Here is my simplified take on the history of feminism and MRM with picture.
1. The book Feminine Mystique came to light 1963. It said that women are oppressed by feminine role expectation.
Feminists took the sex role theory as their base theory.
2. In the year 1970 came the Men’s liberation movement. Ruth Hartley’s (1959) article ”Sex Role Pressures and the Socialization of the Male Child” was takes as the movements foundation. Jack Sawyer’s book ”On Male liberation” was the first book to address the oppressive nature of the male role.
Around 40 books were published about the liberation of male role, like Warren Farrell’s ” The Liberated Man” (1974), Marc Feigen Fasteau’s ”The Male Machine” (1974) and Jack Nichols ”Men’s Liberation” (1975).
The men’s liberation movement said that both genders are oppressed, but men are probably even more oppressed than women.
3. Radical feminists (and profeminists) came to conclusion that there is something really wrong with the sex role theory, if men were presented the biggest victims.
So radical feminists developed the patriarchy theory, were women are the oppressed class and men are the privileged class.
4. Men’s liberation movement reacted on the patriarchy theory in two ways.
Part of the liberation movement became profeminist men.
The other part founded the Men’s rights movement when they realized, that feminists are not going to free men from the male role and that feminists are not going to do anything to help men.
CONCLUSION
Both feminists and MRM started from the sex role theory, but feminists abandoned the theory, because it didn’t offer women the oppressed role.
MRM still uses the sex role theory and statistical analysis of men and women, while feminist thinking relies – more or less visibly – on the patriarchy theory.
As a result MRM and feminism can not be united in the one theory of equality, as they start from the very different premises.
