A Breitbart analysis of stories on NPR’s website showed there are 2.8 times as many stories on women’s cancers as men’s. Bringing that up in public is a guaranteed route to sneers and ridicule from journalists, regardless of mortality rates. The phrase “men’s rights” means “misogyny” to the mainstream press.
On top of the lack of publicity, there is a huge gap in research funding. Prostate cancer sufferers are approximately 10% more likely to survive the disease than those with breast cancer,63 but figures from the National Cancer Institute show annual funding for breast cancer outstripping that of prostate cancer by double or more.64
It’s not just cancer, either. In the top ten causes of death—heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, accidents, pneumonia and influenza, diabetes, suicide, kidney disease, and chronic liver disease and cirrhosis—men are more likely to die than women. According to 2014 figures, American women have an average life expectancy of 81.2 years. For men, it’s 76.4.65
The gender health gap is very real, unlike the gender wage gap, which is completely explained by life choices. The gender wage gap gives feminists something to complain about and pick up cushy diversity consulting gigs to “fix,” while the gender health gap leaves men in coffins.
Suicide is frequently described as a “silent epidemic” thanks to the rapid increase in the number of victims over the past decade. It would not be a silent epidemic if the numbers skewed even slightly toward women. CDC research tracking suicides from 1999 to 2014 found that the rate of male suicide increased 62% faster than the rate of female suicide.66 Men are now more than 4 times as likely as women to die by their own hand. A typical third-wave feminist response to this epidemic? #IBatheInMaleTears.
The MRM has other complaints. There’s a lack of resources for male victims of domestic violence. In Britain, for example, there are just 78 spaces in the entire country that can be used as shelters for male victims of domestic violence, compared to approximately 4,000 for women, despite the fact that women and men suffer domestic violence at roughly similar rates. Even left-wing sources acknowledge this.67
There’s disparity in prison sentencing. A study from the University of Michigan found that on average, men receive sentences that are 63% higher than women, for the same crimes committed in the United States.68 One case in Britain neatly summed up the problem: a woman was spared jail despite stealing ￡38,000 from her company’s debit card, because the judge, in his own words, “hates sending women to prison.”69
When a feminist tells you some lie about women earning 79 cents to a man’s dollar, remind her that in some U.S. states, custody courts award mother’s full time custody 72% of the time.70 Now that’s actual discrimination. The National Organization for Women’s website boasts of their opposition to “joint custody.” On what grounds? “Increased father involvement does not necessarily result in positive outcomes for children.”71 Yeah, like those uber-dykes at NOW could get anyone to put a baby in them. I’d rather mouth-fuck Sloth from Goonies than go to bed with one of them.
These issues alone—putting aside all the other complaints of the MRM, from military conscription to workplace fatalities to false rape accusations—are more than enough to justify male advocacy. And even if feminists were concerned by the rhetoric of the Men’s Rights Movement, they would have to be monstrously sociopathic to try to stop a respectable, feminist filmmaker like Cassie Jaye from carrying out an impartial investigation of these issues. Wouldn’t they?
Earlier in this book I mentioned how mercilessly the Left treats perceived “traitors” to its identity-driven crusades. Jaye was no exception. Despite having a track record of acclaimed work, with two award-winning documentaries under her belt, Jaye found herself cut off from traditional routes of support. When I interviewed her for Breitbart, she told me that initial grants were withdrawn once it became apparent that she wanted to take a balanced look at the movement. “We weren’t finding executive producers who wanted to take a balanced approach, we found people who wanted to make a feminist film.”72
In her search for funding, Jaye learned more about the institutional bias against men’s issues. “There are no categories for men’s films though there are several for women and minorities. I submitted the film to human rights categories, and was rejected by all of them.” Jaye eventually had no choice but to turn to an internet crowd-funding campaign, which Breitbart and a gang of other deplorables lent support to. After I wrote a story about Jaye’s movie, it was funded in a day.
What does it say about society’s hostility to men’s issues that it took a right-wing provocateur like me to get this documentary off the ground? Where was the establishment, with its supposed commitment to equality and fairness and human rights? And why can’t people talk about this stuff without getting shouted down or ejected from polite society?
Feminists and the establishment weren’t content to simply not fund Jaye’s documentary—they accused Jaye of having a “weird affinity for bigots” and actively encouraged boycotts of the film.73 In Australia, the cinema slated to host the premiere of the movie pulled out following a pressure campaign.74
Jaye had betrayed the sisterhood, and the claws were out. All it took was the mere hint of an honest, impartial look at men’s issues. Is it any wonder that people no longer associate feminism with equality of the sexes?
On the rare occasions society does take notice of men’s issues, feminists are usually there to spoil the party.
“Movember” is an annual event in which men grow their mustaches to raise awareness for prostate cancer—a whimsical grassroots effort, it is one of the few instances in which awareness of a male cancer briefly rises to the fore.
Feminists, instead of helping, regularly complain about the press attention it receives. The left-wing New Statesman complained that Movember is “divisive, gender normative, racist and ineffective.” Why racist? Because “large numbers of minority ethnic men” use mustaches as a “cultural or religious signifier.” (Or maybe because some races can’t grow facial hair.) An article in Rabble, a Canadian news site, complained about sexist “Mo Bros” and their “exclusionary” behavior.75