Talk:Men Going Their Own Way/Archive 4

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Deleted sections

These sections below have been deleted by User:Gamaliel and others—in my opinion, unjustifiably. I have salvaged them here. Do not edit these here, but use these sections as a launchpad for further improvements, and/or to discuss whether these removals were justified. —MaximumGrossTakeOffWeight^(talk). 14:33, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

Definition

Because it is a decentralized social phenomenon and a community, MGTOW does not have any leaders, spokesmen, by-laws, official publications, official manifesto, or organizational structure, which can make the concept contentious, ambiguous, and difficult to define. The concept of MGTOW is thus primarily defined and refined by the MGTOW community itself, by means of articles, conversations, and debates in self-published books, websites, blogs, web forums, and online videos. Authors that have researched the phenomenon, such as Kay Hymowitz, have recommended examining MGTOW websites, including MGTOW.com and EternalBachelor, for readers interested in this matter.

According to MGTOW.com, MGTOW are men who share a specific view, philosophy, or school of thought with regard to modern society, romantic relationships, and women in general. According to this website, while the specific wording may differ among individuals, generally accepted definitions within the MGTOW community include:

• A man who preserves and protects his self-ownership and personal sovereignty.
• A man who avoids cultural definitions and preconceptions of what a "man" is.
• A man who looks to no one for social approval.
• A man who does not allow anyone to treat him as a disposable utility.
• A man who lives according to his own best interests, rather than society's expectations.

What MGTOW are not

The modern incarnation of MGTOW as a community originated in what is known as the "manosphere" (or "androsphere"), a loose and informal collection of weblogs, web forums, and websites, and online video channels, of men discussing men's issues, many of which are male-only spaces. Many MGTOW prefer to disassociate themselves from the "manosphere", as the latter term is sometimes used as an attempt to conflate several very different ideas:

• MGTOW are separate and different from the men's rights movement (MRM). Men's rights activists (MRAs) seek to influence or reform society though public protests, conferences, public speaking, publications, lobbying, picketing, petitions, and other organized political and legal activism, whereas MGTOW are not a political movement, and hence MGTOW as such are either unconcerned with influencing larger society, or engage in (private and personal) passive resistance and nonparticipation as a form of protest.
• While MGTOW are highly critical of feminism, the MGTOW philosophy is not restricted to or synonymous with antifeminism. Indeed, many MGTOW view both progressive feminism and traditional conservative antifeminism as two sides of a single gynocentric spectrum. Traditional conservatives antifeminists defend several gynocentric notions such as chivalry, traditional gender roles of breadwinner and housewife, and traditional "family values", such as an insistence on monogamy, marriage, and procreation. Traditional conservative antifeminists have therefore criticized MGTOW for walking away from these ideals; MGTOW have in their turn criticized traditional conservative antifeminists for what they see as taking advantage of the benefits feminism provided for women while remaining passive and silent about feminism's negative consequences for men.
• MGTOW also differ from "pick-up artists (PUAs)" and the "seduction community" which encourage men to dedicate time, money, and effort to pursuing sex and relationships, with an emphasis on increasing one's number of sexual partners, and garnering female approval. While many MGTOW still engage in sexual relationships with women, such MGTOW strive to minimize the time, money, effort, and risks involved in such activities, and exercise great selectivity in their choice of romantic partners.
• MGTOW also should also not be confused with self-described "involuntary celibates" ("incels"). An "incel" is a man who wishes to have intimate relationships, but considers himself too unattractive to attract a woman, and subsequently resents women for purportedly causing his sexual frustration. From the perspective of the MGTOW philosophy, "involuntary celibacy" is an oxymoron, because MGTOW practice voluntary celibacy or have relationships or partake in casual or transactional sex.
• Finally, the MGTOW concept is not simply identical with "bachelorhood" in general, one reason being that MGTOW are bachelors who uphold a personal philosophy based on male self-determination, self-preservation, and an opposition to gynocentrism, whereas there exist a variety of reasons why a bachelor in general might be a bachelor (such as a lack of physical attraction to women, as in the case of asexuality or homosexuality).

History of MGTOW

Monks, celibates, and ascetics have been common throughout history—Siddhartha Gautama had a wife and a son that he abandoned at the age of 30 to investigate the world, and even Paul the Apostle recommended against wives and families because he considered them to be an encumbrance—however, MGTOW are not per se a part of any religious tradition, and do not necessarily abstain from sex. The phenomenon of male self-determination goes back centuries under names such as free-man, celibate, bachelor, stag, and freewheeler. In the Victorian era, the term eligible bachelor was used in the context of upper class matchmaking, denoting a young man who was not only unmarried and eligible for marriage, but also considered "eligible" in financial and social terms for the prospective bride under discussion. In the Victorian era, the term "confirmed bachelor" denoted a man who was resolute to remain unmarried. Sometimes these self-determined or ‘MGTOW’ men formed groups, the earliest known being that of the Anti-Bardell Bachelor Band of 1898. The phrase "men going their own way," or variants such as "going his own way," or "to go his own sweet way," in reference to men’s freedoms is hundreds of years old. The "herbivore men" phenomenon was first observed by Maki Fukasawa in an article published on Oct. 13, 2006, and was subsequently discussed in a book by Masahiro Morioka.

The modern incarnation of MGTOW as a community has its origins in what is known as the "manosphere" (or "androsphere"), a loose and informal collection of weblogs, web forums, and websites of men discussing men's issues. The MGTOW phrase made its appearance in 2004 in several online men's rights groups. Three of those who conceived the MGTOW community went by the names Zed the Zenpriest, Ragnar Jensen, and Meikyo. Zed noted that many types of men's rights movements, to his dismay, would splinter and fracture, because the men in those movements displayed an incredible amount of stubbornness, in-fighting, and stifling political correctness. Zed coined the term "MGTOW", because he noticed one reason why the men's rights movement was not effective was because men kept going their own way.

Ragnar describes the historical establishment of "men going their own way" as taking place in Hickory, North Carolina, in October 2004, in a meeting between Ragnar and Meikyo; Zed was also invited, but was unable to attend due to illness. They concluded that an individual, grassroots strategy, which Zed had previously dubbed "men going their own way", was superior to the men's rights movement and working for men's rights organisations. In an interview, Ragnar described this particular moment. He lamented that he and other men were frustrated that they could not get men to build a proper men's rights organisation, could not get men to come to meetings, and so on, because "everyone was going their own damned way". He explained that because of the fact that every man went their own way, they started using that phrase, and started to reconsider their priorities, and started thinking about who defines a man's masculinity. He stated that men have have to find out what masculinity is for themselves: according to him, because men have the responsibility for their own actions, it is also their responsibility to define who they are as a man.

In a seminal announcement dated December 1, 2004, Ragnar introduced the phrase "Men Going Their Own Way" to the public, and declared that the concept was based on an essay titled Ignoring Women, written by Zed, as its foundational document. As this document stated:

Men now must completely destroy marriage. It is too corrupt and too fouled to fix. It is a derelict building which must be torn down so that something useful can be built in its place.

We cannot stop the marriage strike. The real "men's movement" is millions of wildcat strikes of one man who has woken up to what bullshit "marriage" as it exists today really is.

No matter how big a dam one builds, a river will always overcome it. We cannot either push, or hold back, the river. It will proceed at its own pace.

We can, however, clear out the snags which naturally hold it back and let natural forces speed up the current.

Women have turned their backs on us when we needed them, now we must turn our backs on them when they need us.

As Ragnar explained in his announcement, conversations with several other men based on this document had lead to an idea called "Men Going Their Own Way". He stated that a main thrust of this idea was to instill masculinity in men, by which he meant teaching men that they are not obligated to cater to women's wants and needs, unless there is a "quid pro quo" situation. He also stated that the idea of MGTOW was supposed to encourage men to live their lives without cohabiting with or interacting with women: he noted, for example, that men enjoy spending time without women in bands and brotherhoods, and he encouraged men to start "men's clubs" for their personal enjoyment. He also stated that one core idea of "men going their own way" was to teach men that they should not cohabit with women, and that they can have a fulfilling live without even interacting with women. He explained, however, that a MGTOW lifestyle does not require abstaining from sex—but that it may, on the contrary, involve as little or as much sex as desired, according to each individual MGHOW's personal preferences. Ragnar concluded with what he called a "small essay" of his own, which introduced the MGTOW logo, and which advocated "two strategies that come together in one", namely,

“

1. Instilling masculinity in men [and]
2. Ignoring and shunning women

”

The present incarnation and definition of the term "MGTOW" has evolved away from and severed its ties with its murky origins in the men's rights movement, as much of these ideas were subsequently fleshed out and discussed, occasionally with heated arguments; and men adapted and expounded upon MGTOW as a philosophy and a way of being.

References