On Feb. 28, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled in favour of the Ryerson Student Union (RSU), who were the defendants in a case brought to court by the Ryerson Men’s Issues Awareness Society (MIAS).
They filed the lawsuit because the RSU had not granted the MIAS club status through the student union, which the MIAS felt was unfair. The lawsuit was led by them along with two anti-abortion groups, who also claimed their rights were violated.
The MIAS had accused the RSU of breaking its own bylaws and violating members’ freedom of expression when the RSU, led by then-president Andrea Bartlett, rejected the MIAS’s application for student club status in 2015.
According to an article published in the Eyeopener, “Bartlett said the union’s decision was in part because of the MIAS’ associations with national men’s rights groups and the group not acknowledging women’s oppression and male privilege.”
The judge ruled that the student group status “was not a significant issue” and could have been dealt with by Ryerson’s appeal process.
Asking why the MIAS and the two anti-abortion groups took the case to court is the bigger, more significant issue.
MIAS’s do advocate for some important rights for men, such as child custody and mental health awareness. But the wider emergence of groups like this across Canada, who won’t acknowledge the struggles faced by women, acts as a troubling response to feminism and the rights of women. It is as if because a woman is now starting to receive the same rights as a man, males should feel threatened. Why is this the case?
If we were to look at it from the view of international politics, ancient Greek historian Thucydides would say a rising power (women) fundamentally threatens the security of the existing power (men), and thus that power will be forced to defend itself. This kind of thinking led to the Cold War.
But why is this the case? While change is inevitable, it is also inevitable that it will be hard to accept.
Just as Galileo’s claim of the Sun as the centre of the solar system was hard to accept for society, women’s rights are still on the journey to being fully accepted.
For some, women should not be equal. The size of this population who share this view is shrinking, but it still exists. And just because someone is advocating for a man’s rights, such as the right to custody of a child, does not necessarily mean he is anti-woman or anti-feminist.
But, arguing for men’s rights in an age where being a man gifts so many advantages onto a person, is like hearing the tale of David and Goliath and saying, “Well, that’s not fair, why didn’t Goliath get a slingshot too?”
Everyone should have equal rights, and everyone should be entitled to the same opportunities. The fact is, women are more often subject to unfair or adverse conditions in their professional and personal lives than men. That is the problem we should prioritize fixing.
History has its underdogs, like David, and history has made an underdog of women, as it has with minorities.
As a society dominated by male privilege, let’s not stomp down on David, just because we’re worried he might be getting a growth spurt.
