MRA is an initialism of Men's Rights Activism. This is a group of antimisandrist men and women, primarily in the western world, who feel that society is gynocentric and favors women over men and seeks to eliminate gynocentrism and male disposability through political activism.

Early MRA movement [ edit | edit source ]

Although one could argue the socialist movement was the original men's rights movement, by pushing for an end to male wageslavery... The beginnings of a self-identified modern Men's Rights Movement can be traced to an 1856 article in 'Putnam's Monthly' which argued for an end to laws that made men legally responsible for the actions of women in relationships. One example of such a law had to do with the 'heart balm' suit which awarded the person who broke off an engagement to marriage with financial compensation (virtually always the woman receiving compensation). Women were known for abusing this suit by 'gold-digging' by faking love then breaking off an engagement or blackmailing men who they were engaged too.

The first prolific men's rights writer was the early 20th century Marxist Belfort Bax who argued against laws which he saw as unfair sex-favoritism towards women. Including the stiff penalties, including possible jail time, a man faced for leaving a marriage, when a woman faced no such penalties. He argued that feminists didn't want to abolish chivalry, and will appeal to chivalric arguments to defend their privileged position. He also argued that capitalism inherently placed man in a slave relationship to women, and only socialism could liberate men from women.

Splintering of Major Feminists Into the Men's Rights Movement [ edit | edit source ]

The early 1970s, 'male liberation,' movement as a single self-conscious liberal feminist movement dissolved only a few years after it had formed. By the early 1980s, members of the male liberation movement had fully split into two entities. The members who had placed greater emphasis on the 'cost of male gender roles to men' than the 'cost of male gender roles to women' had broken most of it's ties to the feminist movement and became very active. The National Coalition for Men was formed. The president of the national organization for women in the mid-70s, Karen DeCrow, went on to work for men's rights issues, including male reproductive rights and father's rights, battling the feminist consensus at the time as a feminist.

The Men's Rights movement from the 80s to the late 2010s had a male liberationist streak during it, defending androgyny[1][2], advocating for house husbands, and a focus on showing how society treats men as disposable by giving them the dangerous societal roles. The movement during the 80s-90s in America was mainly filled with politically centrist figures and was not particularly partisan. However, the movement was critical of existing welfare for causing the rising tide of single motherhood, tend to advocate for a reduction in welfare spending instead of simply changing how welfare was spent to encourage intact families. This was a common talking point of small government Democrat Warren Farrell, who voted for Obama. However, other MRAs from the 80-90s days like self described feminist, 'liberal democrat' MRA, Mel Feit stayed out of this degree of politics.

The rise of rightism, masculinism and traditionalism in the MRA space [ edit | edit source ]

In 2009 a Republican-leaning man named Paul Elam started a website that eventually took over the National Coalition for Men as the most popular MRA site called, A Voice for Men. Although Paul Elam's site has always been critical of traditional masculinity and trad-cons insisting that feminists had become the main proponents of traditional masculinity[3][4]. His site has also been critical of viewing the left as a monolithic enemy[5], and does not align itself with conservatism[6]. Masculinist, patriarchal MRA figures were usually relegated to the fringes of the MRA movement, barely gaining any prominence. However, after 2009, a new breed of masculinist, gender essentialist MRAs came to the forefront of the entire MRA scene, mostly libertarian, conservative or pseudo-traditionalist women. They rarely promoted gender liberation or concepts such as house husbands, often implicitly defending traditional gender roles or anti-leftist politics.

Relationship to the Incelosphere [ edit | edit source ]

The most incel intersectionalist group of MRAs are the sex-positive MRAs.

MRAs aren't all incels, but they advocate for increased male reproductive rights, which incels also want as they have no reproductive choice. MRAs such as Warren Farrell have advocated for women to initiate dates more so that men carry less emotional burden in this area. He has also complained about the amount that men have to approach women before sexual intercourse. Saying that the dating system for men is, "double jeopardy where, "he must not only do the asking, he must pay extra for risking extra rejection." Famous MRA Mel Feit on TV once screamed to an audience of women that men feel discriminated all the time due to women being sexual selectors.[7]

Political factions [ edit | edit source ]

MRAs span all the different political factions. Media outlets like to claim all MRAs are right-wing; however, this is not the case.

"Libertarian trad-con" may seem inconsistent just by name alone. However, this is the most prominent political faction in the MRA-sphere as of early 2019. The phenomenon was mostly driven by several things, not limited to:

American leftists allying themselves with the feminist movement post-20th-century

MGTOW starting on the internet with politically libertarian beliefs

The rise of protectionism and right-wing populism worldwide

Prominent members of this political faction include Alison Tieman, Natty Kadifa, Turd Flinging Monkey, Karen Straughan, Tahlia, and Paul Elam.

Female trad-cons may have sympathy for incels because they consider them nice guys who would become very good betabuxxers.

Socialists and left-wingers [ edit | edit source ]

Prominent left wing MRAs include Tom Ramsay, Belfort Bax, and Analyzing Male Slavery. Colttaine, RazorBladeKandy2, Trevor Cormier, and Pro Male Revolutionary lean left. This first prominent MRA in America was arguably Bax. The Pro-male collective is generally leftist.

White nationalists & white supremacists [ edit | edit source ]

Prominent alt-right MRAs include Roger Devlin. "Alt-right" is a near synonym for white nationalism and race realism.

Prominent neoliberal MRAs include Warren Farrell. Neoliberalism is defined by a love for free markets with minimum support for a small array of poorly funded welfare programs.

Sexual Politics Subgroups [ edit | edit source ]

Father's Rights Movement [ edit | edit source ]

The largest subsection of the MRA is the Fathers Right's Movement which argues against divorce rape, and for more child custody for men. Father's rights advocates often view marriage as a scam given how women are encouraged to act on their natural sexual impulses and divorce men based on tingles, while taking men's money at the same time. Prominent father's rights advocates include Jordan Holbrook.

MRAsians are a major subgroup of MRA's and mostly consist of ricecels.[8]

Mantactivists are a major subgroup of the MRA movement. See the mantactivism article for more. Notable mantactivists include Marilyn Milos.

A Sexual trad-con is someone who believes that men should offer more than women do when bartering for sex. Usually, in the form of men offering more resources than women in the form of job security for sexual intimacy. Notable sexual trad-cons include Turd Flinging Monkey.

A sex-positive MRA is in opposite to sexual trad-cons. They believe that sex is necessary to the psychological well-being of those with a high sex drive, and that sex should be made a human right. Notable sex-positive MRAs include Ivey Passion. They are the most incel intersectional.

Liberal feminist MRAs [ edit | edit source ]

A liberal feminist MRA believes that sexually liberated women will behave generously towards men in the right circumstances. They also believe in things such as abortion. Notable liberal feminist MRAs include Mel Feit and Warren Farrell. Liberal feminism was the dominant MRA position in the 1980s and 1990s. However, the move towards rightism in the MRA sphere is separate from the move away from feminism. It's interlinked, but feminism doesn't imply right or left wing.

There are no MRAs that support domestic abuse. However, the field of anti-domestic-abuse is so large that it deserves it's own spot in this list. Prominent people who work for an end to domestic violence against men include Marc Angelucci.

Medical Men's Movement [ edit | edit source ]

The medical men's movement is a subgroup of MRAs who recognize that men face unique medical issues and that men die earlier, requiring aggressive activist action to improve the medical situation of men. Notable people in this sphere include Dr. Greg Canning.