Hey, Women Against Feminism: You know who needs gender equality? Men.
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By Jef Withonef for YourTango
By now most people have seen this piece of drivel, 15 Sassy Photos Show Why These Women are Rejecting the Feminist Movement. Sassy, for the love of all that’s holy, someone actually referred to a rebuttal of feminism by calling those that do so sassy. Yessir, these broads are spitfires. Gonna take a real cowboy to tame these fillies.
It’s times like this I am reminded of my favorite J.R.R. Tolkien quote. Speaking of The Shire he said, “They were sheltered, but they had ceased to remember it.” Many of the women in that article look quite young, having grown up in the world that feminism fought to help build. They may think they don’t need it, but their signs show that they clearly do. The tearing down of the patriarchy has a long way to go.
You know who else needs feminism? Men. Men like me, and today I thought I’d enlist some of my fellow male feminists to make our own signs.
1. “I need feminism because I don’t like being treated like a trained monkey when I’m out with my daughter by ourselves.”
2. “I need feminism because people judge me for working from home and being ‘domestic’ to support my wife’s career.”
3. “I need feminism because I’m not slacking … family-rearing IS fulltime work!!”
4. “I do need feminism! Because unlike others that lay claim to ‘critical thinking’ I can actually read the data!! Facts are facts. We have a long way to go!”
In direct response to #5 on the sassy list, “I don’t need feminism because I am capable of CRITICAL THINKING and I do not need other women representing ME.”
5. “I need feminism because neither I nor my husband is ‘the girl’.”
6. “I need feminism because my father made me read Germaine Greer when I was 13. Ever since, I have women friends (not just girl friends — real friends — You should try — It’s great).”
7. “I need feminism because I need contradiction.”
8. “I need feminism because even though I work in a female-dominated field, men are still disproportionately represented in administration and make an average of $10,000 more. I need feminism because when I bought eyeliner for a Halloween costume, my son said, ‘But daddy, that’s girl stuff,’ and I do not want him to grow up in a world that limits his self-expression based on his genitalia. I need feminism, truly, because very few men seek out the services of counselors and social workers when they’re in emotional pain, since we’re told all our lives that we should be able to handle anything — alone.”
9. “I still need feminism because I am transitioning into a man — NOT a bully! The character of an individual should have nothing to do with their sex — or gender!”
10. “I need feminism because as a son I have felt the effects of how the world treats single motherhood. My nephew needs feminism for the same reason.”
11. “I need feminism because there is no neutral stance on male hegemony. Silence = misogyny”
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For more articles like this, see:
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This article originally appeared on YourTango.
I’m mostly curious about the first guy.
Who is treating him like a trained monkey when he is out with his daughter, and under what cirumstances?
And what kind of “reward” or benefits on this regard does he expect from feminism?
It’s telling that no one wrote I need feminism because men are victims of DV and rape and should have societal resources allocated for them. I need feminism because men deserve to maintain relationships with their children after a divorce. I need feminism because men deserve genital integrity. I need feminism because men should be able to live as long as women. I need feminism because men shouldn’t have to be the one people sacrificing when natural disasters strike. I need feminism because because men shouldn’t be held to a higher standard than women in a court of law. I… Read more »
Exactly!!! Feminism isn’t prepared to address the biased family court system, criminal justice sentencing disparity, the selective service and conscription, lack of domestic violence shelters for males, government spending more on women’s health care, etc. By the way, I also think that it is important that men’s roles be expanded and they be allowed the same latitude as women and girls to transgress the gender binary without being socially penalized. I just don’t think the rigid masculinity box represents the totality of areas where males face discrimination.
Whatever happened to just gender equality? When did it become solely feminism?
4. I do need feminism! Because unlike others that lay claim to ‘critical thinking’ I can actually read the data!! Facts are facts. We have a long way to go! This can be a good or a bad thing, depending on which “data” and “facts” this critical thinker has in mind. If it is those data that e.g. claim that domestic violence and male-on-female violence are basically synonyms, then count me out! 5. I need feminism because neither I nor my husband is ‘the girl’. That this man feels that hoping for some intersectional by-products of a female-oriented movement is… Read more »
With all due respect, this was a terrible article. There’s MANY Aspects of Feminism that Don’t cover Equality for Both Sexes, and there’s Data that Supports THOSE Aspects. These Guys DON’T Speak For Me, their experiences, backgrounds and so on Aren’t Mine. and neither do You or yours. Yes, Society and Humanity has a Long Way to Go, and it Doesn’t start with Feminism. Until that Movement can Self-Recycle itself, I wouldn’t claim to BE Feminist nor say I Need it either..
I agree with you and Steve there. Feminism wants to be perceived, acclaimed, and universally acknowledged as uniformly interchangeable with ‘equality’ and gender-justice; and thus, the true and exclusive ideological path to it- but it simply is not so. It is false to assume that the ideals, beliefs, and morals of equality, opportunity, anti-bias, and justice that underscore or coincide with feminism can only be (truly, fully, and properly) espoused, expressed, or forwarded by feminism, or within a concise feminist ideological context: Again, that is simply not so. I’ve talked about it before, but I’ll say… Read more »
I’m curious as to how Feminism is going to achieve equality for men. Feminism to me has always been about Womens rights. I have yet to see any of the issues above that directly effect men addressed by N.O.W. or any other Feminist organization.