"...[men are more likely to] to be the victims of violence..."
Overwhelmingly, this happens at the hands of other men [PDF - see page 13]. And this formulation also elides and downplays the horrible reality of violence against women and girls.
"...[men are more likely to] lose custody of their children in the event of a divorce..."
This is because our patriarchal society deems child-rearing to be "women's work". And the picture is far more complicated than the publicity seekers at Fathers4Justice would have you believe, too.
"...Boys lag a year behind girls at reading in every industrialised country."
How is this the fault of women and/or feminists? I'd say the "man box" view of masculinity, combined with a culture which views reading as a "sissy" activity, has rather more to do with it than a conspiracy of women looking to give their daughters an educational boost.
"[Men] work longer hours, too..."
Was this statistic adjusted to take into account the fact that women, who are much more likely to be primary care-providers for children as well as for other relatives, tend to work part-time a lot more than men? Again, is this evidence of "sexism" against men - or of devaluing women in the workplace? By itself, it's pretty much worthless.
"...men develop heart disease 10 years earlier than women, on average.."
I really do struggle to see how this can be laid at the feet of women, or of "sexism" against men.
"...young men are three times more likely to commit suicide."
This is an issue I feel especially strongly about, and it disgusts me that MRAs often cynically use it to back up their points. The thought that young men in severe emotional distress may feel unable to talk to others about their problems or to seek help should be of concern to everyone. But again, this is a consequence of patriarchy before anything else. "Boys don't cry", "stiff upper lip" and the "strong and silent type": society teaches boys that to be masculine is to be self-contained, to be in control of one's emotions. Talking about feeeeeelings is 'girly', right, and we all know that - for a boy - being called a "girl" is a terrible insult, yes? All this sounds like old-fashioned sexism (rather than MRA Bizarro World anti-male sexism) to me. Besides, all the talk of young men and suicide rather tends to obscure the fact that young women actually attempt suicide more frequently than young men, but the methods they tend to use are less effective, on the whole, which helps explain the discrepancy in completion rates.
(...)
