It seems it’s okay for everyone to have an advocacy group – except straight white men. At least that’s the case at Brandon University. And I’ve seen this issue come up many times (the I’m a White Minority @ Ryerson Facebook group controversy comes to mind). It seems a bit hypocritical that some of the same people who claim to be fighting for equality would rally against the right for men to have advocacy groups of their own – just like every other group has.  

When Will Breen tried to form his campus group, he faced a lot of criticism: 

One elected council member set the tone of debate, scoffing that Breen’s group would be nothing but a “pornography and cigar club.” As a man, he huffed, he didn’t require representation. Other speakers were miffed and simply couldn’t see the need. The motion was defeated.

At another forum, a female professor could barely tolerate hearing Breen’s reasons for starting a Men’s Collective. “She was saying that men do not have need of representation, that we have historically been the oppressors, that we have no position of disadvantage,” the fourth-year geology student recalled.

But Breen isn’t forming another group to compete for victim status. He questions why everyone thinks a group should be “disadvantaged” to have an advocacy group.

“Men have issues just like everyone else,” he maintained.

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Imagine if someone called the Women’s group a “baking and knitting club.”

Breen eventually was granted the right to start his group, which will receive $400 in funding. That, compared to the $5,000 per year and  $2,000 startup grant the Women’s Collective gets. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans-gender Commission gets $2,000 per year.

Thanks to Fraser for bringing this story to my attention.