Fourth Wave Men's Movement?

The feminist movement is often measured as a series of waves as social issues coalesced and technologies evolved. From the late 19th century to the early 21st century, feminism changed with the times. Fourth-wave feminism was driven by the #MeToo experiences of millions of women combined with the evolution of social media technologies. We find that not only was fourth-wave feminism inclusive of men's rights but that the men's movement appears to have followed along either as a supportive or reactive companion.

Men found themselves either supporting women's rights groups or reacting against them. Ignoring these social changes became impossible or worse, unwise. But there is no doubt that men were involved in the incidents that spawned the #MeToo era, and that their lives have been changed for better or worse by the development of social media.

How did brothers and friends respond to men who were accused of sexually assaulting or harassing a woman? It is a fair argument to suggest that the way they responded established the landscape for men's relationships for a full generation or more. Similarly, men did not escape the more toxic elements of social media. As for women, the self-critical, blaming and judgmental aspects of social media content only amplified the male-centered messages already harming men and boys.

Certainly the #MeToo era impacted men's groups of the time, as men began to reassess the harmfulness of catcalling, inappropriate touching and unwanted sexual advances. The key question for many was how to respond to the male friend who committed one of these acts. And how to raise sons to understand that such behaviors are unacceptable.

The social media landscape had a more diffuse impact of men, at first seeming like a way to simply stay in touch with friends and family, but then quickly revealing a dark side. Men invented the platforms which operate by using our personal information to more aggressively sell products. Meanwhile the content provided some men an opportunity to posture aggressive demeanors with even greater impact, or worse, to present hyper-masculine, violent memes of themselves, pretending in effect that this is what it means to be a man.

In response to these trends, I believe we may identify a Fourth Wave Men's Movement. Certainly, the fact that men's rights, anti-misandry and human rights were included in the Fourth-Wave Feminist agenda is a positive development for both men and women. More importantly, the #MeToo era and social media content present reasonable men with an opportunity to confront and re-assess the attitudes, assumptions and privileges related to their gender, and perhaps in the process become better men.