Source-Based Essay

By Christiana Johnson

When it comes to opportunities, men seem to always have the upper hand. According to feminism men have a better chance of winning elections, earning more money while working the same jobs and hours as women. Men are capable of serving on the front lines, whereas women really aren’t. The list of unfairnesses could go on and on and although Men are supposed to have a better standing in the system, the truth is that men face discrimination in a variety of areas, including sexual assault, child support, and false accusations. Four sources that emphases on these issues as well as sort for help from women and the public will be analyzed from a rhetorical situation standpoint

        Bruce Walker’s piece “The Men’s Rights Movement Is a Response to Feminism’s Excesses” discusses how women used the excuse of oppression to take advantage of the system. Bruce Walker’s states that “It is high time for courageous conservatives like Betsy DeVos to take up the cause of men in America, who, unlike women a century ago, do not have some rights that the other sex does not, but rather are in every sense and in every way a maltreated, mocked and abused minority in our land. Men’s rights ought to be the clarion call of everyone truly interested in civil rights.”The author’s targeted audience is politicians. In this, he clearly uses words that are used in politics to draw people into voting and draw politicians into their issues. He uses words like rights, America, a century ago, and clarion call. These are the words politicians use when they are giving speeches when they run for office. It shows the author’s use of political language to target the politicians and those invested in politics. Also, his use of “courageous” shows that as he is calling out to politicians, he is targeting the weak ones indirectly. Showing that their inability to do anything or address the issue makes them weak. The author has an angry tone. His word” in every sense and every way a maltreated, mocked….” The way he describes the reality that men are facing shows how angry he is. The word mocked and maltreated, when it is used carries two major emotions: sadness and anger. Anger is the best fit for this one because of the line before that word. If he is calling out to politicians his words would mostly reflect anger in the pursuit for change rather than sadness. The word maltreated is a strong word that holds a lot of pain and rage. To use these words show that the author’s tone is anger. He wants the audience to start a course of action towards change. By targeting audiences such as politicians the author wanted the audience to create laws that would bring change to the situation that men are in.

        Neil Lyndon’s essay “The Men’s Rights Movement Needs the Support of Respected Women,” asks respected women to help the Men’s Rights movement. This article is about males who have been wrongfully accused of sexual misbehavior. The article goes on to discuss a group started by three moms whose sons were wrongfully accused of rape. The goal of Neil Lyndon’s project is to demonstrate the power of respected women’s voices. “FACE supplied…recommendations and stories from close to 100 of the families with whom they are in touch. These may have included stories DeVos herself recounted in her speech”. He had an informative tone at the beginning of his post as he explained how far women’s voices go. The author extensively explains the background of this organization. This informative tone is used to inform readers especially women of results that came from women joining together for the cause. The author’s targeted audience is women as he explicitly states that “men’s rights need the support of respected women” He targets respected women. To mention an organization hilts by women specifically, and their accomplishments, he is trying to prove to his audience that they are capable of doing. He isn’t just targeting any women, he is targeting those who have placed themselves in positions that can create change and choose to speak on FACE. The author is indirectly saying that he wants women who are in respective positions, with some sort of influence or a cause pushing them to come together like those mothers to build something and do something to start the chain of change. The informative tone as well as targeted audience, women, shows that the author believes that women play an essential role in the men’s rights movement. The author’s purpose as emphasized by his delighted tone is to show women that their support is greatly needed and appreciated by men. This shows that the author wants women who hold power and strong, respected women to rise up and take action for the men’s rights movement

        While Neil Lyndon tackles the issue of false accusation for sexual misconduct “Male Victims of Sexual Assault: Phenomenology, Psychology, Physiology” by Clayton M. Bullock and Mace Beckson is about the lack of recognition of sexual assault on men. The author talks about the ignorance of the people and courts, homophobia, blame on men for their sexual response, etc. The authors state that “The reasons for excluding consideration of males as victims have been manifold and include the misconceptions that men in the civilian community simply cannot be victims of sexual assault; that the incidence of sexual assault of males is so rare as not to merit attention; those male victims are more responsible for their assault than female victims, and those male victims are more likely to be homosexual and therefore actually wanted the assault.” The author’s targeted audience is the public. When the words consideration, misconception, and community, pertains to the people as a whole. The word misconception is used when the opinion is faulty due to faulty understanding. When the author uses this word alongside the community, it shows that he is using an informative tone to explain to the public as a whole the reason behind the exclusion of male victims.  When they say “those male victims”, it means that they aren’t targeting the victims but they are telling someone specifically the public about these victims. This means that their purpose is to inform the public and make them aware of what is being done, whether accidentally or intentionally, to exclude male victims in the fight for justice. By making the public aware, he wants them to start to take male victims into consideration and kill the ignorance surrounding their assault. 

        Many men are falling victim to this way of thinking that society that feminist has branded on them and as a result, organizations are rising for men’s rights. One organization is called The National Center For Men: Fighting For Fairness And Equal Rights. The National Center For Men was founded in 1987 with the goal of advocating for men’s equal rights. Advocate for men’s equal rights, and Counsel men and women from a male-positive point of view. They offer to counsel ranging from difficulties from divorce to gender politics. In between they counsel victims of domestic violence and unfair child support obligation. This organization, as shown by its welcoming tone, is targeting all people. Both men and women. This is evident when they said that the goal is to educate the public about male victims of abuse, how sex discrimination has harmed males, men’s health issues, and how males are frequently falsely accused, especially during divorce. When they explicitly mention the public, they are aiming for all and every individual. Their main target however is male victims. The reason why they are going for the public is to make it easier for male victims to come out and seek justice. In educating the public they want their audience to work towards equality for both men and women. They want their audience to pursue justice for male victims and understand their point of view.

        Overall, the different authors and organizations use different and different tones to target their audiences, whether the same or different, to get a similar message across. Bruce Walker uses anger to target feminists as well as politicians so that they can begin to create a new legislature and end the unjust feminist movement in his piece, “The Men’s Rights Movement Is a Response to Feminism’s Excesses”. In his piece, “The Men’s Rights Movement Needs the Support of Respected Women”, Neil Lyndon uses an engaging tone and informative tone, on the other hand, to target women in order to ask for their help in the men’s rights movement. In “Male Victims of Sexual Assault: Phenomenology, Psychology, Physiology” Clayton M. Bullock, Mace Beckson, mostly uses informative tones to target the court, male victims, as well as the offenders. The National Center For Men: Fighting For Fairness And Equal Right also uses an engaging and informative tone to target the public, both men and women, in order to persuade them to be educated on issues that men face.

Work Cited Page

  • Clayton M. Bullock and Mace Beckson, “Male Victims of Sexual Assault: Phenomenology, Psychology, Physiology.” Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online April 2011, 39 (2) 197-205; http://jaapl.org/content/39/2/197 Accessed 29 Sept. 2021