White, American men are now second-class citizens.
That's the premise of an article Suzanne Venker posted on Fox News last week, a follow-up to her November 2012 piece about the "war on men." In this piece, Venker made a number of pretty astonishing claims about women, public policy and the state of gender equality.
Here are the three most confusing things she wrote:
1. Grade school curricula are based on girls' interests. Hmmm... We'd like to see some data on that, please.
2. "Men don’t organize and form groups when they’ve been persecuted. They just bow out of the game." This claim also seems suspect. Men's rights groups are actually very visible on the Internet. Website A Voice For Men says that it works to "expose misandry on all levels in our culture," and there is also a popular Reddit forum dedicated to men's issues -- frequented by male and female Redditors alike. Whether or not their cause makes sense, these groups do exist -- and they make themselves heard.
3. White, male oppression is "unlike anything American women have faced." Perhaps this historically privileged group is no longer able to enjoy as many benefits as in the past, but is that really the same thing as systematic oppression?
Venker is entitled to her opinion -- but we can't help but think that some of her points are just factually unsound. There are nuanced, fascinating, important conversations to be had about American masculinity. But claiming that white men are "second-class citizens" doesn't really help anyone.
What did you think of Suzanne Venker's article? Comment below, or join the conversation on Twitter @HuffPostWomen.
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