Rules Of Engagement

As the roles of males evolve with the times, what then constitutes acceptable behaviour for men?

- Ian De Cotta

When Cassie Jaye embarked on producing The Red Pill in 2012, she had begun making the film as a feminist – but ended up disassociating herself from the movement three and-a-half years later. In the documentary, Jaye attempts to portray men’s rights activists (MRAs) in a balanced light, interviewing scores of people from the most extreme MRAs to prominent feminists.

In the course of production, she discovered that just as feminists are fighting for women’s rights, MRAs are doing the same thing for men and deserved to be heard. They, too, battle discrimination, and feel modern feminism has gone too far. A range of issues, they say, is stacked against them – from rights in family law, domestic violence and compulsory military service to employment, health policies and social safety nets. They do the heavy lifting and pay a premium.

In making the documentary, she eventually became an apostate of her movement, and the American filmmaker came under attack from some feminists for giving voice to MRAs. She told the BBC in an interview last year that she even became a target of a smear campaign.

But Jaye, who believes feminism “is for women, for men, and – above all else – for a basic human right to equality” was unapologetic. “I dropped the label because I stopped seeing feminism as a movement for gender equality including men’s issues,” she told the BBC. “It seemed like it was really just for women’s issues.”