberately using heavily gendered language/notion/cliche to make a point, I guess with a touch of edgy humour. Apologies for offence caused but the intention was quite different
Andy – great to see someone’s articulated so clearly exactly what I was thinking! I find the importance and interest of masculinity and what makes a man interesting and complicated enough in and of itself to feel the need to comment on feminism or other issues.Of course, @Adi is right is pointing to discriminatory discourse – but just as feminism has to confront the fact that women are the primary promotors of misogynist attitudes (this is desperately upsetting in the development work that I do), masculinism – if it exists – needs first and formost to explore itself; to at least construct a language to describe our variant expressions of male identity (masculinities, as RW Connel calls them) before we begin to identify causes for any tensions within them or repressions on them from outside.
Hi Andy, thanks for your feedback
The Men’s Network is a solution-focussed project and welcomes anyone seeking to address the key issues that men and boys face whether from a non-feminist or feminist perspective
We are predominantly concerned with what it takes to improve men and boys’ access to and outcomes from public services though naturally our blog attracts people interested in men’s issues, many of whom have strong views on feminist thinking (for and against) and they are very welcome to share their views here – as are you
Great to hear from you
Best
Glen
Men’s Network
Andy, thanks for your comment. In her 1995 book ‘Who Stole Feminism’ the American author Christina Hoff Sommers made a useful distinction between the two broad groups of feminists:
- ‘equity’ feminists (she counts herself as one) who believe in equality of opportunity for women. I’d say most people (including myself) across the developed world have long been equity feminists, by this definition; and
- ‘gender’ feminists, those who seek special treatment for women, and equalities of outcome (e.g. in the boardroom) regardless of such minor considerations as the relative numbers of men and women who WANT such positions.
In more common parlance ‘gender’ feminists are termed ‘radical’ or ‘militant’ feminists.
In his book ‘Why Britain Hates Men’ Swayne O’Pie convincingly demomnstrates that:
- gender feminists have long been in the ‘driving seat’ of the feminist movement in Britain, and
- their philosophy is extremely left-wing as well as being based upon, and fuelled by, misandry (the hatred of men)
Gender feminists long ago learned that they can achieve their aims only if they remain ‘below the radar’. They hide behing equity feminists and women in general to get what they want. Given that their only possible legitimacy is that they somehw ‘represent women’, it’s remarkable how very unrepresentative of women they really are. For example, they are unfailingly anti-marriage, anti two-parent families etc.
There are many other strands to this, of course. I personally believe that men’s hard-wired deference towards women prevents them from recognising the dire impact of gender feminism, let alone wish to fight it. And so it is that a Conservative-led coalition continues to follow the feminist agendas of Harriet Harman and her ilk. As someone who once worked for the Conservatives (2006-8) I’m ashamed of them for that.
Mike Buchanan
http://fightingfeminism.com
Good morning. I’ve almost finalised my new book “Feminism: Crones’ Disease” and thought I might take a little time out to develop a self-assessment questionnaire for the growing number of women unsure about whether or not they should term themselves ‘feminists’ these days. I should be happy to email it to anyone who contacts me on mikebuchanan@hotmail.co.uk. Thank you.
Mike Buchanan
http://fightingfeminism.wordpress.com (sorry for insufficient URL in last post!)
http://www.lpspublishing.co.uk
Glad to find a constructive post about this topic. I work with education and public health projects in Latin America, and am frustrated by how hard it is to get anybody to take seriously project proposals specifically directed at boys. In order to get attention, in fact, it seems we have to frame projects to increase enrollment and academic success in terms of how women will benefit from better educated boys who will be nicer to women. While that’s true, especially as keeping boys in school very positively correlates to keeping boys out of gangs, it still offends me that male children are denied equal resources and opportunities in the interest of “equality.”
Thanks for sharing your experience in Latin America Max – one of the motivators for our work was local research that revealed local projects for women received 1,300 times more funding than projects for men and boys. In general, I think it makes good sense for people to consider how targeting a specific group can benefit everyone – however it also seems that this should be a secondary not a primary demand.
There is a difference between working with women to improve men’s lives and working with women to improve women’s live – in a way that has a positive knock-on for women too
And I think this distinction is sometimes lost in the world of gender equality when it comes to men – it is built on the assumption that gender equality work should be about making women more equal and therefore that should always be the primary objective of working with men
There is a big difference between working with men in order to improve women’s equality – and working with men to tackle men’s inequality – in a way that has a positive knock-on affect for men
This is particularly notable in the field of violence and abuse where there is a very strong resistance to working with men to end men’s inequality in this area – eg men being more likely to be victims of violence in general – and male victims of sexual and domestic violence being less likely to get help and support
Those already working in the area of gender equality tend to be more interested/comfortable with the idea of working with men to reduce violence against women and girls (ie working with men to tackle women’s inequality)
Both are valid – what’s important to stress over and over and over and over is that men and boys experience inequalities an if we want gender equality then we need to work with men to tackle men’s inequalities – and as a more gender equal world benefits everyone then any work to reduce men’s inequalities works for everyone
Good luck with your work Max
Hi Max.
Really interesting (and depressing) to read about your work in Latin America. In my work in Nigeria, which is primarily British government funded, there’s an overwhelming focus on female (‘girl-child’) education in the same way. This is in response to a national picture of many more girls out of education – but failing to take into account local complexities, such as the Christian South where far more boys are out of education – with a female dominance of law courts and medical professions as a result.
For me, this links with issues such as domestic violence and access to health and education services – where promoting the rights of girls is framed (certainly in Nigeria, but actually probably fairly similarly in the UK) as attacking men and defending women. On the ground, however, women are often those oppressing female children while men do little and are frustrated – and the empowerment of men in the domestic sphere leads to a far better balanced situation in the public sphere.
The model of diametric opposition which we all seem to slip into terribly easily is just so damaging – and so in control of funding – that work to achieve genuine impact based on real data seems irretrievably doomed!
We learn that our Prime Minister is fighting for women. He believes they need more protection from Domestic violence, Stalking, Female genital Mutilation etc. One wonders who is behind all this -is it is wife or some bitter feminist in his cabinet.? It could be his way of courting the female vote for the next election. In any case he won”t be getting my vote- any man who promotes one sex while denigrating the other is not to be trusted. In this country, it is men and boys that need support especially in education and careers.More needs to be done to bring mens problems to the fore. Thank’s for The Mens Network. It’s about time all politicians gave more support to mens causes.
Thanks to everyone who has posted in this section recently. The Men’s Network is committed to taking, supporting and promoting actions that can help Improve Men’s Health, Give Boys The Best Possible Start In Life, Help Every Dad Be The Best Dad He Can Be and Keep Communities Safe By Keeping Men and Boys Safe
We are a non-feminist organisation and we attract many pro-feminist, anti-feminist and non-feminist followers who share our objectives and you are all very welcome
Thanks for your comments about politicians Robert – it is often thought that because the majority of MPs are male that men’s issues are taken care – the issues is at political level that there are very few male or female voices advocating on behalf of men and boys – for some of our friends and followers what’s needed is A Minister For Men
At a local level – where we mostly operate – we advocate for men and boys at strategic level for men and boys – and we would like to see more advocates for men an boys establishing themselves at a grassroots level where a great deal of impact can be made irrespective of what is happening in Westminster (and with more people operating on behalf of men and boys at grassroots level, we would have more collective weight to influence priorities set at national level)
Best
Glen
The Men’s Network
Robert, thank you for your comment. Cameron is appalling and inspired my first book about feminism ‘David and Goliatha: David Cameron – heir to Harman?’. So appalling is Cameron, in fact, that the first action of The Anti-Feminism League I launched last Thursday was to nominate him for ‘Toady of the Year (2012)’. Toadies are senior-level collaborators with militant feminism. Others (including 33 ‘captains of industry’ and the Director-General of the CBI) are mentioned on my blog http://fightingfeminism.wordpress.com. If anyone emails me at mikebuchanan@hotmail.co.uk I’ll happily email them a ODF of the award I emailed to Cameron.
Mike Buchanan
http://www.lpspublishing.co.uk
Dragonfly Television are currently making a documentary for Channel 5 which looks at the phenomenon of stalking. We are currently looking for male victims of stalking or cyberstalking to discuss their stories and gain some insight into the subject. If you’ve been affected by stalking please get in touch asap. Email: cher.adamson@dragonfly.tv
Have you been in touch with Suzy Lamplugh Trust? They’re one of the leading national charities working on stalking, and run a helpline. Among other things, when working with govt a couple of years ago who wanted a strategy for violence against women and girls, SLT successfully convinced them with the data that young men are most at risk of violence and the remit of the report was widened (slightly). I’m sure they’d have case studies they could share with you.
Please go to this link for help with fathers rights. http://pauldmanning.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/more-charlatans-queue-up-for-the-gravy-train-part-2/
Thanks for visiting Paul, good luck with your blog
Thank you Glen, I appreciate your support, I will never give up on the son I love.
Regards. Paul.
Hi
Just found this site!!!!!!!!!!! Great stuff. I have just begun a gathering of men group in the East Midlands and I was looking around for like minded groups and any info from others walking this path. Seems a bit haphazzard in the UK compared to USA stuff. We are a small group of 8 who are just embarking on a journey of male self discovery to help ourselves and those we love.
David
Hi David, great to see some activity in the East MIdlands. I’m based in the area myself, are you near my adopted home town, the throbbing metropolis of Bedford? I look forward to hearing from you – feel free to email me at mikebuchanan@hotmail.co.uk. Further details of what I’m doing on http://www.lpspublishing.co.uk (my three feminism-related books) and http://fightingfeminism.wordpress.com (the blog of The Anti-Feminism League, which I recently launched.)
Mike Buchanan
Hi David – great to hear from you – we are focussed on work in Brighton & Hove – however part of our remit is to connect and unite the men and boys sector in the UK – there are lots of different groups working men’s personal development in different ways around the UK and many have asked us if we’ll co-ordinate a national gathering – this is a conversation we’ve now started so let us know if you want to be part of this – see: http://brightonmanplan.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/whos-up-for-a-big-man-gathering/
Feel to drop me a line on glen@themensnetwork.org.uk or call on 07981 334222 and let us know what you’re up to and how it’s going
Best regards
Glen
PS David: In terms of finding like-minded groups – our focus is on taking, supporting and promoting actions that can help Improve Men’s Health, Give Boys The Best Possible Start In Life, Help Every Dad Be The Best Dad He Can Be and Keep Communities Safe By Keeping Men and Boys Safe
We are a non-feminist organisation and you’ll notice from some of the posts in this thread that we attract many pro-feminist, anti-feminist and non-feminist followers who share our objectives and they are all very welcome – as such we are very well placed to identify the people of like mind who you might want to connect with – do feel free to drop me a line with an idea of the types of individuals/groups you’d like to connect you and we’ll try and point you in the right direction
Best
Glen
Glen,
I can understand well that this site attract comments from people with disparate views on feminism and many other things, and debate is to be welcomed within men’s groups as it is elsewhere, but I wonder if you could say a bit more about what it means to be, as you say, a ‘non-feminist’ organisation, and your reasons for saying so?
This is quite a subtle thing but making the effort to state that your group is ‘non-feminist’ implies more, or something other, than simply that you are not a feminist organisation. After all, the National Trust is not a feminist organisation, in that its goals aren’t feminist and you don’t have to support or be interested in feminism to join etc. – but noone would say, nor go to the trouble of saying, that it is a ‘non-feminist’ organisation!
So what does the term mean to you, and why do you feel the need to identify as such?
Thanks
Hi Andy
It’s a good question and I only have two mins right so this is brief
The issue of being feminist/anti-feminist or a non-feminist organisation was not a consideration when we set up two years ago – we just wanted to bring together people committed to addressing the inequalities that men and boys’ face in areas like education, health, fatherhood, community safety etc
The we discovered that it was an issue for lots of other people – particularly some of the people working in gender equality and men’s rights who strongly believe that you have to define yourself as feminist or anti-feminist to work with men and boys
No-one tells the National Trust that they HAVE to be feminists or anti-feminist so it’s not an issue for them
It is a recurring issue for us which is why we clarify – particularly when people post on our site with strong views either way – that we are not approaching the issue from a feminist or anti-feminist viewpoint – we’re just interested in what works and we’re happy to work with anyone who’s committed to improving the lives of men and boys and taking action to make a difference whatever angle they’re coming from
We’re much more interested in working with people with shared objectives – eg improve boys’ literacy, help separated dads stay involved in kids lives, improve men’s health – than we are in only engaging with people of the same philosophy
Personally, I would say we embrace diversity in its fullest sense in that we want to find ways of working with people who have a diverse range of beliefs and ideas and ways of tackling issues – so rather than being “anti” someone’s approach because it’s not our preferred approach – we ask ourselves how can what that group is doing contribute to the bigger objectives that we are working towards – improved health, better educational outcomes, less crime and anti-social behaviour etc
Hope that answers your question and thanks for asking it
Best
Glen Poole
PS: the reason I started to use the phrase ‘non-feminist’ is to distinguish us from groups who define themselves as ‘feminist’ or ‘anti-feminist’ and expect us to do the same (and more importantly think you have to one or the other)