Herb Wasserman is a founding member of NCM and was a leader in the US men’s movement in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Herb was unable to attend our 2018 Reuters discussion group about gender and politics but he submitted the following statement which was read on his behalf at that meeting. We post it here and invite your comments.
“During my business career I have supervised women, worked alongside women, and worked for women managers. I have great respect for and very positive feelings about women and their value.
I have been politically liberal most of my life and believe in fairness and equality, politically and economically.
There is a great divide in this country and it pains me. People are confused and upset and turning to ideas that are inimical to their self-interest. The divide and conquer strategies of reactionary parties are making inroads. Men and women are often behaving at cross purposes. Women are angry and men have been turned off by the often unjustified attacks on them. One hears much about misogyny but little about misandry.
While there have been many examples of abhorrent misconduct by men, particularly men in high places (which should, of course, be dealt with), there are examples of exaggerated anger over events that happened many years ago when they were considered in a different light, and in some cases are uncorroborated. We seem to be entering a McCarthy-like period, where men are guilty and never to be believed.
I fear that identity politics and the lack of a positive agenda are tearing apart the Democratic Party, and any hope of economic equality.”
— Herb Wasserman
Please submit your comments for Herb via feedback@nationalcenterformen.org.
Let us know if we can publish your comments on this page.
COMMENTS
I was curious about the topic of Men’s Rights after recently watching a Jubilee video on Youtube titled, “Men’s Rights VS Feminism: Is Toxic Masculinity Real?” which led me to finding your site. While I disagree with some of the assertions of Men’s Rights activists, 1 point that was made during the video that I think was relevant was the unfortunate consequences of the #MeToo movement– that we must always believe the accusers first and foremost without due process. Unfortunately, some women do lie about assault and have the potential to ruin men’s lives just with an accusation.
Essentially, they are guilty until proven innocent even though their reputation may never recover. This is pretty disturbing to me, although it’s not often talked about. Additionally, many men are uncomfortable being alone around women in a business setting for fear of accusations; men are not given the benefit of the doubt as women would be. This costs women potential opportunities for advancement in the workplace.
I think that if men’s fears about these types of things were discussed among men’s rights groups more (perhaps on websites about it), it might make other women more sympathetic to their cause. Just a thought. — Emily Smith
