There’s more to the men’s movement than Incels

The horror of August’s mass shooting by 22-year-old Jake Davison caused many commentators to point towards a dangerous underbelly of male disaffection. But what many overlooked was the fact that the shadowy underground group of disenfranchised males that inspired Davison to take up arms is part of a much larger network of male activism dating back to the late 1970s when the men’s liberation movement split into two camps consisting of the pro-feminist men’s movement and the anti-feminist men’s rights lobby.

Focusing on what they saw as male disadvantage, oppression and discrimination, the men’s rights movement hardened into Men’s Rights Activism (MRA), an informal network of online communities known as the ‘Manosphere’. Reviled by feminists for their anti-female stance and ideological links to neo-conservatism, MRA groups have remained highly controversial, with both sides of the political spectrum dismissing them as a fringe network of angry women-haters. 

Paul Elam, who founded A Voice for Men in 2009, argues that the movement has only ever been about equal rights, which includes the calling out of false rape allegations and the fight for a fair judicial system that no longer discriminates against men during divorce and custody battles.