Loading It is worth diving deeper into what this characterisation is really saying. If it wasn’t so serious, it would be quaintly amusing. As citizens, we are familiar with the idea of fundamental human rights such as individual liberty, education, shelter, freedom of religion, assembly and speech, dignity in work, respect and safety. Nation states and global organisations have put a great deal of effort and vigilance into enshrining and protecting them. So-called men’s "rights" have nothing to do with this high-order, codified and universally agreed ethical framework. They are only "rights" in so far as being masculinist assumptions about what they think is accorded or owed to them. They live and breathe entitlement of a different, and harmful, sort. In this application, men’s "rights" are about maintaining a regimen of male dominance or control, usually over a woman. While too successful for too long in controlling women’s bodies, men’s "rights" are about determining a woman’s reproductive choice; scrutinising her credit card; dictating what she should or should not wear, or whether she can go out with friends. Men’s "rights" are about silencing her when she stands up to him and challenges his views. Men’s "rights" are about killing her or maiming her if she decides to leave the relationship.

Loading Men’s "rights" are about treating women as inferior; objectifying them by denying them any personhood; belittling or demeaning them among mates. Men’s "rights" are about being able to stalk, harass or abuse women online, on the streets, in the home or other workplaces. These are not human rights. On the contrary, they are deeply ingrained cultural norms reflecting traditional world views as to how men and women can and should behave. They grow out of a values-based patriarchal world which has long guaranteed men superior and privileged roles in politics, economic production and exchange; upholding their power over others (notably women) through written and unwritten rules that regulate conformity, punishment and reward; and affirming their male dominance and sense of entitlement in so far as gendered roles and expectations. The heartening fact is that for every man complaining of a loss of his "rights", there are legions of others who understand how a patriarchal world is bad for men as well as women, and who get what is required to make the world a better place for their daughters, sons and grandchildren. My personal and professional life is replete with examples of men who are not threatened by the progress towards gender equality and the achievement of gender equality milestones. These men fully appreciate that the relationships in their own families, sports clubs, faith communities, communities and political forums, will always be far more productive when based on respect, fairness and collegiality rather than unfettered sexism, dominance and control. They believe in, as well as seek to uphold and protect, fundamental human rights as an ethical framework guiding their lives.