So I ran into someone who claimed to be MGTOW and claimed to it was just about rejecting the LifeScript(TM) and doing their own thing. That while yes, some are sexist, the movement as a whole isn't or doesn't have to be. Yeah, no, it's actually sexist.
MGTOW is an acronym for a "manosphere" movement called "men going their own way." While they tend to reject traditional ways of living life like relationships, marriage, and children, it's quite a bit beyond that. It actually has a lot of sexist presumptions about women built into it, and generally tends to imply or explicitly state that they're parasites or succubi who are only in a relationship with you to use you and take advantage of you. They reject the concept of "love" and believe women just want to get easy access to money, and use their sexuality to do this.
I don't deny some women can be scummy people who do things MGTOW people like to talk about. I mean, we've all heard of the woman who got pregnant intentionally because she wanted a kid and thought that the man would warm up to it, etc. But MGTOW, like many other sexist "manosphere" movements like the red pill, men's rights activists, etc., tend to go beyond that. They demonize women in general and even use acronyms like "all women are like that" to make their points. They view relations between men and women through this skewed relationship in which the women wish to exploit men as if they're employers when I start going on about wage slavery and basic income. They think marriage is a way to trap men and that these institutions are made, or at least used by women, to exploit them and turn them into slaves.
I have no doubt that there are many disadvantages to relationships or that some women can be crappy. I don't even doubt that there are some issues and double standards with some aspects of our laws regarding marriage and divorce. They were designed for a time when men and women fulfilled certain roles, and while a lot has changed for women since then, the same obligations sometimes still persist for men. There are legitimate problems here. And even from my perspective that's critical of capitalism, I tend to view marriage and childbearing as an institution that traps people by increasing their overall financial dependence on employers (an important distinction here is that I define the problem as having to do with "wage slavery" though).
And, I'm going to be honest. I'm strongly "childfree" (I never want to have children for a multitude of reasons and the very idea is extremely unattractive), and I tend to have mixed views on marriage and relationships. I don't tend to involve myself in many relationships because I generally don't see a point of being involved in one for the sake of just being involved with one, and really have only had an interest in a handful of people throughout my life. I have very strict standards for dating, and I have no interest in dating 99% of women out there. All things considered, I buck the "LifeScript(TM)", I have no interest in what most people want on a lot of life milestones.
But you know what? I'm not a MGTOW, because I'm not a sexist jerk. I don't turn my rejection of the things above, and admission of some problems they point out, into a political statement that more or less says "women are evil succubi/parasites and I should run away as far as I can from them." Women are people, some are good, some are bad. They have needs and desires just like men do. And just because I don't desire a relationship with an overwhelming majority of them doesn't mean that they're bad, just that we're incompatible. Some of them definitely are bad, but the same can be said for men. People are people.
So, no, MGTOW isn't just about being childfree and rejecting relationships. It's much more ideological in nature and much more sexist. If you still don't believe me, check their website, which is full of sexism against women, and check their subreddit, which is even worse in my opinion. You can do the same thing as a MGTOW and be a much better person for it just by dropping the MGTOW bullcrap. You can not seek relationships or marriage and children to your heart's desire and the only reason you really need is "because I don't want those things", period, end of story. But when you subscribe to MGTOW, you're taking on these horrifying sexist attitudes toward women, which might have some legitimacy toward a subgroup of women while being unapplicable to women as a whole. And honestly, I see such a mentality as almost like a cult or toxic ideology. Reject the "manosphere", and all the sexist BS that goes with it. You don't need it and it just makes you look like a jerk.
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