Men and Feminism-response post

While reading through the BitchMedia blog I came across an article called Schools Out: What *does* a feminist look like? Teaching boys about Feminism by Sharday Mosurinjohn

there were several things that caught my eye and altered my perspective on my topic, here is what I would like to discuss further:

- the role men play in gender politics and the feminist movement and how/why they should play a role-

 This is a predicament I am often in when thinking about men and feminism. I agreed with the author about this idea of a double edged sword as in can men truly remove power and privilege in relation to women? and where does this leave men who DO care about gender politics, what role do they play? 
Before I break this down I want to start off by defining feminism and what it means to me. Feminism is the belief and support of gender equality and expression that incorporates the intersection of culture, gender, race, sexual orientation etc.. I find the term Feminism to be  intriguing as it comes loaded with so many preconceived notions, one being it is all about penis-hating female domination. Another being that if you are a feminist you have hairy armpits and never wear lipstick, or that only lesbians are feminists. My personal encounters with men on the subject of feminism have for the most part been disturbing and negative, but I know that this is because as a society we are spoon fed certain stereotypes that cover up the true simplicity of what it means to be a feminist. In my life-time I have only met three men who have proudly claimed to be a feminist, why is this? and how and why should men be included in identifying as feminist?


From Ms.Magazines article Does Feminism need a James Bond? by Emily Church-  
"The feminist community often voices a mix of adulation and uneasiness when a man speaks up for women. Although many feminists would love to have more male allies, some worry feminist men drown out women’s voices or take up limited feminist resources. Others are concerned that feminism suffers from a phenomenon–common to female-dominated professions–in which men are whisked up the “glass escalator,” getting leadership and speaking roles ahead of women."

so it is clear that there is reluctance in the feminist community to give men leadership roles in the movement. But I think it is important to also mention that when defining feminism as "only women can do this" or only "men can do this" we are also putting transgendered and queer individuals in uncomfortable positions. So can men be leaders in this movement or take on multiple participatory roles?

 From the June 2010 New York Times article Feminism of the Future relies on Men by Katrin Benhold he discusses the importance of bringing men back into the model of modern feminism in order to effectively move forward. As women outnumber men in college and in the workplace there is a shift in gender roles emerging, but the author argues that "Basically, guys are the most effective feminists because other guy's are most likely to listen to them" and I agree with this in that male feminists play an important role in normalizing feminist ideas among other men. In discussions with men who are not my good friends about feminism, they have tended to get defensive or reinforce stereotypes of what they believe are true rather then try to understand it from a perspective of a woman telling them so. Perhaps the positive message of feminism and equality would resonate more coming from their fellow bros.

I also enjoyed this paragraph from the School's Out article on men's role in feminism-

"For a boy or man to identify as feminist does not mean that he claims women’s experiences as a whole or that he claims, for example, queer women’s experiences, or Indigenous women’s experiences. Ideally, I think it means that he is making a commitment to pursue gender justice, which will always also mean pursuing other anti-oppressive goals in relation to the many identities and practices that interlock to shape the character of different gendered experiences."

I believe that before leadership in this movement takes place men have a lot of work to do in terms of removing privilege and power from their psyche.The first step would be making other men aware and more fem conscious, and this doesn't mean they need to protest in the streets and listen to Bikini Kill. They should concentrate on how patriarchy negatively effects them and how they can challenge it by reconstructing and redefining masculinity. They should teach other men about rape-culture and how our society glorifies violence as a form of control. They should stop buying magazines such as Maxim and GQ that consistently objectify women. They should tell other each other to brush up on Women's History and encourage one another to tell the drunk misogynist at the bar to piss off. As stated in Feminism of the future relies on men- the last frontier of women's liberation may well be men's liberation.