Just Smith.

A glaring example of institutional misandry throughout history can be found when you look at casualties of war. They’re pretty much all men. Men were seen as strong, and so they were sent by their government to be massacred. They did not have a choice in the matter and, if they objected, they would be killed just as surely by their own state.

Women weren’t allowed to fight at all. A number of contemporary feminists see this as misogyny. This isn’t justified, because neither is the use of the word ‘allowed’. Sorry, but ‘allowed to be slaughtered’ doesn’t quite fit. Try ‘expected’. Women weren’t expected to fight at all. That’s what makes this very definitely misandry - men were killed solely because they were men, and that was what they were for. They were disposable weapons. This was historical gendercide, and millions of men have been killed because of the way they were born. If that’s not systematic sexism, nothing is.

If modern egalitarians try to use this example against those who persistently deny that misandry is ‘a thing’ (almost always women, who wouldn’t know), though, they face a couple of objections. The first is that this is all in the past - ancient history with no effect on the modern man. When the US-based equalists point out that the draft is still in place - whereby men are forced to sign up for service in the event of an emergency, and women are not - they face the second objection: that such an emergency isn’t happening. It might be misandry in the past, or potentially in the future, but it isn’t misandry now - and so misandry isn’t a thing.

Both these arguments are problematic. Feminists will happily cite historical misogyny, like unequal suffrage, as supporting the idea that misogyny is a big deal today and is inherent in our culture. Historical misandry like this can serve the exact same purpose. Potential misandry, too, is still problematic. If a law discriminates against one gender, even if nobody directly suffers tangibly, it’s still a sexist law. There’s no denying that.

The big problem, though, and one that these US-centric egalitarians scarcely point out, is that this misandry is far from over. 

In Armenia, men are expected by the law to perform 24 months of mandatory service. Women, feminists will be pleased to know, are allowed to volunteer. You see the difference, now? Women have a choice. Men don’t. Armenian men face institutional misandry.

In Austria, men are expected by the law to perform 6 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t expected to do anything, but are allowed to volunteer.

In Belarus, men are expected by the law to perform 18 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In Bermuda, men are expected by the law to perform 38 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In Brazil, men are expected by the law to perform 12 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In Cyprus, men are expected by the law to perform 24 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In Denmark, men are expected by the law to perform 4 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In Egypt, men are expected by the law to perform 14 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In Finland, men are expected by the law to perform 6 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In Greece, men are expected by the law to perform 9 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In Iran, men are expected by the law to perform 20 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In South Korea, men are expected by the law to perform 21 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In Mexico, men are expected by the law to perform 12 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In Norway, men are expected by the law to perform 19 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In Russia, men are expected by the law to perform 12 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In Singapore, men are expected by the law to perform 24 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In Switzerland, men are expected by the law to perform 8 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In Taiwan, men are expected by the law to perform 16 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In Turkey, men are expected by the law to perform 15 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In Ukraine, men are expected by the law to perform 12 months of mandatory service. Women aren’t.

In all of these countries, the above objections don’t apply. The men here face undeniable institutional misandry. These time periods don’t seem like much, but to be taken from your families for even a week to be forced into a harsh or even dangerous environment is too much, especially when you are only required to do so because you were born one shape and not another. That’s discrimination, and it is wrong.

Many of these time periods have halved in recent years, and every decade you go back they get more and more extreme. This means that many men alive today have suffered worse, and all for the way they look. The time periods I’ve listed have also been the shortest one’s I could find - men who don’t live in certain well-off areas, or who aren’t educated, or don’t choose the correct option, will again face a much longer ‘sentence’. I’ve listed the bare minimum expected of every male over a certain age, and just because they are male. Men who don’t fulfil these expectations are humiliated, arrested on the spot, imprisoned, and are restricted from holding a well-paying job, or a degree, or a passport and full citizenship.

Women are entitled to all of these things in most of these countries without having to suffer, because feminism has bought them that. Feminism has taught them that gender discrimination is wrong. Feminism has, apparently, forgotten to mention about the men. It’s still sexism when it’s against men. Sexism hurts everybody. True feminists, egalitarians, equalists, masculists and MRAs know this - no matter which labels they know it under.

Misandry is a thing, and it is a problem. More examples of institutional misandry can be found here, by the way. The sooner we stop ignoring that inconvenient truth, the sooner we can actually work together to find some progress. The sooner we can abolish this oppressive system of patriarchal gender roles (which are natural, and enforced upon everyone). The sooner we can get some equality. I’m not going to talk about whether I think mandatory service is a good idea, because that’s actually not as important.

What is important is a truth I think we can all agree on: equal treatment is a good idea. No matter who is suffering most, or who are the ‘real victims’, we can all shake hands on the fact that any suffering from sexism is a terrible thing - and something we have sworn to stop. So - for the sake of all the men, women, and non-binaries struggling under the system today - let’s please put our petty in-fighting aside; let’s actually start stopping it.