FREE ESSAY ON MOBILIZING MEN: ANALYSIS OF THE MEN'S MOVEMENT IN CANADA

MOBILIZING MEN: ANALYSIS OF THE MEN'S MOVEMENT IN CANADA

With the emergence of the Women's Movement, a deep cleavage was created in gender
relations, seemingly pitting women against men in the struggle for equality and status.
An effect of this separation in spheres, was a collective of men feeling as if they were
being misrepresented, or left behind during a revolutionary period of changing gender
relations. A product of this was the conception of men's groups around the world. This
paper attempts to look at the development of the men's movement in Canada since its
emergence more than 10 years ago, it's origins, and the significance that it plays in
gender relations today, whether this be as a threat or a compliment to the women's
movement and the advances that have been gained by means of their work.
The Men's Movement, contrary to what many believe, is not a homogenous coalition of
groups in pursuit of the same goals. Much like the diversity seen in the Women's
Movement, there exists extensive diversity between the different men's groups and
organizations that label themselves under the Men's Movement 'umbrella'. There are men
who name themselves as anti-sexist and pro-feminist, who see the role of the movement as
one working against sexism in all its forms. There are other men who see a need to
reclaim some of the 'power' that men have lost to women as a result of feminism. Some men
march in the streets and lobby governments to give a voice to issues of domestic
violence, rape, and abuse, while others rally for 'men's rights', claiming that women's
rightful place is in the home. But there is one common understanding that unites these
men, and it's the belief that traditional definitions of masculinity no longer work, that
the models of masculinity that today's men have inherited are no longer appropriate, and
that they need to be challenged and redeveloped. 
There are at least five separate men's movement's in North America today, including
Canada, who act independent of each other, and lack any kind of coordination. To begin
with, there is the Mythopoetic Men's Movement which traces it routes back to Robert Bly,
and Michael Mead, the so called fathers of the men's movement. They focus primarily on
men's inner work, emotional recovery, working through grief issues, and anger management.
They are most popularly known for their King and Warrior Theme Weekends, which encourage
the men to get back to nature, where it all began. They are apolitical, although you'll
find a lot of the agenda of the non-Marxist left mixed in. (Kimmel, 89-91) They are also
somewhat critical of 'traditional' male roles, but generally open to the idea that there
exists different roles for men and women. They are tolerant towards homosexuality, but
gay issues are not a central focus. Next is the Feminist Men's Movement, which has it
routes from authors such as John Stolenberg. These groups are much more political, and
can be identified with the more militant end of feminism. Some of their political action
areas include gay rights, anti-military, and anti-rape. They see gender completely as a
social construct, opposing 'traditional' societal gender-roles, or any gender roles at
all. In addition they see male violence as the result of bad training or
role-conditioning by society. Generally, they see men as oppressors, but sometimes see
men as oppressed by traditional gender conditioning. As a result of it's strong antipathy
to the traditional family this generally puts them in opposition to fathers rights
groups. Finally, they maintain very negative view of Christianity and religion in
general. Next are the Fathers Rights groups. These groups were based primarily around
issues of single and divorced fathers, their problems with court bias, and the divorce
industry. Recently, a growing interest in the social issue of fatherless families has
also emerged. They also maintain a mixture of views on gender roles, everything from
conservative 'restore the man as head of the household' ideas, to guys who want to
dissolve the nuclear family and abolish all gender roles in society. They tend towards
anti-feminism, but not uniformly nor centrally so and have no particular view of religion
or homosexuality. Men's Rights groups are another type. They tend to overlap with the
Fathers Rights Groups, but with a broader spectrum of interests including the draft,
men's treatment in prisons, choice for men, and an opposition to gender-roles. They are
strongly egalitarian, and generally sympathetic to 'egalitarian' feminists but extremely
critical of so-called gender feminists and most of current feminism. They see gender
mostly as a social construct, and are strictly opposed to public policies that treat men
and women differently, such as affirmative action, all-male draft, and tender-years
doctrine. Circumcision is a another hot topic, but they maintain no unanimity of views on
this. In general they tend to be suspicious of traditional religion's gender roles, but
insist that they are tolerant of homosexuality, though it is not a central focus. Lastly
we have the Christian Men's Movement, such as the Promise Keepers. This group represents
the newest and most radical of the five. They are strictly anti-feminist, favoring
traditional gender roles, for example, the 'bread winner home-maker' model. They are also
primarily evangelical and fundamentalist Christian. Not surprising, they are disapproving
of homosexuality, but, its not a central issue. Like with the Mythopoetic Movement, their
focus is mostly on inner work, but they do flirt with political stances and have a rowing
alliance with the Christian Right.1 They see male violence as innate, and that it is the
job of social conditioning to prevent it. They are similar, in certain ways, to the
feminist men, in that they both see contemporary social conditioning as leading to male
misbehavior which, in turn, leads to most family conflict. Despite that fact that the
Mythopoetic Men's Movement and the Feminists Men's Movement talk a lot about racial
inclusiveness, the Christian Men's Movement is the only one of these groups that has
successfully included large numbers of minorities in its membership and leadership. 
Contrary to the Women's Movement, the emergence and development of the Men's Movement in
America and Canada have not been symmetrical. The Men's Movement first emerged in America
in the mid 1970's with the publication of The Liberated Man Farrell, by Warren in 1974.
Farrell was a feminist, and in his book he talked about women's liberation and how it
could help men, how masculinity is defined, and how to go about setting up men's
consciousness-raising groups. From that booked emerged the creation of men's groups such
as the Men's Awareness Network and the National Organization of Changing Men, and later
the whole network of men's groups that today, make up the men's movement, the newest of
those being the Christian Men's Movement. Though these books did have an impact on men in
Canada, the actual mobilization of men's groups did not occur till much later into the
mid 1980's. Some of the first men's groups to emerge where groups as compliments to
feminist groups, such as Men Working to End Sexism (Montreal). These provided an outlet
for men to gather and focus not only on 'women's issues', but also the ability to look at
'men's issues', such as fatherhood, male role models and sexism towards women and men.
These groups were followed by father's rights groups, such as FACT ( Fathers Are Capable
Too- Toronto) and the Toronto Resource Center. Some of these groups emerged because of
genuine concern for the role of fatherhood and the lacking father figures in our
children's lives. However, with strong support from such groups in America and other
countries, specific groups emerged from the increasing frustration amongst men that
divorce settlements and alimony laws were biased in favor of the women, leaving them
voiceless victims of the divorce courts and blood sucking ex-wives. However, what has
seen the largest reaction and the biggest affect on the development of men's groups in
Canada, has been the issue of violence against women. 
Since 1989, we have seen emergence of two significant large men's organizations,
including Men For Change (Halifax) and the development of the White Ribbon Campaign(WRC),
(Toronto). The uniqueness of this phenomena is as a result of not only the different
sociological and cultural norms between Canadian and American men, but more significantly
the Montreal Massacre. On December 6 1989, a young man entered the Ecole Polytechnic in
Montreal with a Sturm Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle and began to systematically
murder every female student he could find. Fourteen women died in the massacre, and 13
others were wounded. Before Marc Lepine had finished, he turned the gun on himself.
Lepine left a suicide note, detailing how he was refused admission to the engineering
school. He blamed these women and feminists for ruining his life. In the opinion of many
men, this was the final straw and something had to be done. 'Men for Change' was formed
in the aftermath of the tragic killings in Montreal, by a group of Nova Scotia men. It is
a pro-feminist, male-positive, ant-racists, and gay affirmative organization that is
dedicated to promoting gender equality and ending sexism and violence. One way which it
accomplishes this is through conducting open meetings, which are open to everyone,
enabling men to meet other men who are concerned with similar issues and looking for a
chance to share ideas and experiences. Though they state that they are a pro-feminist
group, they do retain some mythopoetic elements, such as their quarterly gatherings at
the farm, where the participants work the land, share a pot luck, sleep on the floor
around a wood stove, encouraging a good chat, perhaps even a little drum banging. The
purpose behind these quarterly weekends is very similar to that of the King and Warrior
Theme Weekends. These weekends which are held several times a year, to help direct
exploration to the Jungian Archetypes and other masculine typologies.(Kimmel, pg. 95) In
addition, on a more intimate basis, they also run reflection groups, which are closed
bi-weekly group meetings held year round between the same group of guys to monitor
progress and offer advice and support when needed. Though not the most significant ribbon
campaign in the country, in 1990, they also created the 'Purple Ribbon Campaign', which
serves to raise public awareness on violence against women in the province of Nova
Scotia, in conjunction with the Women's Action Coalition of Nova Scotia. They also have
developed youth programs, feasible to class room environments, for both boys and girls,
geared towards defining and eliminating gender role stereotypes, and offer services, such
as an extensive list of resources, pamphlets and references on many different subjects
involving gender issues. Though their web site is one of the only sites in Canada on the
Men's movement, it is nonetheless one of the most extensive sites on the movement today,
containing links, detailed information on the structure of their organization and
comprehensive explanations of the various educational programs that they conduct. It is
also updated regularly, and can be found at:
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/CommunitySupport/Men4Change/m4c_back.html
The other major development that resulted from the Montreal massacre was the development
and launch of the 'White Ribbon Campaign'(WRC).The WRC is the largest effort in the world
of men working to end men's violence against women. It was created in 1991, when a
handful of men in Canada decided that they had a responsibility to urge other men to
speak out against violence against women and decided that wearing a white ribbon would be
a symbol of men's opposition to men's violence against women. With only six weeks
preparation, as many as one hundred thousand men across Canada wore a white ribbon that
first year. At present, there lacks sufficient data on the number of men that wear them
now, but estimates are near half a million. The purpose of the campaign is to encourage
men and boys to wear a white ribbon for one or two weeks, starting on November 25, the
International Day for the Eradication of Violence Against Women. (In Canada we wear
ribbons until December 6, Canada's National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence
Against Women.) Wearing the white ribbon is the equivalent to making a personal pledge
never to commit, condone nor remain silent about violence against women. The WRC is also
an educational organization, which encourages reflection and discussion leading to
personal and collective action among men. Throughout the year, they encourage men to do
educational work in schools, workplaces and communities, also to support local women's
groups, and to raise money for the international educational efforts of the WRC. They
also distribute Education and Action kits to schools to help in spreading the message
against violence against women and maintain a website. What is interesting about this
group, and define it as primarily a Feminist Men's group is that though they encourages
men to wear a white ribbon and to participate in commemorative events such as the
Montreal massacre, they themselves do not organize events on December 6, nor do they make
public statements unless requested by women's groups. Why? Because they think it should
be a day for men to step back and listen to the voices of women. 
The development of the Men's Movement, I feel has done nothing but aid the Women's
Movement. Pro-Feminist groups have been successful in lobbying for women's rights and
access to previously restricted areas, and though they also lobby for human rights, or
equal rights, to a certain extent men have been forgotten in the wave of feminist
awareness. With the experience and organization that the Women's Movement retains, the
Men's Movement has the ability to learn and developed substantially. 
One of the biggest obstacles that faces the Men's Movement and it's ability to remain an
influential factor in the in the world of gender relations are the actual structural
organization of the movement. Because the movement is still small, and different groups
are not coordinated, this wastes a lot of resources that could otherwise be shared.
Though it is unrealistic that groups such and the Promise Keepers, Canada division, and
members of Men For Change are ever likely to join forces, they have the opportunity to
learn from each other, just as the varying groups within the Women's movement have done.
Members much also seek to bring the movement more into the mainstream, encouraging more
research and the development and initiation of more Men's Study Programs on campuses
around the world. For the one's that already retain connections with women's
organizations, it is essential that these links be maintained and emphasis be put on the
synthesis of operations In the future perhaps we will see the creation of a new movement,
the 'Humanist Movement', where from equal playing grounds, men and women can join to
fight for human rights and human development.
Bibliography
Bibliography
Franklin II, C., 1989. 'Men & Society'. Chicago: Nelson-Hall Publishers.
Chapman, R., & Rutherford, J. (eds), 1996. 'Male Order: Unwrapping Masculinity'. 
London: Lawrence & Wishart. 
Kimmal, M., 1995. 'The Politics of Manhood: Profeminst Men Respond to the 
Mythopoetic Men's Movement (And the Mythopoetic Leaders Answer)'
Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
McLean, C. & White, C. (eds), 1996. 'Men's Way of Being'. Colorado: Westview Press.
Staggenborg, S., 1998. 'Gender, Family and Social Movements'. Pine Forge Press.
Websites
Men For Change: Halifax, Nova Scotia. 
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/CommunitySupport/Men4Change/m4c_back.html
White Ribbon Campaign: Toronto, Ontario.
http://www.whiteribbon.ca/