Solidarity with Men Statement 

As part of Arika’s beliefs and specifically in conjunction with our public programme we want to extend solidarity to men via the following statement. Those most directly affected by a specific oppression are those best placed to develop methods to overcome it. Feminist movements in the UK and globally have suggested a variety of approaches to bring about an end to patriarchy. To further these approaches, we first advocate for:

• Recognition that the social category of men encompasses both great diversity of experience and is a basis for true solidarity and brotherhood
• Recognition that trans men are men
• Recognition that the social category of men meets and merges with other lived experiences such as being non-binary and genderqueer in complex ways
• Recognition that men are subject to systemic physical violence that is based upon their identity e.g. via forced recruitment to the military, social normalisation of physical fighting as a way to resolve conflict etc.
• Recognition that men and boys are subject to sexual violence
• Recognition that men and boys are systemically disenfranchised from societal power, although not on the basis of their masculine identity
• Recognition that men’s caring work goes largely unrecompensed
• Recognition that men are consistently economically devalued and impoverished, although not as a societal group as a whole
• Recognition that men and boys are consistently depicted in dehumanising ways via mediums of public communication (e.g. film, advertising, visual art etc.) whilst simultaneously being celebrated and centralised in ways that women are not
• Recognition that public healthcare frequently does not take men’s needs into account or respect men’s bodily autonomy, whilst also acknowledging that mainstream medicine continues to be premised on a male-centric model
• Recognition that patriarchy places untenable and contradictory demands upon men as men which contributes to a culture of internalised oppression and self-harm
• Recognition that patriarchy encourages and supports men to abuse power they hold over others and that whilst the greatest suffering is experienced by those who are directly oppressed, the oppressor too is damaged
• Recognition that men’s direct and lateral communication that is supportive of feminist ideas is consistently invisibilised and actively eradicated from public view
• Recognition that a vast expanse of culture, wisdom, art, joy, science and liberating insight has been generated by men

We recognise that the following reforms would reduce suffering and save lives:

• Fully funded and active support for the movement to end violence against women and girls
• Full radical reform of public sex education to a consent and pleasure based model
• Support for all victims of physical, emotional and sexual abuse or violence
• Due diligence and investment of resources in investigating crimes against men of all identities
• Adequate societal checks against and support for individuals who perpetrate violence against women and girls
• Provision of a universal basic income
• Provision of suitable, safe, healthy accommodation on a universal basis
• Access to free universal healthcare of a high standard with an inbuilt commitment to the support of men’s bodily autonomy
• A societal wide commitment to reproductive justice
• Free provision of high-quality nursery and childcare
• Extension of the time periods available for paid paternity/ primary carer/maternity leave from work
• An end to workplace expectations that entail working anti-social and/or long hours
• An increase in societal support for men to engage in processes of personal and collective examination around the structural and personal effects of patriarchal social conditioning and play their part in generating necessary change
• Active solidarity from other all other social groups with the above processes
• An immediate end to the military industrial complex – war solves nothing
• An immediate end to the prison industrial complex to be replaced with more humane ways of collectively preventing acts of violence and abuse of power

The above listed reforms are both critical and yet inherently limited in nature. We are clear that for full liberation of men to come about change on a profound, revolutionary, level is necessary. For such changes to occur would entail the end of white supremacy, capitalism and patriarchy. This would involve collective re-organisation of society on a mass level and equitable redistribution of resources and decision-making powers.

The process of struggling for these changes – both long term and immediate – is complex and takes place in challenging circumstances. We recognise that people of all gender identities are uniquely placed to develop effective strategies and guiding visions around the eradication of men’s oppression. The process of ending patriarchy (recognising that its effects have accumulated over thousands of years of existence) and creating a society based on principals of respect for people of all genders is inherently a matter of collective responsibility to which we can all directly contribute.