Two Rights Make A Right

Rights. This word brings up so many different things: our right to free speech, our right to bare arms, and also female and male rights. To be perfectly honest I knew about all the different woman's rights movements and I didn't even know that men had their own movements outside of moving from one side of the couch the other. I will be the first one to admit that when it comes to anything political I am a little naive, but through the reading I have come to understand and like both sides of the specturum.

Women fought for their right to vote and were granted that right in 1920, but the first fights for woman's rights took place in the 1840's with the first "woman's rights convention...in 1848" (Wood, 2011, p. 71). Many types, or labels, of feminism emerged over the years, but the one that I feel I most identify with is Revalorism feminism. These feminists "focus on appreciating women's traditional activities and contributions and increasing society's appreciation if women and their contributions to society...[and] increase the value that society places on women and on the skills, activities, and philosophies derived from women's traditional roles" (Wood, 2011, p. 79). Every woman, including myself, likes their hard work to be noticed and appreciated and what better way that to start with the simple things they do around the house? Our traditional roles include cooking, cleaning, baring and raising children, and pleasing their husband emotionally, mentally, and sexually. My personal experiences with this revolve around my husband. He thanks for for cleaning, doing the laundry, and even though we don't have any children yet he complements me on how good a mother he knows I will be someday. Women's contributions go outside the home as well. Teachers, nannies, babysitters, social workers, counselors, and the list goes on and on. Our "natural" nurturing stretches beyond the home and into our jobs, social networks, and everyday lives. It's okay to embrace the traditional gender roles, but once they start to rule your life then maybe you've taken feminism too far. I embrace my roots as the great granddaughter of Irish immigrants - I cook (to the best of my ability), I clean (my favorite pastime), and I long to have kids, but it's my husband who wants to stay home with the kids and that's okay with me because he embraces and celebrates not only what I do at home, but what I can do outside the home.

Men staying home with the kids? Volunteering to be a stay at home dad? It's becoming more and more acceptable, but slowly men are fighting back to regain their masculinity. As a woman it's difficult for me to connect with a men's right's movement, but one in particular stood out to me above all the others: MVP, Mentors in Violence Prevention (Wood, 2011). I, much like MVP, believe that there is a difference between a person and their behavior. "Men are not naturally violent and we don't think men are bad. The majority of men are not violent" (Wood, 2011, p. 102). If a man can recognize his triggers, understand his own anger, and emotions then he then has the tools to end violence in his life. Even though violence is linked to masculinity in our culture (Wood, 2011), MVP teaches men how to still be masculine, but in a less destructive way. MVP believes that the views on masculinity in our current culture is "toxic for all of us" (Wood, 2011, p. 103). It's amazing to think that two groups - seemingly different - can make it right for the whole.

           
Wood, J. T. (2011). The Rhetorical Shaping of Gender: Men's Movements in the United States.. Gendered   lives: communication, gender, and culture (9th ed., pp. 95-114). Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. 

Wood, J. T. (2011). The Rhetorical Shaping of Gender: Women's Movements in the United States. Gendered lives: communication, gender, and culture (9th ed., pp. 69-93). Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.