If the radical inequities of family law are ever to be corrected, the political consciousness of young men will be a necessary part of the process.  Since men tend to father children when they're younger, the family court hammer tends to fall on them the hardest.  Therefore, they're the ones with the most to lose by maintaining the status quo, so meaningful change will need to at least have their help, if not be spearheaded by them.

So it's good to read about organizations dedicated to raising men's consciousness of the many inequalities they face and the misandry of popular culture.  I've written recently about men's oranizations at the University of Chicago, Oxford University and the University of Manchester.

This article in the student publication for Northern Illinois University is another suggestion that at least some young men are "mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore," to coin a phrase (Northern Star, 11/29/09).  It's an interview with attorney and fathers' rights advocate Jeffery Leving.

The article makes points with which most of us are familiar, but are always worth repeating, particularly to a college audience.  Leving recites the blatant anti-father bias of family courts in cases from divorce to child custody to adoption.

The father’s right’s attorney went on to express how society’s expectation of a man’s responsibility is hypocritical. Society wants a man to be responsible while they actually believe he isn’t.

“So when a father wants to step up to the plate, they immediately think it is to get out of paying child support, to hurt the mother or for some other inappropriate reason. Fathers seem to be targeted no matter what they do.”

The article doesn't delve deeply, but it's a glimmer of light in the darkness.  Young men have lived all their lives in a culture and attended educational institutions that have taught them a number of astonishing untruths about their sex.  From somewhere, they need to learn the truth and healthy ways of understanding men and fathers.  Hearing Jeffery Leving's words and seeing his actions aren't a bad way to start.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under Family Law, Fatherhood, Divorce/Separation/Child Custody.