Author Michael Flood
presents his discussion, “What’s Wrong with Fathers Rights?” in Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex, and
Power which was edited by Shira Tarrant. Flood speaks from an informed
anti-sexist and pro-feminist position on the pitfalls of men’s rights groups.
Flood explains that individual men who seek out support from a men’s rights
group can be allotted into either those undergoing custody battles, are wanting
more contact with their children, or are non-custodial parents seeking lessened
child support. Flood approaches the controversial topic of men’s rights by
relating the most pertinent facts of the men’s rights movement and it’s
hindrance towards all parties involved in family disturbances.
On the topic of
how this movement is damaging progress of women, Flood states, “So, what’s
wrong with men’s rights? Above all, anti-feminist men’s perspectives are based
on a profound denial of the systematic gender inequalities that privilege many
men and disadvantage many women” (Flood, ed. Tarrant, 214). It is this
inaccurate portrayal of feminists and their cause, that men’s rights movements
take part in harming. Their movement offers a distorted perception of the women
involved and their relation to men. Flood acknowledges the very real
wrongdoings toward some men which is perpetrated by some women by stating that
“such instances do not support anti-feminist men’s claim that men are the ‘new
Jews’, suffering under what they call a global ‘feminazi’ regime. Men’s and
fathers’ rights groups offer a bizarre and fundamentally inaccurate portrayal
of feminism as anti-male and fail to see the enormous hope for and goodwill
toward men which is embodies” (Flood, ed. Tarrant, 215). These false claims
against feminism cheat men of the true, harmonious goals of which feminists
strive to achieve.
Michael Flood also argues
three main affects in which the fathers’ rights movement is damaging the people
who are in direct contact with the men seeking support from the men’s rights
advocators. The first, and most critical happenings of the movement’s effects,
Flood describes by writing, “Above all, fathers contact with children has been privileged over children’s safety from violence” (Flood, ed.
Tarrant, 215). Flood reveals that ex-partners and children are being subjected
to further abuse from violent men as the court system is alarmingly relying on
the men’s rights movement suggestion that a father – no matter their abusive
tendencies – is better than no father at all. This privileged belief subjects
ex-partners and children to even further unnecessary physical violence and/or
psychological scarring.
The second effect of the
men’s movement is described by Flood as having a “negative impact on community
understandings of violence against women and children…. Father’s rights groups…
claim that women routinely make up allegations of domestic violence to gain
advantage in family law case and… advocates [of the men’s rights movement]
encourage the mistaken belief that domestic violence is gender-equal” (Flood,
ed. Tarrant, 216). Flood explains through statistical research that women who
do go through with a restraining order are doing so as a last-resort to
safeguard from extreme violence. Furthermore, men who are the victims of domestic
violence are more likely to be assaulted by other men; Flood states, a “four-year
study of admissions to the Emergency Department of a Missouri hospital found… over
8000 men who had been assaulted,… only 45 men were injured by… intimate female partners…
representing 0.55[%]… of male assault visits…. Boys and men are most at risk of
physical harm from other boys and men” (Flood, ed. Tarrant, 217).
The third impact the
father’s rights movement has on violence against both men and women, is its
goal to “erode the protections available to victims of domestic violence and to
boost the rights and freedoms of alleged perpetrators” (Flood, ed. Tarrant, 217).
The movement is aiming to breakdown the public response to victims of domestic
violence and reduce the readily viable options for those in need of protection
and assistance from perpetrators of abuse. Father’s rights groups approach the
topics of domestic and sexual violence, “the same way as actual male
perpetrators: They minimize and deny the extent of this violence, blame the
victim, and explain the violence as mutual or reciprocal” (Flood, ed. Tarrant,
217).
Through his work, Michael
Flood reveals the true nature of men’s rights and father’s rights movements
which aim to “control mothers’ management of finances, parenting, and contact…
[fueling] interparental conflict, leading to more problems with contact and
further stress for children” (Flood, ed. Tarrant, 218). Michael Flood explains
that we as a whole must help men who are facing these stress inducing
situations and help them – in positive and constructive ways – maintain connection
to their children as good fathers. Flood states, “We must step up efforts to
engage men in positive ways, building partnerships with supportive men and men’s
groups and with the women’s movements. All this is part of a broader
profeminist effort, to build a world of gender justice" (Flood, ed. Tarrant, 219).
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