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Men鈥檚 rights activists are a male supremacist movement of men who view themselves as defending men against the oppressive gains of women and feminism over the past several decades. MRAs believe we live in a gynocentric society that favors women to the detriment of men. Under the guise of gender equality, members of this movement rally around issues and institutions they perceive as discriminating against men, particularly the court system and legislation against sexual violence and harassment. This discourse of disempowerment frames feminists as the ultimate enemy, engaged in a conspiracy to harm and oppress men. As Laura Bates, author of the book Men Who Hate Women, puts it, 鈥淢RAs are about as focused on men鈥檚 rights as defense contractors are invested in maintaining peace.鈥� Instead, she explains: 鈥淢RAs are concerned, to the point of obsession, with attacking women. And their particular target is feminism.鈥�

The foundation of men鈥檚 rights activist ideology is rooted in misogynistic generalizations about women. MRAs typically view women as stupid, narcissistic, conniving and manipulative. Adherents assert women are hypergamous by nature, a misappropriated biology term male supremacists use to insist women will seek out and mate with men who have a 鈥渉igher status鈥� than themselves and will quickly dispose of a male partner when a better one comes along.

Many of the core tenets of MRA arguments are fundamentally contradictory. According to an Australian father鈥檚 rights organization, the Men鈥檚 Rights Agency, women need to accept their biological differences from men: 鈥淲omen are innately more nurturing. They are also, generally, better with children, the elderly and the infirm. Most do not aspire to become generals, CEOs or heads of state.鈥� Yet on the same website, the organization complains how family courts are biased in favor of women and fail to recognize the importance of men raising their children.

Similarly, men鈥檚 rights activists use misleading and outright false statistics and research to argue that women are the primary perpetrators of gender-based violence and deny . At the same time, MRA rhetoric often argues that women deserve or are responsible for the violence perpetrated against them.

In a 2010 blog post about rape, MRA Paul Elam wrote, 鈥淭here are a lot of women who get pummeled and pumped because they are stupid (and often arrogant) enough to walk though [sic] life with the equivalent of a I鈥橫 A STUPID CONNIVING BITCH 鈥� PLEASE RAPE ME neon sign glowing above their empty little narcissistic heads.鈥� Similarly, in a blog titled 鈥淭he Necessity of Domestic Violence,鈥� another prominent MRA, Matt Forney, wrote 鈥淲omen should be terrorized by their men; it鈥檚 the only thing that makes them behave better than chimps.鈥�

Despite the movement鈥檚 claim that they are fighting on behalf of equal rights for men, their activities are more often targeted at disrupting feminist efforts rather than helping men. In one example from 2013, a men鈥檚 rights activist group closely affiliated with A Voice for Men using the slogan 鈥淒on鈥檛 be THAT Guy.鈥� The group imitated the original posters and branding to spread the myth that a significant number of women are lying about rape under the heading 鈥淒on鈥檛 be THAT Girl.鈥� The following year, Paul Elam mimicked this tactic to disrupt an international campaign to combat violence against women by to redirect funds away from the original cause and spread disinformation about gender-based violence.

The modern MRA movement tends to congregate primarily online, and its members are notorious for coordinating large-scale online harassment campaigns that target perceived feminists. Additionally, MRA efforts to present themselves to the public as legitimate advocates on men鈥檚 issues have allowed them to have a more significant offline presence than many other male supremacist movements.

In Their Own Words

鈥淚f men dominate then women manipulate.鈥� 鈥� National Coalition for Men in a Facebook post, Aug. 10, 2023

鈥淚n many cases, accusers will falsely report to the police that a man drugged them and raped them. What really happened is that they had fully consensual sex with the man, but don鈥檛 remember giving consent, or anything else, because of the alcoholic-induced amnesia.鈥� 鈥� National Coalition for Men in a brochure titled 鈥淔alse Reporting of Sexual Misconduct: Understanding the Myths,鈥� Nov. 29, 2020

鈥淚鈥檓 not saying [Former NFL player Ray Rice is] a good guy. But if [Janay Rice] hadn鈥檛 aggravated him, she wouldn鈥檛 have been hit. They would say that鈥檚 blaming the victim. But I don鈥檛 buy it. And anyway, football is always happy to put on pink suits and celebrate women. Why can鈥檛 they have a week, or just a day when they celebrate men?鈥� 鈥� Harry Crouch quoted in an article, 鈥淪ilencing Women: Inside the National Coalition for Men,鈥� Nov. 12, 2014

鈥淚nsurrection seems better than living as slaves to the Feminists and a government that enforces their male-hating policies. If we fail, we鈥檒l be gone, and then the ladies can fight among themselves and with the androgynies who are left. Violence is coming, and not the feminine softened type of violence defined in current domestic violence laws.鈥� 鈥� Roy Den Hollander in a document on his website titled 鈥淓volutionarily Correct Cyclopedia,鈥� Feb. 20, 2019

鈥淚 know people instinctively and reflexively sympathize with the victim of a brutal attack, but there comes a time when one has to ask whether or not the victim bears some responsibility for putting herself in this situation. Does Janay really think that will be the last time Rice gives her a beatdown? And even if she does, what statement is she making marrying a man willing to treat her like that? The statement is clear: she thinks the violence is a reasonable tradeoff for whatever she gets in return for her relationship, whether it鈥檚 sexual gratification, status or money. Women make that statement all the time. 鈥� Maybe, just maybe, the only way to really cut down on intimate violence would be to restrict women鈥檚 sexual freedom.鈥� 鈥� W.F. Price, discussing Ray Rice鈥檚 assault of Janay Rice, in The Spearhead blog, Sept. 8, 2014

鈥淲omen should be terrorized by their men; it鈥檚 the only thing that makes them behave better than chimps.鈥� 鈥� Matt Forney under the pseudonym Ferdinand Bardamu, 鈥淭he Necessity of Domestic Violence,鈥� In Mala Fide blog, 2012

鈥淭here are women, and plenty of them, for which [sic] a solid ass kicking would be the least they deserve. The real question here is not whether these women deserve the business end of a right hook, they obviously do, and some of them deserve one hard enough to leave them in an unconscious, innocuous pile on the ground if it serves to protect the innocent from imminent harm. The real question is whether men deserve to be able to physically defend themselves from assault when it comes from a woman.鈥� 鈥� Paul Elam in a blog titled 鈥淲hen is it OK to punch your wife?鈥� on AVFM, Sept. 14, 2010

鈥淢urder, rape, and spouse abuse, like suicide and alcoholism, are but a minute鈥檚 worth of superficial power to compensate for years of underlying powerlessness. They are manifestations of hopelessness committed by the powerless.鈥� 鈥� Warren Farrell, explaining why men commit most violent crime in his book The Myth of Male Power, 1973

Historical foundations of male supremacy

The men鈥檚 rights movement has roots in the 鈥渕en鈥檚 liberation鈥� movement, which emerged in the 1970s and embraced female liberation, as well as critiques of gender roles. The movement sought to free men from the constraints associated with the male gender role, which removed men from the home, precluded male emotional intimacy and established men as the protectors of and providers for their families.

In the late 1980s and 1990s, however, according to sociologist Michael Kimmel, this critique of the traditional male role 鈥渕orphed into a celebration of all things masculine and a near infatuation with the traditional masculine role itself.鈥� The problem was no longer oppressive gender roles: 鈥淭he problem was, in a word, women 鈥� or more accurately, women鈥檚 equality, women鈥檚 empowerment, and feminism.鈥�

As women gained ground in the workplace and family structures loosened, some men鈥檚 rights activists started blaming feminism for all of men鈥檚 ills. The traditional masculine gender role was seen as either worth reestablishing, or 鈥� rather than being limiting to both genders 鈥� actually benefiting women. Men鈥檚 rights activists decided to blame women for taking away jobs, for the decline of the family or for alimony and child custody issues after a divorce, rather than focusing on larger political and structural issues.

With its focus on intimate partner violence, the fathers鈥� rights movement served as a common entry point into the men鈥檚 rights movement. Large portions of the movement were on resentment of women and sustained by junk psychiatry, falsified statistics on the prevalence of women鈥檚 physical abuse of male intimate partners, and one-off anecdotes rather than data-driven evidence.

The progenitor of the men鈥檚 rights movement, Warren Farrell, gave voice to those feelings of male oppression in his 1993 bestseller, The Myth of Male Power, which has since become the seminal text of the men鈥檚 rights movement. A former National Organization for Women (NOW) board member who used to rub shoulders with prominent feminists like Gloria Steinem, Farrell 鈥� after his divorce 鈥� declared men were as oppressed as women, if not more.

Though claiming to be equally dedicated to the liberation of both men and women, Farrell argued in his book that women were better off in society than men. In one section, he made a comparison that greatly trivialized the history of American slavery, writing, 鈥淭he male role (out in the field) is akin to the field slave 鈥� or the second class slave; the traditional female role (homemaker) is akin to the house slave 鈥� the first class slave.鈥�

The book also drew equivalences between 鈥渟laves g[iving] up their seats for whites鈥� and 鈥渕en g[iving] up their seats for women,鈥� enslaved people having their children stolen and sold and men losing custody of their children in court and compared paying child custody to 鈥渢axation without representation.鈥� Women, Farrell decried, had become too powerful and dangerous because 鈥� on top of holding sexual power over men 鈥� they could allegedly induce men鈥檚 downfall with accusations of sexual harassment and assault.

Some corners of the men鈥檚 rights movement focused on legitimate grievances 鈥� male homelessness and rates of suicide, male conscription or lack of male shelters for domestic violence victims 鈥� to draw in followers. But the movement has never made meaningful steps to address these issues or seek solutions, instead directing their followers to blame women, working in concert as part of a large feminist conspiracy, for everything.

Recent developments in the men鈥檚 rights movement

The men鈥檚 rights movement lives in a pseudo-academic bubble, using litigation to challenge female-only spaces or defend men accused of campus sexual assault while airing more disturbing ideas behind the scenes. Often, these men鈥檚 rights advocacy groups, like the National Coalition for Men (NCFM) 鈥� founded in 1977, and on whose board of advisers Farrell sits 鈥� distort statistics to indicate female privilege, for their unfounded gripes or create false equivalencies between the oppression of men and of women. Groups like NCFM use to challenge what they perceive as discrimination against men and try to influence policy on domestic violence, sexual assault, divorce and custody cases. Funneling extensive energy into grievances with legislation like the Violence Against Women Act, men鈥檚 rights groups offer little tangible support to their constituents.

In July 2017, the Carolinas chapter of NCFM, in addition to men鈥檚 rights advocates from Families Advocating for Campus Equality (FACE) and Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE), were by then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to a summit on Title IX. Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests showed an extensive relationship between the Department of Education and these organizations, which spread disinformation about the frequency of false rape allegations. In September 2017, DeVos rolled back guidance on reporting, investigating and responding to campus sexual assault allegations, leaving survivors unsafe and unsupported.

The men鈥檚 rights movement has a dedicated international following, particularly in the United Kingdom, India and Australia. Women, too, have helped give the men鈥檚 rights movement a veneer of evenhandedness. Prominent men鈥檚 rights activists include such as popular Canadian YouTube personality Karen Straughan, American psychologist Helen Smith and the former head of a U.K.-based domestic violence shelter for women, Erin Pizzey. Men鈥檚 rights issues also overlap with like Christina Hoff Sommers, who give a mainstream and respectable face to some MRA concerns. American documentary filmmaker Cassie Jaye has similarly lent credibility to men鈥檚 rights activists with the creation of The Red Pill documentary. Funded by numerous male supremacists including and Mike Cernovich, the film was denounced as 鈥渕isogynistic propaganda.鈥�

Founded in 2009 by Paul Elam, A Voice for Men and its podcast 鈥淎n Ear for Men鈥� has combined men鈥檚 rights issues and rabidly misogynistic and violent rhetoric. Elam is famously known for declaring October to be 鈥淏ash a Violent B---- month.鈥� He later called the piece satirical but has been republishing it every October with equally violent introductions. He that were he to serve on a jury for a man accused of rape, he would automatically declare the defendant not guilty, regardless of the facts of the case.

In 2011, A Voice for Men launched Register-Her, a where individuals posted images of the women they thought should be put in prison. It deemed to have falsely accused men of rape or domestic violence, others for having protested men鈥檚 rights activist gatherings, and some Elam simply disagreed with. The effect of Register-Her was an explosion of online harassment. After finding herself targeted, feminist writer Jessica Valenti was forced to leave her home in fear for her safety. The website has since been taken down.

Ties to Violence

The men鈥檚 rights movement is notorious for targeted online harassment, including doxing and violent threats. Doxing is an online harassment tactic where an individual鈥檚 personal information, such as their phone number or address, is posted with the intent to cause harm. The men鈥檚 rights activists who use this tactic are not merely violating their victim鈥檚 privacy but hope to force them to question their physical safety. In one case, after clashing with a men鈥檚 rights activist at a protest in Canada, a young by MRAs who then inundated her with hundreds of threatening messages, including one who relished: 鈥淚 would actually cum cutting that bitch鈥檚 throat.鈥�

The violence of men鈥檚 rights activists is not confined to their rhetoric or online activities. It is difficult to track the number of MRAs who are motivated by their male supremacist ideology when they target their current or former partners and children with violence. Several MRAs have directed their extremist rage at the public, particularly at judges.

In the summer of 2006, , a member of a Reno, Nevada-based father鈥檚 rights group, stabbed his estranged wife to death in their garage. He then attempted to assassinate the judge who was handling their divorce in a sniper attack.

In June 2011, Thomas Ball set himself on fire outside a courthouse in New Hampshire to protest what he perceived as a legal system discriminating against men. Ball was the leader of a local branch of the Massachusetts-based MRA group, Fatherhood Coalition. Prior to his public suicide, he wrote a manifesto titled 鈥淟ast statement鈥� in which he called for an insurrection, writing 鈥淭wenty-five years ago, the federal government declared war on men. 鈥� It is time, boys, to give them a taste of war.鈥�

The following day, this statement on A Voice for Men along with a link to the full manifesto. He also fanned the flames of violence, writing 鈥淎 judge dragged out of his courtroom into the street, beaten mercilessly, doused with gasoline and set afire by a father who just won鈥檛 take another moment of injustice ... [would be] a minor tragedy that pales by far in comparison to the systematic brutality and thuggery inflicted daily on American fathers by those courts and their police henchmen.鈥�

Nearly a decade later, Roy Den Hollander acted on those calls to target judges. Disguised as a FedEx driver, Den Hollander approached Judge Esther Salas鈥� home and opened fire, killing her 20-year-old son and seriously injuring her husband. The following day, Den Hollander was found in a rental car after killing himself. After searching the car, federal officials the name, photo and address of New York state Chief Judge Janet M. DiFiore, as well as evidence linking him to the murder of Marc Angelucci. Angelucci was the vice president of the National Coalition for Men, a men鈥檚 rights organization that Den Hollender had been kicked out of following a conflict with Angelucci.

In a document posted on his website, titled 鈥淭he Evolutionarily Correct Cyclopedia,鈥� Den Hollander foreshadowed the murder, writing, 鈥淭hings begin to change when individual men start taking out those specific persons responsible for destroying their lives before committing suicide. When every life destroyed by a lying tongue is repaid with another destroyed by a gun.鈥�

Den Hollander described himself as an 鈥渁ntifeminist lawyer鈥� and was a highly visible leader in the MRA movement. He was known for his numerous lawsuits against 鈥渓adies鈥� nights鈥� at bars and women鈥檚 studies programs at universities. In 2015, Den Hollander unsuccessfully argued a case in front of Judge Salas, claiming the male-only military draft was unconstitutional.

He wrote extensively on his website about his hatred for women and feminism, bragged about forcibly kissing girls when he was in third grade, and posted revenge porn of his ex-wife. Despite this, prior to the murder Den Hollander and his misogyny were presented lightheartedly in the media, including being profiled on The Colbert Report. Rather than interrogating the misogynist beliefs that underpinned his cause, he was presented as a punchline with a frivolous cause.

MRAs try to present themselves as the righteous defenders of men and cast women as violent liars and manipulators. However, even a cursory examination of the movement reveals their true intention is to perpetrate, downplay and justify men鈥檚 violent misogyny.