Meet the founder of the new Male Human Rights Society

‘Men can be and are often victims of real problems’

national noad

Societies and Facebook groups for feminism are at every uni — but what about ones for male human rights?

Third year linguist Adam Frost, 21, is currently on a year abroad in the south of France but has set up a new group called the Durham Uni Male Human Rights Society.

Claiming to be the first of its kind in the UK, they immediately raised criticism across campus as incensed students asked: “isn’t this a bit like starting a society for white people’s rights?”

We spoke to Adam as he prepared to finish his year abroad and come back to start his brand new society.

Adam told The Tab: “I found out that there are lots of problems that affect men: there are also problems that affect men less than women, definitely, such as domestic violence and rape, but men do nevertheless get affected.

“The problem is that their issues are not taken into account quite as much: they’re not given enough attention and they’re not given enough resources to deal with the problems they face.

“That for me is why I wanted to start the society: to bring more attention to the fact that men can be and are often victims of real problems – that’s my motivation.”

Despite the strong reaction by many, the Fem Soc has got behind Adam because of their “shared values”.

Fem Soc president Catherine Crook told us: “We’ve already begun to liaise with Adam, potentially starting some sort of Fem Soc supported men’s discussion group about the issues he was right to raise.

“Our aims are fundamentally similar and hopefully together we can make progress towards raising awareness of these issues.”

‘People aren’t aware that men make up roughly a third of domestic violence cases’

But Adam claims men need their own groups, explaining he wants to “raise awareness under the Fem Soc umbrella”.

He said: “That’s handy, but I really do think a separate society would be a lot more efficient.

“It wouldn’t strain their resources as much. It would be great if I could have my own society because it’s really important and there’s not enough attention being given to men’s issues.”

Adam claims to be a feminist and an admirer of Durham Tab legend Flo Perry.

“I am not in any way, shape, or form, anti-feminist. I think Durham University Fem Soc is amazing.

“Their ‘Reclaim the Night’ marches, their activism, their debates, putting in enormous names like Godfrey Bloom and I respect, amazingly, Flo Perry.”

The Men’s Rights Activist movement has been criticised widely online for being a superfluous group of people who either misunderstand or despise feminism.

But Adam, who admits the name of his society is not fixed in stone, said: “MRAs on the internet who are ruining it for people who actually care about men’s issues.

“I’ve gone through their websites and they don’t do anything – they’re the definition of slacktivism. They’re people who sit on their computers bitching about feminism. They’re just ruining it.”

Flo Perry, who had already chatted to Adam, is wary about the name of his new group.

The Chemistry grad said: “Adam is trying to raise awareness of some important issues. Male mental health and domestic violence aren’t given enough attention.

“But he has a tough job on his hands trying to persuade any student to join a Male Human Rights Society. Doesn’t sound particularly glamorous does it?

“If he wants to shake association with MRAs he should probably think of a new name.”

The issues which have moved Adam towards forming such a sensitive society have been a long time coming. Witnessing his friends either tragically commit or attempt suicide led him to reading about male cases, as well as instances of domestic violence.

“I spoke to a guy about male victims of domestic violence and his reaction was ‘wait, there are men who get beaten by their wives?’

“People aren’t aware that men make up, depending on your study, roughly a third of domestic violence cases, both at the hands of men and women. They make up a third of all domestic violence deaths.”

Issues like these drove Adam to forming a group whose main stated aim is to raise awareness, like the dangers posed by the stigmas surrounding men and mental illness.

“Feminism has done an amazing job of fighting that and I don’t want to take away their efforts or what they’ve done. I can’t stress that enough – the society is here literally just to deal with the issues I want to deal with.

“A primary purpose of this society would be to provide a safe space for people who have been victims of sexual assault, intimate partner violence and other forms of abuse/discrimination.

“We would refer them to places they can get help, and form relationships with these services to provide this service to students who need help.”

Breitbart columnist and right-wing firebrand Milo Yiannopolous, backs Adam’s new project.

He told The Tab: “It doesn’t surprise me to see men’s rights organisations springing up on campuses. Many young men rightly feel as though society is architected against them. Nowhere is this more true than at uni.

“A wacky, extremist brand of feminism is in vogue at universities on both sides of the Atlantic today, concerned with ‘patriarchy,’ policing ‘micro-aggressions,’ transgender pronouns, demanding ‘safe spaces’ for imagined traumas and demeaning and ridiculing men at every opportunity.

“Feminists have even succeeded in establishing compulsory “consent classes” at many colleges, the message of which is: men, you are all potential rapists. That’s appalling: they should be scrapped.

“Sadly, academia being what it is, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of these new men’s rights groups banned from campus on the spurious grounds that they make women feel ‘unsafe.’

“Look out for words like ‘harassment,’ ‘abuse and ‘safety’: these are classic strategies used by wacko lefty groups to ban people whose opinions they find challenging, or whose factual statements these bonkers activists are incapable of refuting.”