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Articles

Masculinism and the Antifeminist Countermovement

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Pages 21-39
Published online: 19 Dec 2011

Little research has been done on antifeminism, whether from the perspective of the sociology of social movements or even of women's studies. Yet, a particular form of antifeminism has been at work for a number of years, more specifically, masculinism. Its discourse claims that men are in crisis because of the feminization of society and it mobilizes primarily around issues pertaining to the interests of fathers and spouses (divorce laws, alimony, child custody, violence). This article examines two alternative explanations of the masculinist phenomenon: (1) men have real problems, and masculinists scapegoat women and feminists instead of targeting the true causes of their problems, such as the transformation of the labor market; (2) masculinism is openly opposed to feminism and is thus the result of countermovement dynamics. While referring to other contexts (UK, the USA, etc.), our paper takes the situation in Québec (Canada) as a case study. The feminist movement and masculinism are dynamic there and stand in sharp opposition to each other. The essay applies the theory of countermovements in order to better understand the oppositional relationship between these two political forces and demonstrates ultimately that masculinism's effects on feminists are at times paradoxical.

Acknowledgements

This article includes both original material and various passages drawn from the collection of essays Le mouvement masculiniste au Québec: L'antiféministe démasqué (2008). The authors wish to thank les éditions Remue-Ménage for permission to reproduce certain excerpts of the book, and Lazer Lederhendler for the English translation. Included as well is research data found in ‘Les attaques antiféministes au Québec’, a research project in association with L'R des centres de femmes au Québec and with the financial support of the Protocole Relais-femme du Service aux collectivitiés (SAC) of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). Thanks are also due to the other members who took part in this research: Odile Boisclair, of L'R, Lyne Kurtzman, of the SAC, and the assistants Marie-Ève Campbell-Fiset and Stéphanie Mayer, master's students in political science at UQAM.

Notes

 1. This is nothing new: see Symes (1930 Symes, L. 1930. The new masculinism. Harper's Magazine, June [Google Scholar]).

 2. Available at http://www.uomini3000.it/68.htm (accessed 18 December 2009) [our translation]. Thanks to Marcos Ancelovici for this reference.

 3. From an interview in the documentary film La domination masculine (2009), Patrice Jean, dir. [our translation].

 4. The term ‘feminazis’ is also used by the conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh, in the USA.

 5. Personal notes made during the hearings, 4–6 June 2008 [our translation].

 6. In the documentary film La domination masculine (2009), Patrice Jean, dir. [our translation].

 7. For further insight into the fathers' rights activists rhetoric of equality, see Bertoia and Drakich (1993 Bertoia, C. and Drakich, J. 1993. The fathers' rights movement: Contradictions in rhetoric and practice. Journal of Family Issues, 14(4): 592615. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] [Google Scholar]).

 8. Statistics Canada (2011 Statistics Canada. 2011. Women in Canada: A Gender-Based Statistical Report, Ottawa: Statistics Canada.  [Google Scholar]). Available at http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-503-x/2010001/article/11388/tbl/tbl001-eng.htm

 9. Statistics Canada (2011 Statistics Canada. 2011. Women in Canada: A Gender-Based Statistical Report, Ottawa: Statistics Canada.  [Google Scholar]). Available at http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-503-x/2010001/article/11388/tbl/tbl012-eng.htm

10. Available at http://www.prevention-violence.ca/English/PDFsEnglish/DomesticViolenceandFirearms.pdf (accessed 25 July 2011).

11. Statistics Canada (2011 Statistics Canada. 2011. Women in Canada: A Gender-Based Statistical Report, Ottawa: Statistics Canada.  [Google Scholar]). Available at http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-503-x/2010001/article/11416/tbl/tbl003-eng.htm

12. ‘Suicide’. Available at http://fathers-4-justice.ca/portail/index.php?option = com_content&task = view&id = 45&Itemid = 75 (accessed August 2007).

13. This is what G. Dupuy claimed at the ‘Consultation générale sur le document intitulé Vers un nouveau contrat social pour l'égalité entre les femmes et les hommes’, Journal des débats, Commission permanente des affaires sociales, Québec, 28 September 2005, 38(155). See also Dupuy (2000 Dupuy, G. 2000. Coupable d'être un homme: «Violence conjugale» et délire institutionnel, Montréal: VLB.  [Google Scholar], pp. 106–111, 2010 Dupuy, G. 2010. “Justice pour les hommes”. In 300,000 femmes battues: Y avez-vous cru, 4189. St-Adèle: Café crème.  [Google Scholar], p. 64).

14. See, for example, http://www.lapresrupture.qc.ca/ArchivesLettresOuvertes.html#injonction

 

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