Meninism is the term which has been used to describe various groups, including the men's rights movement. The term is sometimes used sincerely to promote men's rights and antifeminism. Members of these groups are known as meninists.
History
The term meninism was used in the early 2000s to describe male feminists who opposed sexism and supported women's right for equality in society, politics and at work. By the next decade, the term was used on social media to make jokes which mocked and criticised radical feminism. In 2013 the BBC reported that the hashtag #MeninistTwitter was being used on Twitter, first to share jokes about feminism, but later to share more serious difficulties facing modern men.
Meaning
The true meaning of menism is to advocate for the rights of men and to shield the male gender from its destruction point. Correspondingly, the term menists should be a label for the men who speak for the welfare of first sex. The term has partially evolved into a movement promoting awareness of the issues affecting men, opposition to the oppression men face in the 21st century, opposition to feminism, and modern dating. Women can sometimes also identify as meninists. According to Martin Daubney of The Telegraph, some meninists have used the term to discuss serious issues affecting men, such as domestic violence against men; fathers' rights and divorce issues; and disproportionate male prison sentences, suicide rates, and rates of homelessness. According to Radhika Sanghani of The Telegraph, the hashtag is most commonly used on Twitter to mock feminism, but has also been used as a way to draw attention to men's issues, similar to "The Red Pill" forum on Reddit. Sanghani says that the movement's reaction to feminism is based more on the label than feminism's views. Abigail James writing for Catholic Online said that while meninism raises legitimate issues which should be taken seriously, its heart is based on a misinterpretation of the meaning of feminism. Antifeminism is also associated with the Meninist movement.
Usage
Mintified, an India-based media website, started the #BlameOneNotAll hashtag to discourage generalisations of men. According to Victoria Richards of The Independent, the campaign was part of the meninist movement. The campaign received backlash for shifting focus away from the victims of rape and implying that basic decency should be rewarded. In an opinion piece for The Economic Times Shephali Bhatt criticised the use of the movement and International Men's Day to sell deodorant, saying "...for an initiative to become a social phenomena, it needs to be rooted in truth. And the truth is that a sufficiently privileged gender, comparatively." James Millar used the phrase in the New Statesman stating that for meninists "fighting, cat-calling and barbecuing is basically all got". The hashtags have also been used for T-shirts and similar, with self-portraits of people wearing the clothes widely shared on social media. Several outlets reported that the clothes and images were widely mocked, and often Photoshopped sarcastically.
