What is this?

We've all seen gender equality websites. They range from the somewhat aggressive to the somewhat less aggressive.

Aggressive or not, I noticed a pattern. None of these are gender equality sites. They're men's rights or women's rights.

Both sides have legitimate problems. Women are still raped around the world (and punished for it) while men don't suffer the consequences. Men are still incredibly unlikely to win child custody cases simply for being the father instead of the mother. Many women are encouraged to keep quiet about rape. Many men are unfairly accused of rape. Both are discriminated against in the workplace in different ways. Women are still making less than men. Men aren't being hired because some places simply prefer to hire women. The list goes on and on.

But the real problem? Neither side is talking to the other.

It's easy (refreshing, really) to have a group of people with whom to rant. If I made a website that focused exclusively on women's rights, you can bet I would get a lot of women here with me, upset for the same reasons I'm upset. And that can be validating and cleansing, in its own way. Not to mention it can make some pretty big changes. But the problem with not talking to each other is that sometimes those changes aren't complete. In this example, the FBI's newly adopted definition of rape technically does not include female-on-male rape. This is not only unfair to men for obvious reasons, but it assumes that women are too weak and ineffectual to harm men. Since one side is missing out, both sides are being insulted.

The goal of this website is to create a non-hostile environment for both sides to present their case. The writers include two women and one man who have all agreed to keep their articles as non-aggressive as possible while still getting their points across. If all we do is attack each other, we'll never get anywhere near being equals. Men should care about women's rights as much as they care about their own, and women should care about men's rights as much as they care about their own.

Pointing fingers is easy. It's relieving to believe that men are evil and that's the real reason women can't get anywhere in society, the same way it's relieving to believe that women are evil and that's the real reason men are so often cast as bad guys. The bottom line is that some men are jerks and some women are jerks. The rest of us? We're completely capable of talking to each other.

- Valerie S.