Perhaps I should have called it an offensive image, because like everything these people produce, it is just chock-full of misogyny. I found this meme on the prominent MRA site A Voice For Men, which I will not link to. I couldn't live with myself knowing that I willfully subjected anyone to that hellhole. You are welcome to go their yourself, although I can't stress enough that I advise against this. In fact, I think I'm legally required to put that warning in here, so that none of you can sue me for causing you psychological trauma. You have been warned.
With all that out of the way, let's get to the meme at hand. For those who are unaware, this meme references an incident involving a model, depicted above, dropping her infant. Notice that she was still able to hang onto her phone. She got a lot of shit for this, and rightly so. She's an awful mother and more than likely a despicable person. But that's not what I want to focus on today.
I'd like to focus on an argument that is fairly common within MRA circles. Basically, they assert that there is a bias in family courts, particularly as it relates to the custody of children. According to them, the judge is likely to award custody to the woman, even if her mothering skills are less than stellar, like in the picture above. Are the correct? Has misandry pervaded the family court system? Let's find out.
(NOTE: I live in America, so we're going to be focusing on that for the remainder of the article. Most data presented here will reflect the state of the US family court system. I can't speak for other countries).
Before we do that, however, I want to take a moment to comment on my biggest problem with this meme. Namely, that they are taking the actions of one woman, this model, and applying it to all women. These people honestly believe that because this one woman fucked up, it means that all women are terrible mothers who don't deserve custody of children. That seems to be a pretty sexist tactic to me, but whatever.
But anyway, back to the family court thing. The MRM argument that there is some systemic bias against fathers in family court is based in historical inadequacy. It was the case at one point that men were discriminated against in these courts, but even this was due to the fact that women were the primary caretakers, as per the strict patriarchal gender roles of the time. I'm sorry to keep harping on this, but most issues that men face for being men are caused directly by the patriarchy. This is obvious to anyone with enough intellectual honesty to loom at the data. Sadly, these people are few and far between in the Men's Rights Movement.
For whatever reason, most MRAs still believe that custody cases are biased against men, but here are a few statistics that prove otherwise:
It's worth point out that ninety-one percent of custody battles are resolved without ever seeing a court at all. And of the nine percent that do go to court, five percent are resolved in a custody evaluation hearing. That means that only four percent of custody battles ever actually 'go to trial,' so to speak. Further, only one point five percent of those battles are taken fully through to their conclusion.
Also, as the majority of judges serving in family court are male, it can hardly be held against women that there is some perceived bias in the situation. Even, though, again, there isn't any fucking bias. As the study linked below suggests, "Fathers are less involved with their children during a marriage, and are even less involved after a divorce. Most of the instances of women getting full custody occur because the father agreed to it."
So in other words, the problem with fatherlessness is down to deadbeat dads.
Further Reading:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cathy-meyer/dispelling-the-myth-of-ge_b_1617115.html
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/01/30/systemic-bias-in-family-courtor-just-selective-fact-finding
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1528240/Judge-seeks-to-end-myth-of-family-court-bias-against-fathers.html
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