Men’s rights movements argue that a number of contemporary policies and practices are discriminatory toward men; moreover, some men’s rights groups argue that feminism is at least partially responsible for the implementation of these practices and policies. Identify one contemporary policy or practice that men’s movements have identified as discriminatory and explain whether or not you agree with that classification.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANS: The primary issue discussed in the text is child custody after divorce. Numerous father’s rights groups, including Fathers 4 Justice and the American Coalition for Fathers, argue that men should have equal rights to custody of their children after divorce; for some groups this means that a father should receive no less than 50% access to his children. On its face, this is a reasonable argument; students may reference their own or friends’/family members’ experiences in support of it. On the other hand, the issue is complicated by statistics, including men who do not pay child support or contact their children after divorce. Other issues that might be addressed in class but are not addressed by Wood include domestic violence legislation that mandates that alleged perpetrators be incarcerated for 24 hours after an alleged victim has contacted authorities with a charge of domestic violence or putative fathers’ registries that regulate the rights of men who may have impregnated women to whom they are not married.