Boys, Girls, and the Men's Rights Activists (MRA)

[Extract from the book Elijah Men Eat Meat]

Trigger Warning: We’re going to talk about gender now because, you know, this book hasn’t been controversial enough. This is the first of three parts that take a look at both Menism and Feminism. If you get triggered easily, please take your meds before reading.

Red Pill is a documentary that was released in 2016 by filmmaker Cassie Jaye who has produced other award-winning documentaries. But this one is different. Through the film, Miss Jaye undergoes a transformation. She begins the film as a Feminist who is out to expose the insidious Men’s Rights Activists (MRA). But in the process, she becomes convinced that the movement is not composed of misogynistic thugs as she had previously been led to believe. Miss Jaye concludes that it is her own Feminist ideology that is errant, abandons it, and embraces Menism. Needless to say, the film stirred up lots of controversy. Various anti-free speech groups and Feminist allies tried to have the film boycotted and were successful in causing some cancellations. But the film started leaking out and meaningful discussions and debate around the issues began taking place.

Though I greatly appreciate Red Pill for exposing the monstrous hypocrisy of modern, Western Feminism in such a brilliant fashion, we need to draw a distinction between the MRA movement and what Scripture calls us to in regards to gender. Jezebel seeks to mislead us into both fake spirituality and fake gender understanding and we need to have our thinking shaped by Scripture and not by Feminism or MRA.

Elijah Men are not MRA

Like Miss Jaye, we might assume that Elijah would be a Menist. This rough and rugged man is certainly MRA material, right? Perhaps not. When we look close we can see that MRA is an Egalitarian movement by seeking to bring equality between men and women through laws, policies, and role equalisation. They point out those areas of society where men may have been seen to be treated unfairly or oppressed. They focus on facts such as:

·        Many child custody laws favour the mother over the father

·        98% of all combat deaths are male

·        93% of all workplace deaths are male

·        Men are three times as likely to be homeless

·        Men are four times as likely to commit suicide

·        Women are 35% more likely to go to University

·        Women retire 2 years earlier than men, even though they live 2.7 years longer―giving them almost 5 years more retirement years.

 

Karen Straughan is a female MRA
(sometimes referred to as a 'honey badger')
who has become well known for challenging
feminism on her YouTube channel

Menism believes that third-wave Feminism went too far and now their actions often discriminate against men. They seek the type of equality that many Feminist organisations claim to. They point out how most Feminist organisations turn a blind eye whenever a law or social trend favours women over men. MRA seeks to equalise the stats.

Christians may applaud MRA for ideologically seeking to balance Feminism, but we are fundamentally different from Menism. We do not seek equality through stats. We are not seeking role interchangeability. We do not object to men laying down their lives on the battlefield for their wives back home nor do we object to the fact that more women than men chose to stay home to raise children.

As Christians, we celebrate gender uniqueness. Gender is the wonderful distinction God put into humanity in Genesis one. God made men and women different. Each gender has its own unique set of blessings and challenges and jealously trying to trade one set of challenges or blessings for the other is called covetousness―a sin in case you’re rusty.

Satan wants us to dismiss the beauty of God’s gender binary. This is because the mystery of gender uniqueness proclaims God’s redemptive purpose for humanity. In Ephesians 5 we read how man and woman in marriage are to reflect Christ and his church.  Unlike MRA, we do not seek to erase differences or to obtain equality through even numbers of males and females represented in every area of society. We believe that men and women are equal―and always have been―because our value comes from God. He has made us both his image bearers. Until MRA and Feminists discover where our value comes from, neither side will ever be happy with new legislation passed and they will continue to keep their supporters trapped in a perpetual sense of victimhood to keep their machinery running.

[See Part 2: Boys, Girls, and Theological Feminism ]
[See Part 3: Theological Feminism & Gay Activism in the Church ]
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Extract from Elijah Men Eat Meat: Readings to slaughter your inner Ahab and pursue Revival and Reform (Get Here)