I was going to write up something today about International Men’s Day, the me-too what-about-the-menz holiday that’s so meaningless that even Men’s Rights activists can barely remember to celebrate it. Do we really need a day to “celebrate [the] achievements and contributions” of men? Don’t we get quite a lot of that already? Do we need a day given over to “highlighting the discrimination against [men]” as if this is really a thing?
But then I discovered that today was also World Toilet Day, and realized it was probably more worthwhile to promote this event, as the lack of toilets and proper sanitation — a widespread problem in parts of the developing world, particularly in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa — can have devastating public health consequences.
Some disturbing facts, from the UN, which I clipped from this CNN story:
- 2.5 billion people — one in three people in the world — do not have a toilet or access to sustainable sanitation
- Diarrheal diseases are the second most common cause of death in young children in developing countries
- They kill more than HIV/AIDS, malaria and measles combined
Learn more at the official website. Also, Al Jazeera has a useful infographic.
And just a note to the MRAs who have somehow concluded from this post that I am comparing men or men’s issues to toilets (!?), let me try to make my point very clear: I am contrasting a sharply focused activist campaign aimed at a very real problem — lack of toilets and proper sanitation in large parts of the developing world — with large consequences — disease and death, of adults and children alike — with a badly thought out International Men’s Day that seems largely driven by jealousy that “women get a day so why can’t we have one too.”
How halfassed is International Men’s Day? Here’s a screenshot of the International Men’s Day website’s “resources” page.
Generally speaking, you would expect a “resources” page to list facts and figures and possibly link to relevant other groups. All you get at the International Men’s Day site are some posters made from stock photos.
What I found on the site’s “about” page was much more troubling. The site was put online by a group called the Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation, working with the founder of International Men’s Day, Dr Jerome Teelucksingh. The Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation, as I discovered with a bit of Googling, turns out to be a virulently homophobic and transphobic organization that is also behind a site called Gendermatters.com. A quasi-manifesto on the site titled 21 Reasons Why Gender Matters asserts, among other things, that:
Transsexuality signals a deceptively fierce disorder. Elective castration, mastectomy, hysterectomy, etc., are futile non-solutions. The cruel, permanent disfigurement of so-called gender reassignment is not the answer. Transsexuals need psychological and spiritual insight that frees them to celebrate the chromosomes they received at conception.
So, yeah, a halfassed men’s “day” that’s associated with transphobic assholes. Not exactly a winning combination.
Look, if you’re concerned about making a difference in the lives of men, pick the issue that matters most to you, and work on that. If you want to increase funding for prostate cancer research, work on that. If you want to raise money to help male victims of domestic violence, work on that. Actually do the hard work of activism. Don’t just have yourself a “day” and pretend that it means something.
EDIT: Rewrote part of the first paragraph and added all the stuff after the Al Jazeera link to clarify the point of this post, because clearly some people have missed the point entirely.
So “tom foolery” – let’s play “Who’s sock is this?”
Ah Well! As long as I’m getting a giggle out of you Carol I’m Gold!
I’ll be sure to raise the point of you not caring about my point at the next pointless meeting of my “All Men Are Childish Who Don’t Get The Point of Toilets” activist group.
I say group. It’s normally just me. Sat on a toilet.
Same one to divert attention from the other one.
Argenti’s probably got the right of it.
Pish and Tosh! I’m an annoying mofo in my own right thank you very much!
I’m with you lot… I say ‘Get rid of the other dissenter!’ & ‘Down with opposing schools of thought!’ That sort of thing… Am I doing it right?
i’m confused
bye
‘Down with opposing schools of thought!’
would require a thought.
The Way of the Tantrum is not, actually, you know, an argument. or a thought. or a discussion.
Is mofo’s point that zie revels in irritating people? But that’s not really a point, is it, more of a purpose for zir visit. The actual point zie was supposedly making in the comment itself remains a mystery.
Depends what you’re aiming at. I still think your comments are word salads with an occasional coherent half sentence here and there, but generally ‘sense it makes not’.
I’m reminded of this for some reason but I can’t figure out why:
Aw, I kind of like absurdity trolls. At least they’re not offensive.
The Way of the Tantrum leads inexorably to the internet outhouse.
(But not yet, please, since there are no other chew toys around.)
Another shit troll. Whatever. Here argenti, have some baby stingrays in a laundry basket.
Proof once again that the baby version of almost anything is adorable.
(Except baby trolls? I guess that would be Pell, and so far he’s failed the aww test.)
Guess what our next scheduled round of Borg brain bleach is going to be?
They are just DAWWWWWW
I’m starting to think the claim that the men’s movement doesn’t actually do anything for men is incorrect. The blogging and internet commentary wing, sure, but a few places like the National Parents’ Organization lobby (sometimes successfully) to reform family law. I’m pretty sure that a similar difference exists between feminist bloggers, and, say, NARAL. I say SIMILAR and not the same, because feminist blogging does seem to be a a bit more ideologically unified with the actual activist arm of the movement–whereas most internet MRA’s just hate women.
Is the National Parents Organization a men’s rights group? Sounds more like a gender neutral group for parents.
In some isolated rural areas in the USA, outhouses were the norm at least thru World War 2. Everyone having indoor running water and flush toilets is more recent than is often assumed, even in the first world.
@extraterrestrial biological entity princess: And some not-so-isolated rural areas. My mom grew up just north of Frankfort, Kentucky in the 50s and she remembers Rural Electrification coming to her house (she was very young). TVA and all the Great Society programs of FDR really made a difference in the States.
D’AWWWWW BABBIE SEA BEASTIES
They’re so tiny! I want a babby stingray of my very own to love.
D’awwwwwwwww. Baby stingrays are so cute!
NPO was apparently once called “Fathers and Families”. Found the Q&A from their name-change:
So, this seems to at least recognize being called a “Men’s Rights Organization” is a non-starter. That said, I was overall unimpressed with what I found on their website. They are largely involved in marginal cases, and use tactics that are dubious at best. (In a discussion of one case, they link to Rate M.D. dot com, saying that the doctor they’ve named in a lawsuit has a horrible rating. This is true–she’s got a 1 out of 5. Of course, that’s based on one rating, which seems to conform very exactly to what the lawsuit is geared towards.)
Narendra Modi has a campaign going in India to encourage people to build toilets, instead of temples. Apparently, there’s a strong correlation between class and access to hygienic toilet accommodations. Go figure. Also, I always remember International Women’s Day, because it is the same day as my birthday.
Minor bathroom note – a friend of mine once told me that she enjoyed going to the performances of our local gay men’s chorus not only for the music, but the experience of seeing a long line for the men’s bathroom and none for the women’s.
Warning: Do not pet the baby stingrays.