Spannung an der Uni: Heute wieder feministische Ausschreitungen?

An der Universität Toronto (Kanada) wird der Männerforscher Dr. Miles Groth heute einen Vortrag zu dem Thema Caring About University Men. Why We Need Campus Men’s Centres in a Time of Crisis halten, um zu Zeiten der "Jungenkrise" Männerzentren in den inzwischen weit überwiegend von Frauen besuchten Universitäten zu fördern. Groth gibt zu bedenken:

This year about 35% of university students in developed countries will be male. If the statistically projected steep rate of decline continues, the last bachelor’s degree earned by a male will be awarded around 2025. Although that is not likely to happen, the situation for males on campuses everywhere is precarious, yet only a few faculty and administrators are responding to the reality. What is that reality? What is it like to be a young man 18-21 living and studying at university? How did matters come to be as they are? What is being done to care for young men in the current situation?

Wenn immer Forscher, die sich statt für Frauen für Männer einsetzen, an einer Universität eine Veranstaltung ausrichten wollen, kommt es derzeit unweigerlich zu feministischer Randale, einschließlich Blockaden der akademischen Gebäude. Genderama hatte immer wieder darüber berichtet (beispielsweise hier). Für heute haben Feministinnen erstmals keine solche Randale an der Universität Toronto öffentlich angekündigt. Aber reicht das aus, um sich in Sicherheit zu wiegen?

Der Geschlechterforscher Warren Farrell, so etwas wie der Stammvater der internationalen Männerrechtsbewegung, machte vorgestern in dem Aufsatz Equity without Equity: Universities’ Love-Hate Relationship with Men auf die schwierige Lage von Männern an unseren Universitäten aufmerksam:

As the only male three-time board member of the National Organization for Women in New York City — in the early ‘70s — I’ve seen the world change from college-women–as-minority-group to college-women-as-majority-group (57%) even as the universities themselves are still giving scholarships to women as minority groups, and painting males as the "patriarchal oppressor."

Farrell berichtet auch über seine eigenen Erfahrungen, sobald er an der Universität Toronto zum Männerthema sprechen wollte:

The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) feminists combine with other feminist groups to rip down hundreds of posters advertising the event—most within hours of posting. The SWP has labeled CAFE an MRA (men’s rights activist) group. They label all MRA events as hate speech, creating the rationalization for not a protest, but a blockade of the entrances to my presentation.

Approximately 100 protestors form this human blockade, preventing many students and community members from attending my talk, subjecting those who pursued to endure vicious insults, and, by forcing an hour delay, exhausting the patience of still others.

(...) That was November, 2012. What’s happened in the ensuing months is a veritable documentary of the atmosphere your son faces as he enters a college campus in North America, Australia, and most of Europe.

In the first week or two, he is required to attend a program on date rape, but nothing on date communication; by October, he encounters Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but never hears of a “prostate cancer awareness month.” If your son becomes involved in student governance, he has access to significant student funds for women’s centers and speakers on women’s issues, but no student money for men’s centers or speakers on men’s issues.

If your son is heterosexual, he may soon express an interest in a woman who is taking a women’s studies course or degree, and see her assiduously researching papers on how the patriarchy consists of men who made laws to benefit men at the expense of women — but for him, there are no men’s studies courses, programs or degrees. He may learn she is on a scholarship to encourage women in engineering, math or the other STEM professions; if he’s observant, he’ll note that despite few men majoring in the social sciences, he hasn’t run across even a single man with a scholarship designed to encourage men to enter social work, psychology or the other social sciences.

Your son will soon meet many women who will be working on papers and theses on women’s special interests (e.g., women’s suffrage), but virtually none on men’s special interests (the boy crisis; fathering; custody rights). If your son is a good guy, he’ll review their papers on women’s problems (e.g., domestic violence against women), but probably never see a paper on men’s problems (e.g., suicide; life expectancy; disposability; “mancessions”; domestic violence against men; false accusations; being psychologically adrift). Cumulatively, this creates an atmosphere of prejudice against men, recently known as misandry.

Wie Männerfeindlichkeit an vielen unserer Universitäten aussieht, hat die Website "A Voice for Male Students" hier mit vielen Fotos auch für Außenstehende sichtbar gemacht. (Schauen Sie sich das ruhig mal an – dauert nur wenige Sekunden und ist sehr eindrucksvoll.)

Wie reagierte die Universität Toronto nun darauf, dass feministische Ausschreitungen die Redefreiheit von Männerrechtlern behinderten? Zum einen damit, dass man den Opfern dieser Ausschreitungen die Kosten dafür in Rechnung stellte. Zum anderen passierte folgendes, wie Warren Farrell weiter berichtet:

The University of Toronto Student Union responded to the cumulative stimuli with a "Townhall on Sexism." So far, so good?

First red flag: not a single representative of any group with a male-positive perspective was invited to speak. To the contrary, the only invited speaker, Danielle Sandhu, immediately supported an audience member who said, “we know there are infiltrators…”

Sandhu then challenged any members of an MRA group to identify themselves, saying, "they should just leave, I could point fingers…." Sandhu had sway, not only as the only invited speaker, but as the former president of the University of Toronto Student Union, the event sponsor.

The University of Toronto Men’s Issues Awareness Society (UTMIA) had, in fact, sent two representatives, with the understanding that as an open, public, Townhall on Sexism sponsored by the Student Union and paid for by student fees, that they had not only a right to attend, but an obligation.

Sandu’s support of the "infiltrators" comment, and her challenge for them to leave or be pointed out, apparently incited audience members, who shouted, "point them out" and "make them uncomfortable."

When the two representatives did not leave, a Vice President of the student union, Guled Arale, described by the UTMIA reps as tall and large, approached the reps, and, the reps report, intimidated them by moving into their personal space and repeatedly asking them to leave. When one rep said he was just trying to listen, he was told this wasn’t a dialogue; it was to plan strategies to stop the MRAs, and their presence made the organizers uncomfortable. One rep left immediately. The other rep was informed he really had no option but to leave, and after protesting this was an open student event, he nevertheless abided.

What was this "strategizing" about? A representative of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) suggested a "militant approach." Although OPIRG is funded by mandatory student activities fees, the woman suggested "making this campus inhospitable to these people." How? By finding out "where they live."

Ich fasse die aktuelle Situation zusammen:

- Männern wird an Universitäten kontinuierlich deutlich gemacht, dass sie als unerwünscht und als Bedrohung gelten. An die Seite zahlloser feministischer Veranstaltungen, Aktionen und Anlaufstellen treten keinerlei maskulistische, männerfreundliche Einrichtungen.

- Wissenschaftler, die auch nur einen Vortrag zugunsten der Anliegen von Männern halten wollen, müssen mit feministischen Asschreitungen rechnen und bekommen für die entstandenen Kosten die Rechnung aufgebrummt, damit sie überlegen, ob es wirklich eine so gute Idee ist, sich für Jungen und Männer einzusetzen. Gleichzeitig werden Feministinnen so zu weiteren Ausschreitungen motiviert.

- Die Studentenvereinigung der Universität Toronto lädt zu einer "Veranstaltung gegen Sexismus" ein, von der Teilnehmer, die als Männerrechtler identifiziert werden, augenblicklich von Leuten entfernt werden, die die deutsche Piratenpartei vermutlich als "Awareness-Team" bezeichnen würde. Auf diesen Veranstaltungen wird sodann ein "militanter Ansatz" gegen die bedrohlichen Männerrechtler diskutiert, um den Campus ihnen gegenüber "nicht gastfreundlich" zu machen und herauszufinden, "wo sie leben". (Würde in Deutschland dasselbe passieren, träte gegen die Männerrechtler eine Verleumdung als Rechtsextremisten hinzu.)

Zu all dem treten feministische Propagandaveranstaltungen, auf denen die Zuhörer beigebracht bekommen, dass sämtliche Anliegen der Männerbewegung lediglich "Mythen" darstellen. Die Canadian Association for Equality hat diese Argumentation hier näher untersucht.

Über die Scharmützel an mehreren kanadischen Universitäten berichten immer noch mehrere Medien. Bei einem Artikel von Jessica Smith für die Metro News wird schon durch die Überschrift deutlich, wohin die Reise geht: Men’s rights speaker claims anti-date-rape talks discourage men from higher education. Diese Erwartungen werden durch den Beitrag nicht enttäuscht: Nachdem Smith die Thesen von Miles Groth verkürzt vorgestellt hat, lässt sie eine Feministin erklären, warum es wichtig ist, junge Leute über sexuelle Gewalt aufzuklären – so als ob es den Männerrechtlern vor allem darum ginge, diese Aufklärung zu unterbinden. Der Sache angemessener ist ein Artikel Robyn Urbacks in der National Post: Move over, abortion — men’s issues are the new taboo topics on campus. Dort heißt es:

The Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) has released its 2013 report on the state of free speech at Canadian universities and lo and behold, the report shows egregious violations on campuses nationwide. (...) The JCCF measured the policies and practices at 45 public Canadian universities, grading them each using a five-tier letter scale. In total, 23 universities received at least one "F", meaning some form of censorship was employed on campus. According to the “Campus Freedom Index,” the University of Ottawa and Carleton University are the worst schools for free speech in Canada.

(...) But new to the Campus Freedom Index this year, however, is the topic of men’s issues awareness — a subject that wets the felt-tip markers of the perpetually outraged upon mere mention. The movement is a relatively recent phenomenon on Canadian campuses, where men’s rights speakers and groups are usually met with protests, attempts at censorship and placards about how "Men’s Rights is Misogyny." In other words: pure failure fodder for the Campus Freedom Index.