Responding to GQ’s “Are You Man Enough for the Men’s Rights Movement”

Jeff Sharlet’s article in GQ entitled, Are You Man Enough for the Men’s Rights Movement was very disheartening. Here was an opportunity for real men’s issues to receive some well deserved attention. Unfortunately, Mr. Sharlet’s lengthy diatribe did nothing of the sort. He ridicules the movement, makes derogatory comments about its participants and fails to discuss even one serious topic.For a magazine that is dedicated to men’s issues I am surprised that actual men’s issues were considered a joke. Mr. Sharlet fails to discuss domestic violence against men, sexual assault, false allegations of rape and domestic abuse, parental alienation and the inequality in the family and criminal court system. Is it Mr. Sharlet’s view that these issues are non-existent, exaggerated or just downright lies? We will never know.

Had he even taken a moment to research what the men’s movement was about he would have noticed that the very month his article was published a number of fathers in India staged a hunger strike.[1] That new legal cases were reported in Canada [2] the UK [3] and even Australia [4] where courts berated custodial mothers for intentional parental alienation and for false allegations. Moreover, the growing awareness with respect to children being turned against divorced fathers [5] or the lack of resources for men in domestic violence relationships. [6] Mr. Sharlett could have addressed the recent stories about woman lying about rape in the UK [7] and even receiving jail time. [8]

These topics have been the driving force for various men’s organizations. Unfortunately, Mr. Sharlet did not think it was relevant to address them. Perhaps, GQ should have done what they
do best, an article about how to get rock hard abs or advertisements for non-essential overpriced fashion accessories.