The fundamental message of this infographic is what lawyers call a Theory of the Case — not every detail, not every arguable statistic, but a succinct portrayal of a controversy in a way that resonates with everyday experience.
The first image is the classic Yin – Yang symbol from east Asian philosophy. As Wikipedia puts it, the symbol “shows a balance between two opposites with a portion of the opposite element in each section” to portray the relationship between dichotomies that form a cohesive whole. It is often, as here, used to describe the relationship between male and female. The two sexes are equal and in balance, with elements of each inside the other.
The second image shows the current distortion caused by the clenched fist of women’s unilateral demands. Rather than inviting men into a negotiation for give-and-take, the women’s movement staged a shakedown, a power grab. Only the needs and wants of women were in play. The result is the imbalanced encroachment of women’s territory into men’s. Men’s objections are portrayed — by women’s theory of their case — as an attempt by men to rollback women’s advances and restore “male privilege.” Biases against men serve to make that current portrayal of men believable.
The third image conveys that the progressive men’s movement stands to benefit by moving forward to a gender system that restores balance and at the same time expands opportunities, rights and protections for women in men’s space and — most crucially — shows expansion of men’s opportunities, rights and protections in women’s space. The disappearance of the clenched fist of women’s unilateral demands conveys that the women’s movement has been an impediment to equality because, as every reasonable person understands, women enjoy and covet precious advantages that men rightfully wish to share.
The Theory of our Case, as depicted in the infographic, is that it is women, not men, who resist balance and equality between the sexes.
Jack Kammer, MSW/MBA
Counter Feminist Social Worker
In 1983 on WCVT (now WTMD) at Towson University, north of Baltimore, I launched a radio show on male-female relationships and the gender issues of men and boys. It didn’t take long for me to realize that serious social problems are connected to society’s lack of awareness of male gender issues and the sexism that creates them. The show ran until 1989. The management of WFBR liked it and wanted to program it, but the station’s ad sales team said advertisers would never buy it for fear of making women unhappy.
​That only convinced me all the more that male gender issues needed attention… read the rest of his amazing story at https://www.malefriendlymedia.com/.
