MASCULIST

noun and adjective (People and Society) noun: A person who upholds the rights of men in the same way as a feminist upholds those of women; also, a person who opposes feminism. adjective: Representing or upholding men's rights or masculine attitudes in general. Etymology: Formed by adding the suffix -ist to the stem of masculine, after the model of feminist. The word masculinist had already been coined in the same meaning by Virginia Woolf in 1918, and is also in current use (although rare). History and Usage: The word was coined at the beginning of the eighties, after the feminist movement had radically altered the position of women in Western societies. The term masculism is also sometimes used for the men's rights movement or the attitudes that it enshrines, but it is considerably less common than masculist. What is claimed to be the first ever European petition for men's rights is to be handed in to the European Parliament by a new 'masculist' group...There are already some 20,000 militant masculists in Europe. The Times 20 Mar. 1984, p. 6 It does not matter if the cartoon is insulting to men. The number of such cartoons is so small that, set against the insults to women broadcast by every newsagent and television channel, only a loony masculist would object to them. Guardian 23 Nov. 1989, p. 38 Phoebe thought that science in general was a crude product of masculist thinking, designed to separate knowledge and experience. Sara Maitland Three Times Table (1990), p. 93